Researchers have recently found that several long-lasting human-made contaminants have been building up in Arctic lakes, polar bears and ringed seals and other wildlife.

These contaminants belong to a family of chemicals called polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and are used in food packaging, waterproof clothing and firefighting foams. The true number of PFAS that exist is hard to pin down, but estimates suggest there are more than 4,700 types, as industry continues to make new ones.

Researchers have been concerned about this class of chemicals because they do not degrade in the environment and may carry health risks for wildlife and humans. Our research team has measured these chemicals in the blood of people living in northern communities.

Exposure to PFAS in Canada’s north

Although PFAS levels appear to be decreasing in southern Canada, probably due to their decrease in consumer products in the past 20 years, they have been on the rise in some parts of the Arctic.

From 2016 to 2019, our research group, led by environmental toxicologist Brian Laird, invited people living in the Yukon and Northwest Territories to participate in a study to measure PFAS levels, so that we could understand how people living in remote Indigenous communities were being exposed to these chemicals.

The results show that, generally speaking, men had higher concentrations of PFAS compared to women, and PFAS concentrations tended to increase with age. PFAS levels within the northern population were similar or lower to those of the general Canadian population living below the 60th parallel and other First Nations populations in Canada.

There was, however, one exception. Levels of perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) were twice as high among northerners than observed in the general Canadian population. This is consistent with another study estimating that pregnant Inuit women had higher levels of PFNA than the general Canadian population.

Health risks of PFAS

Almost all of us have PFAS in our body even though some types of PFAS have been banned internationally since 2000. Exposure to PFAS usually comes from food, consumer products and contaminated water.

Populations with higher exposures to PFAS tend to have a greater incidence of high cholesterol, thyroid disruption, cancer, early menopause and other health effects.

However, the available science does not support any conclusion on expected health outcomes: we currently do not know if the level of PFNA observed in the current study is high enough to cause, or be associated, with any health effects.

It’s also a challenge to identify the sources of PFAS and PFNA, particularly for these northern communities. PFNA is used as a surfactant, by example on stain-resistant carpets or on non-stick coating of pots and pans, and may also be produced when other chemicals degrade. PFNA may also be transported over long distances like other PFAS.

There is little available data from Northern Canada to know if levels in humans have decreased or increased over time. However, since PFAS concentrations have increased in the Arctic environment, PFAS have also increased in wild food sources such as fish.

Finding PFAS in the blood of people living in these northern communities comes with an additional burden: many have a strong relationship with wild food and water, and environmental contamination can jeopardize the traditional lifestyles of northern and Indigenous communities.

Arctic and sub-Arctic regions subject to industrial contamination

Since 1991, a group of international experts on contaminants in the Arctic have regularly released and updated the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP) report to document chemical trends and their effects on ecosystems and people. Part of its goal is to inform policy and decision-making. The next update is due out this fall.

Canada and United States have regulations to prevent widespread contamination from these chemicals, including legislation that bans some products made with PFAS and lower PFAS limits in drinking water.

The finding that toxic chemicals are found in the blood of northerners at levels higher than people residing in the south shows that the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions are not exempt from industrial contamination. Additional monitoring and regulations should be put in place to decrease the exposure to persistent pollutants, to ensure the health of those who live there.

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This year, Canada experienced record-breaking temperatures across the nation, with a larger increase above normal temperatures in the north than in the south. Canada’s annual average temperature has warmed 1.7C since 1948, but in northern Canada it has increased by 2.3C.

The Canadian North is feeling the impacts of climate change more acutely than the rest of the country. And Indigenous communities, representing half of the residents of the three Canadian northern territories, are the most vulnerable to these climate changes.

Northern populations have observed landscape and natural resources changes like permafrost thaw, shifts in wildlife and plant diversity, and changes in water and food quality.

Indigenous knowledge is an essential asset for communities to adapt to climate change, by knowing the land, using the local natural resources, sharing capital, and taking a community approach to local issues. But it is well documented that the most vulnerable communities across the globe are excluded from decision-making processes and thus marginalized.

‘Beyond what our instruments can tell us’: merging Indigenous knowledge and Western science at the edge of the world

Indigenous groups in northern Canada, with their traditional interpersonal networks and social initiatives, seem to have developed a unique structure to cope with climate change and environmental stressors without relying on federal or local policies and infrastructure. Based on this, it seems that one way to enhance peoples’ resilience to climate change is to improve the social capital — or social networks — of populations.

Social capital at work

Social capital as a concept is not new. American political scientist Robert Putnam helped to popularize the term in the late ‘90s. Basically it is the creation and maintenance of healthy social contacts that can improve the “flow of information, trust, reciprocity, co-operation and productivity” within communities.

Knowing neighbours and exchanging various favours is a component of social capital.

This understanding of social cohesion is also used in epidemiology, public health, resource distribution and environment policy studies. The World Health Organization uses the concept of social capital to increase participation in its programs across the globe. The Canadian government also tracks trends in social capital.

The acknowledgement of the value of social networks can bring insights into how federal and local governments can guide climate change adaptation initiatives.

Nooks Lindell looks out over the frozen Hudson Bay in Arviat, Nunavut, with his son Nipi. Photo: Jimmy Thomson / The Narwhal

Although the response to climate change varies greatly across the country, Canada’s focus on creating policy to help communities adapt to climate change includes “the development of more stringent building standards for areas where heavier snowfall is expected, or limiting development in coastal areas where sea level is projected to rise.”

The current Canadian policy framework does not differentiate between northern and southern regions. Strategies to address climate change in southern Canada benefit from institutionalization and access to infrastructure. Conversely, strategies in northern Canada benefit from Indigenous knowledge and traditional social structure.

The social capital scores collected by the Canadian government are usually visualized as a scale but it does not include the nuances of the northern regions. On the scale, the Maritime and Western provinces score higher than inland provinces. Québec has the lowest score in Canada.

The differences in climate policies across Canada might be due to the regional environmental challenges, but they are also altered by the different geopolitical, social, cultural and historical contexts, which affect social capital.

The North

Small communities tend to have strong social capital, which can be seen when neighbours cut wood for elders or hunters bring meat for single mothers. Indigenous holistic approaches highlight the importance of the connection with the land, which impacts hunting methods and includes knowledge of medicinal plants.

Community sharing is another component that increases community resilience. Food sharing circles are traditional kinship-based food networks to reduce food insecurity.

One study shows how traditional social structures have deeply embedded food redistribution procedures that have adapted through history. Such redistribution of resources is not found among most southern communities in Canada.

Canada’s actions for climate changes neither mentions food security nor resource redistribution. Also, although the World Bank and the World Health Organization have developed a set of tools to assess social capital to increase the level of participation of everyday citizens, Canada has yet to adopt social capital in its approach to climate change adaptation.

Pangnirtung Fjord, Nunavut. Photo: Isaac Demeester / Unsplash

At best, Canada’s climate framework recognizes the North is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

But Canada should learn from the experiences of northern communities and integrate social capital in its policy framework. While the North might be the most affected by climate changes, its resilience might also be the highest.

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Canada aims to conserve 17 per cent of its land and fresh water by the end of 2020. This noble objective will help protect water, air, food and biodiversity and improve the health of humans.

Indigenous peoples in Canada are a part of this conservation movement. As they hunt, gather and harvest, they also monitor the land to keep it healthy and ensure their traditional activities are preserved. Their efforts to protect the Earth benefit us all.

A group of women swim in the Mackenzie River during a trip with the Dehcho First Nations to learn about the river and the communities it passes. Photo: Pat Kane

Initiatives for protected lands

In October 2018, Dehcho First Nations and the Government of Canada announced the creation of the first Indigenous protected area in Canada. Located in the Dehcho region of the Northwest Territories, Edéhzhíe covers 14,218 square kilometres — more than twice the size of Banff National Park — and protects an area of spiritual and ecological importance to the Dehcho and Tłichô Dene.

Edéhzhíe Indigenous Protected Area. Map: Carol Linnitt / The Narwhal

It is not the only Indigenous initiative to protect lands.

The Tsá Tué Biosphere Reserve, created in 2016, protected more than 9,000 square kilometres of land and water. First Nations, Inuit and Métis have put in place other initiatives too.

‘Serengeti of the north’: the Kaska Dena’s visionary plan to protect a huge swath of B.C. wilderness

These Indigenous groups are interested in protecting the land because their holistic approach to ecosystems will help preserve their traditional way of life.

This holistic approach to conservation is the concept of being “in tune with nature.” It’s a fundamental understanding that although they are human, Dene are part of the environment and the ecosystem.

This concept doesn’t just refer to the nature in the sense of trees, wildlife or the natural processes of an ecosystem, but the nature of reality as a whole, where people have a role in the natural world and have a responsibility to maintain it.

Harvesting wild game is a measured and carefully considered practice. By protecting these lands, traditional ways of life, including language, harvesting and other cultural elements, are maintained for present and future generations.

Robert Grandjambe pulls a lake trout from his nets in Lake Athabasca near Fort Chipewyan, Alta. Photo: Louis Bockner / Sierra Club BC

Harvesting and conservation

Harvesting was the main source of food of Indigenous people for millennia. Even though people living in remote communities now have access to store-bought foods, quality remains an issue. Fresh food is often limited and expensive, and may cost as much as three times the Canadian average.

In some northern communities, the rate of food insecurity is alarming and can affect up to 70 per cent of the households. In the Arctic, the consumption of traditional foods is associated with better nutrition. Hunting is, therefore, associated with healthy living.

Some people, including settlers, those living in cities or involved in the animal-rights communities, may see harvesting and hunting as damaging to the ecosystem. Attacks against seal harvesting are recurrent.

Yet hunting is an integral part of the traditional Indigenous lifestyle and it can occur within protected areas. By hunting, they are also making the commitment to protect the land.

Winston Tallio, a youth from Anahim Lake, B.C., checks deer jerky in the smoking tent of the Yunesit’in traditional hunting camp. Photo: Louis Bockner / The Narwhal

For example, even if harvested local foods such as caribou are subsistence foods in several Indigenous northern nations, some communities have initiated a program to assess how to preserve Northern Mountain Caribou herds and minimize the cultural impact.

They monitor the harvest and decide whether hunting limits should be set. They restrict access to certain lands, educate hunters and ensure protection of caribou habitat. The aim is to establish sustainable hunting and a healthy dynamic between the communities and the animals.

This Indigenous perspective on sustainable development and conservation integrates the responsibility to give back.

Indigenous monitoring of the land

Indigenous Guardians are the eyes and ears for the land and water. They patrol a designated area and monitor ecological health, including species at risk and early indicators of climate change such as water levels and landscape changes.

The monitored areas include remote locations where limited observations are available. As such, the science of the land contributes significantly to the overall monitoring strategy and data gathering in the region.

This bottom-up management and conservation approach leads to practical planning by local people who have an interest in the issue. The Indigenous Guardians program contributes to the connections between Indigenous culture and natural environment by using traditional knowledge and science of the land, while increasing the protection of the land.

Remote locations are also subject to resource development such as mining and fracking. The Guardians watch for the potential impacts of these projects, often in collaboration with scholars, to ensure a clean environment for future generations.

Fisheries technicians from Lax Kw’alaams Fisheries Stewardship program conduct Dungeness biosampling data as part of surveys occurring year-round in Stumaun Bay and Big Bay. First Nations have conducted 222 species research and habitat restoration initiatives with support from Coast Funds. Photo: Lax Kw’alaams fisheries stewardship program

Parks Canada acknowledges the contributions Indigenous peoples have made in managing ecosystems and in their traditional knowledge of these ecosystems. Traditional ecological knowledge is generally described as the body of environmental knowledge, practices and beliefs acquired over time and passed down over generations within an Indigenous group. It provides information that is complementary to academic science, supporting, for example, changes in biodiversity or identifying early indicators of climate change.

Not only can these new protected areas improve Indigenous self-governance and stewardship, but they recognize Indigenous peoples’ contributions to ecosystem conservation.

Healing and hope: how Indigenous guardians are transforming conservation

Parks Canada endorses the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action, and their acknowledgement of Indigenous rights to use the land is a first step towards decolonization and Indigenization of land use. These Indigenous-led protected and conserved areas aim to preserve the traditional land and support the conservation of traditional activities that respect the environment.

Everyone should acknowledge the positive impact Indigenous hunting can have on the protection and monitoring of the environment. These efforts benefit all of us in protecting the ecosystem for a healthy environment and healthy people.

Jeffrey Fabian, Yaidih-ih “Eyes Unclouded,” coordinator of the Indigenous Guardian program in the K’atl’odeeche First Nation, in Hay River, NWT, co-authored this article.

Meet the scientists embracing traditional Indigenous knowledge

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