Improving access to quality health care for Inuit residents of Inuit Nunangat: A fact sheet for non-Inuit practitioners
March 2025
Inuit living in Inuit Nunangat face significant challenges in accessing high quality and equitable health care. Communities in these regions are sparsely populated and remote, with limited availability of health services, health professionals, health infrastructure, and specialist services. For this reason, many Inuit patients must be transported to communities outside Inuit Nunangat for required healthcare services. The need to travel outside their homelands to access health care can be very stressful for Inuit. Not only must they travel long distance – oftentimes without the accompaniment and support of family – which can create financial and personal hardships for Inuit families, but the health care Inuit patients receive usually occurs within an unfamiliar healthcare environment where they are challenged by language barriers, foreign social norms, cultural insensitivity, and racism, stigma and discrimination. The difficulties Inuit face in accessing quality health care can result in a delayed diagnosis, increased severity of disease, and ultimately poorer health outcomes.
This fact sheet is intended for non-Inuit healthcare providers who serve Inuit from Inuit Nunangat, especially service providers located in southern urban centres outside the Inuit homelands. It provides an overview of the issues affecting the quality of healthcare services for Inuit, including racism within the healthcare system, health care accessibility challenges, dietary changes and resulting health impacts, and a paucity of culturally appropriate mental health and addiction services. The fact sheet also highlights examples of culturally relevant, appropriate, and safe health care practices for working with Inuit patients.
View or download the fact sheet in South Qikiqtaaluk (South Baffin) (PDF)
View or download the fact sheet in English (PDF)