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Inuusinni Aqqusaaqtara – My Journey

Inuusinni Aqqusaaqtara – My Journey cancer resources have been created to increase Inuit knowledge about cancer and provide resources to patients, families, caregivers and health professional. The long term goal is to build cancer literacy, increase screening rates, encourage lifestyle changes to reduce cancer incidence and develop platforms for support at each stage of the cancer journey.

Cancer is a leading cause of death among Inuit populations. Compared to the general population of Canada, Inuit have a higher incidence of lung, liver, oesophageal, nasopharyngeal, and salivary cancer. Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada is developing culturally appropriate cancer awareness tools and a toolkit to support community health representatives (CHRs), health care providers and Inuit cancer patients.

ᐃᓅᓯᓐᓂ ᐊᖅᑯᓵᖅᑕᕋ

Cancer Journey Videos

Learning that you have cancer can be very frightening. Getting the news that you have cancer in any language is not easy but when English is not your mother tongue, you may not understand what is being said.

Initially you may think ‘why me?’ or feel your life is ending, so we have provided some stories from Inuk survivors, families and health care providers to give you hope and help you understand that what you are feeling right now is what other people have felt too.

These video clips have been produced to let you know that there are resources to help and support you.

View Cancer Journey Videos

Canadian Cancer Society – Community services locator (CSL)

Need help finding services for your cancer journey? Click here. 

Urban Cancer Centres

Many Inuit live in remote communities and have to leave their home and families to get the necessary medical treatments for cancer. Use the interactive map to learn about the services and accommodation options in each urban centre. Click on the city name below to find out about the cancer services offered.

Phase 1: Kaggutiq Inuit Cancer Glossary

From 2012 – 2014, Pauktuutit received funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada to hold focus groups to engage Inuit communities and reach out to CHRs and health care providers working with Inuit cancer patients. The project included the Inuit Cancer Literacy Forum held in Inuvik, NT, in July 2013. This forum brought together Inuit medical translators, cancer content experts, community health and social service providers, land claims organization representatives, educators, elders and youth to address the lack of cancer terminology and the unique differences of dialects in Inuit regions. Through this forum the Kaggutiq Inuit Cancer Glossary was developed.

The Kaggutiq Inuit Cancer Glossary was Pauktuutit’s first cancer resource for Inuit. It is intended to provide Inuit patients and caregivers, as well as health care professionals with plain language information in English about cancer in English and five dialects of Inuktitut.

The Kaggutiq Inuit Cancer Glossary inspired a strategic partnership that brought together organizations with complementary experience and expertise through recognizing that a lack of commonly understood and used Inuktitut vocabulary was a barrier to communicating effectively about cancer.

As part of Phase I Pauktuutit also created the cancer journey video series available on YouTube, discussing the Inuit cancer journey from the perspective of survivors, educators and health care workers it is a glimpse into the reality of many Inuit traveling to urban centres for medical treatment.

Kaggutiq Inuit Cancer Glossary

The Kaggutiq Inuit Cancer Glossary is intended to provide Inuit patients and caregivers, as well as health care professionals with plain language cancer information in English and five major dialects of Inuktitut.

Pauktuutit encourages Inuit and health service providers to use this glossary of terms to improve communication and understanding of cancer terms. The Kaggutiq Inuit Cancer Glossary is a living document and your feedback is one way for us to continuously add to the glossary.

View Kaggutiq Inuit Cancer Glossary

Phase II: Inuit Cancer Project

The goal of Pauktuutit’s Inuit Cancer Project is to increase Inuit knowledge about cancer in general and specifically about cancer risk factors, cancer screening and early detection.

Pauktuutit is now working in collaboration with the Canadian Cancer Society and the project advisory committee through funding provided by Jaguar Land Rover Canada. The goal of this project is to further facilitate the dissemination of the Kaggutiq Inuit Cancer Glossary and develop other crucial Inuit specific health literacy resources in order to increase awareness and understanding of cancer among Inuit communities and ultimately improve health outcomes.

Pauktuutit’s Inuit Cancer Project will develop region-specific awareness tools that explain cancers, identify cancer risk factors, describe screening procedures and describe the types of treatment and care associated with different cancers. Additionally, information and resources will be developed to support Inuit patients and the work of Inuit and non-Inuit health care providers.

The long-term objective is to build health literacy among Inuit populations, increase screening rates, encourage lifestyle changes to reduce cancer incidence and develop platforms for support at every stage of the cancer journey. Approximately 60,000 people living in 53 communities in four regions – Inuvialuit (NWT), Nunavut, Nunavik (northern Quebec) and Nunatsiavut (Labrador) – will benefit from this project.

Partnerships

This project is a collaboration between Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada and the Canadian Cancer Society generously supported by Jaguar Land Rover Canada.

Jaguar Land Rover Canada is the sole corporate supporter of the Inuit Cancer Project. Jaguar Land Rover supports the project through their Global Corporate Social Responsibility Program, which aims to improve lives and advance knowledge by supporting projects that enhance health, well being and the environment.
The Canadian Cancer Society is a national community–based organization of volunteers whose mission is the eradication of cancer and the enhancement of the quality of life of people living with cancer. The Society provides expertise in interpreting research, developing recommendations and framing advice in plain language.
Pauktuutit is the national non-profit organization representing all Inuit women in Canada. Its mandate is to foster a greater awareness of the needs of Inuit women, and to encourage their participation in community, regional and national concerns in relation to social, cultural and economic development.

Project Advisory Committee