'Woefully inaccurate' Inuit population data overwhelming local agencies

Inaccurate census data about the size of Ottawa's Inuit community is leading to inadequate funding for the health and social services designed to help it, the agencies that provide those services say.

According to the latest numbers available from Statistics Canada, Ottawa hasthe largest Inuit population outside of the North, enumerated at 1,280 in 2016.

We're bursting at the seams.-ConnieSiedule, AkausivikInuit Family Health Team

But agencies that provide services to the community estimate the Inuit population in the capital is at least 3,700, and as large as 6,000.

"My first thought was, that's still under-sampled," said Connie Siedule, executive director of the AkausivikInuit Family Health Team, the only medical clinic dedicated specifically to Inuit clients.Siedulesaid the clinic currently has 6,000 patients registered.

Those clients tend to be people who reside here, because patients who fly to Ottawa for critical care tend to use the region's hospitals, not Akausivik.

"For years, we've seenmore community members show up at the Christmas party than [are reflected in] thecensus," Siedule said.

LHINpegs population at 3.7K

The ChamplainLocal Health Integration Network (LHIN), the agency responsible for health care services in the region, pegs the region's Inuit population at3,700 in its 2015 Indigenous services directory, an estimate based on information from Inuit community organizations.

However "the population estimates fluctuate as many Inuit move to and from northern communities on a
regular basis," the Champlain LHINnotes.

"The census data is woefully inaccurate," said Jason Leblanc ofTungasuvvingatInuit, a resource centre that offers a variety of services including housing support, job counselling, family resources, and addiction and mental health services.

According to its latest annual report, some 4,000 people accessed services through TungasuvvingatInuit in 2016.

Funding tied to numbers

The numbers are important, Leblancsaid, because that's how funding agencies decide where their money will go. Low population estimates mean less funding for the organizations that serve the community.

One issue is that statistics often rely on household counts, Leblanc said.

"Not all of our community members have one," Leblanc said, noting a relatively large portion of Ottawa's Inuit population is transient, and several families sometimes share a single home.

Language can presentanother barrier, Leblanc said, since it can be difficult for Inuit people to fill out census forms in Inuktitut.

In a statement, Statistics Canadatold CBC News that the census questionnaire must be "completed online or on paper, in either English or French."

Leblanc said better demographic information may have prevented the funding problems andclosure of the MamisarvikHealing Centre in 2016.

The centre, which provided mental health and addiction services to Inuit people for more than a decadeis awaiting a funding commitment by theOntario government to reopen in early 2018, said Leblanc.

Twice marginalized

"It's a big battle," Leblanc said. "We are, as Inuit, the marginalized within a marginalized population of Indigenous people in Canada."

We are, as Inuit, the marginalized within a marginalized population of Indigenous people in Canada.-Jason Leblanc, TungasuvvingatInuit

The census data does track an accelerating movement of Inuit from the North, a migration that's nearly doubled in a decade, with 25 per cent of Canada's Inuit population now living outside their traditional region.

It's one of the reasons the community lobbied to open Akausivik somefive years ago.

The clinic caters to the uniquehealth needs of Inuit people, who suffer from uncommonly highratesof respiratory illness includingtuberculosis psychological trauma, depression and suicide.

"We're bursting at the seams," Siedulesaid."Our current team is literally running, we're all running, every single one of us."

The growth of Ottawa's Inuit population is also evident fromthe sharp increasein bookings byLarga Baffin, which provides temporary housing for peopletravellingfrom Nunavut to Ottawa for medical services. The organization recorded 47,000 bookingsin 2016, a15 per cent increase over the previous year.

While many visitors return to the North after treatment, many othersdon't, deciding instead to remain in Ottawa.