“We’re Home Now”: How a Rehousing Intervention Shapes the Mental Well-Being of Inuit Adults in Nunavut, Canada
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
2.1. Housing, Mental Well-Being, and Ontological Security
2.2. The Housing Context in Inuit Nunangat and Its Impact on Mental Well-Being
2.3. Mental Well-Being from an Inuit Perspective
3. Research Objective
4. Research Methodology
4.1. The Intervention Studied
4.2. Research Approach, Sampling, and Recruitment
4.3. Study Design, Data Collection, and Sample Characteristics
4.4. Data Analysis
5. Results
5.1. Themes
5.1.1. Refuge Creation
I guess it’s a safe place for my family, like when I’m at home, […] it’s peaceful and calm and just where I can do anything. It’s like, I don’t know. I guess in a way it’s a welcoming feeling just to be home. […] It’s just being at home makes me happy […] to be home, you’re like, you just breathe out and say ‘I’m home’, I can be myself, I can say whatever I want to people around me…
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- INTERVIEWER: … would you say that you are happier now that you moved to this new place or it’s pretty much the same as before?
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- Much happier.
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- INTERVIEWER: What would be the number one reason for you being happier?
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- Giving my children more space, to stay in a warm place. … In our own space.
When I used to live in this small unit [before rehousing], sometimes we were told to leave that small unit, and then now that I’m home, no one would tell me to leave or anything, so that’s a big difference for me, so.
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- When he [her son] ruined it [her first house], I had to move to his house. […] And they sent him to [place in the south, for anger issues therapy]. So, I stayed where he was staying at. And I was told that my mother was coming back, so the housing had to move me to a place with a rail. And like I said before, I couldn’t do everything for my mom because there’s no handle or anything. So, I brought my mom back to [another community]. And my son came back two months ago. So, they had to move me to another place [with him], but with only one bedroom. … It’s like every year I’ve been moving to another place. And I thought everything would be okay now, but I think he still has anger in there (starts crying) … And it’s scary. Especially being alone. Like I don’t have anybody. Just myself… But another thing, like my mom, I miss my mother. And I know she needs me…
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- INTERVIEWER: Okay, so when you’re not at work, where do you go if you don’t want to go back home? Do you just like walk around the community?
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- Wander around, go visit some people. But at night, it’s like where am I going to sleep? Because I am scared to go home. There should be shelter here. […] I’m even thinking like when I get paid, to get a shack or a cabin where I can go to.
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- INTERVIEWER: A cabin, you mean out on the land?
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- Yeah…if I’m scared to go home, I would go to the cabin or a shack, where I can be alone.
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- It’s… (starts crying) It’s hard to find a place when one of my brothers kicked us out from my parents’ house. […] And it’s hard to find a place.
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- INTERVIEWER. How do you imagine your life in a new place?
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- My own space. My kids. To play around and stuff like that. Just be myself. Having my own place, like with my little family, you know? […] Sometimes my kids get scared when one of my brothers gets mad (starts crying)
She doesn’t say it exactly with her words, but I could see it in her face. Like other times she won’t even talk to me if I ask her a question, or she’ll just ignore me. She’ll just have nothing to do with me. That’s when I know she needs her space. I just go out.
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- I can say, “I’m going home now, mom,” because I feel at home.
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- INTERVIEWER: Oh, okay. And what is home to you? What makes a place be your home?
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- When we first moved in—it was quiet and then me and my son would sleep together, but sometimes I felt like when I first moved in there, that I’m a visitor, but I got comfortable later on.
Yeah, she [her daughter] loved it at my mom’s place [before rehousing], but she never liked to be there when she sees my younger siblings fight, like she’s terrified. So, I guess she feels a lot safer here because she never witnessed any fighting… I think she misses her little cousins… all summer they were out playing with each other, but she seems lonely after time, like when she’s home. We’ve been keeping her home because she’s sick, so she seems lonely.
5.1.2. Self-Determination and Increased Control
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- Well, he stays with [extended family] as I am couch surfing […] I was calling around and asking how else would I get points? They told me if I go to the meetings and let them know about my situation, that I would be able to get points. They told me the mental health nurse can also help with a support letter. So, I made an appointment.
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- INTERVIEWER: Okay. And the [other] letter of support from social services, did you actually see the letter?
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- I helped her write it. She was asking me questions. Like where am I staying, how many people are living there, and what’s my situation, or issues. [So I said] that I’ve been a single mother for some time now. And we had our own place, but without notice, that we had to go. And I told them how my son is staying over at my [extended family]’s while I am sleeping over elsewhere. So, they put that in as well.
I try the social services, I try to find a place, and they help me, and it was good but my husband go get me, “You don’t live there.” […] I was tired of hearing him, divorce, suicide, and all that. He always tells me to get rid of my life. […]
Then [my husband] told me that, “If you believe God, you have to come back home.” I believed God, then I went back home. I really believed Him. He helps me a lot. When I pray, he’s there for me. He heard God helps me a lot, protecting me so good, yeah. (crying)
I just cried, I just cried, I just talked to the sky, “God help me if you’re there. You’ve got my parents; I’ve got nothing. You gave me a husband. He got me out of the house, and where can I go?” (crying) Nowhere, I just got my mom’s grave, my parents’ grave. I just cried and cried. “Oh My God, you’re out of my life now, how come there’s no help to me. Nobody helps me. I need a place.”…
Yeah, I’m just waiting to get a house. If he says, “Get out,” yeah, I’ve got a house, I can get out. Yeah, I want… get a new place, get my job back, bring my kids to school.
It is kind of hard because I have a boyfriend from [another community], he’s usually here because we’re together, but not now, we’re in the long-distance relationship because of our housing, because we don’t have our own room and privacy.
Back in 20xx, I receive a payment [a rent arrears statement] of [more than ten thousand dollars], I don’t know where it comes from. I’m not working, I’m a single mother, I don’t know where it came from, but the housing told me to get out, so I had to get out with my children, go back [living] with my parents for a while. […] With three different families there, I had to get out and look for a house. When it’s springtime I had to go to the cabin, live in the cabin for six to eight months, come back here. I’m tired of doing this so I had to look for a partner that who could support me. (Starts crying) […] Yeah, I don’t want this, but I am living with an elderly man and I don’t like … I need a house.
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- INTERVIEWER: Can you give me some more examples, like on a day-to-day basis, what would it [having your own place] change in your day-to-day routines?
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- There’d be a lot more smiles, that’s for sure. I would spend more time with my kids instead of just trying to run away from problems that I don’t know how to fix, so many things, like too much actually. … Just trying to be a normal person is a real challenge when you have all these problems in front of you. You can’t really do anything about them, except you get out of there and let it be.
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- INTERVIEWER: And when you say, “it’s hard to be a normal person,” what it is for you to be a normal person? Family of mine and its own space and the way they are right now, everybody is like a boss to everybody else. There are too many rubbing shoulders and stuff like that. […]
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- INTERVIEWER: So, that is why you feel your kids would be happier [if you had your own place]?
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- Oh, yes. A lot happier, for sure. Yes, they would be.
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- INTERVIEWER: Do you have enough space to cook for the whole family?
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- I try to buy food for my family and try to cook enough for my family and my kids, sometimes it’s kind of hard to feed them. […] Too many people in my parents’ house. […] They mostly ran out of food, drinks, sometimes my kids don’t eat for days.
We were engaged at that time and I didn’t really want to pick a date when we were engaged until we got our own place. That was one of my… me pushing Housing for us to get a place faster and at the same time wanting to have more kids. That’s what I said a couple of times and then a year and a half later we got our place, apartment.
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- When I was still with my parents my brothers, both of them were sharing a room and my parents and my sister were in, are still in one room, and me with my husband we had to share with my brother, taking turns so it got pretty annoying sharing a room, so I moved out [to her boyfriend’s parents’ place]. That’s the problem, overcrowding.
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- INTERVIEWER: Okay so you must have been pretty happy when you learned that it was your turn?
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- Yeah it felt so much lighter in my own, everything, not depending on using someone else’s- …like what we do at our own place. Yeah … a good space for me. Nobody bothers us… I can cook anything, I can do my laundry anytime, I can take a shower, my house can be a mess [laughs].
My own space, own privacy and easier for me to raise [child’s name] the way I want to and the way [husband’s name] wants to, so that makes it a lot easier… We discipline [the child] more, like we’re not trying to be as careful and like grandparents being grandparents, they try to limp us from disciplining her and we don’t spoil her as much, it helps a lot because she listens a lot more now.
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- [Speaking of living in their new unit] It’s like we grounded, like no more: can we do this, can we do that? A place to call home. Not trying to be quiet in the mornings. More open, more…yes, freedom. And watch my actual family grow. Like I’m from my family, but in my own home, I can raise my own family. […]
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- INTERVIEWER: Why exactly do you say that you feel that your children are maybe happier here?
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- I don’t know, just… Uncle can I play with this? Uncle can I play with that?” Drinks or anything. Here they can just go in the fridge or in the cupboards. They know where their snacks are.
5.1.3. Improved Family Dynamics and Identity Repair
It’s like, I can do anything I want here. […] I do carvings. I can just go out and make a carving with the tools, or use the water more. Like not saving the water for somebody next. Stuff like that. […] Yeah, hunting is my life. [I go out] Like, almost every weekend. Only if I have some gas, I go out. If I don’t have gas, I have to carve or work for gas, until I go out again.
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- INTERVIEWER. Okay and do you also sew?
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- Yeah. I like—my favourite thing to do too.
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- INTERVIEWER: Yeah? Is it—so do you have enough space here to sew as much as you want?
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- Yeah I … I make too much mess sometimes but [laughs] I’m going to be getting a sewing table soon to have it here [pointing at the second bedroom] …We all sleep in one room.
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- [Speaking of his father, who passed away]. Yes, a matter fact we just went to his grave yesterday to go tell him that I’m married now. Any big occasion or any big event, I still go talk to my dad. He’s not dead, he’s sleeping.
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- INTERVIEWER: Can you feel him still with you?
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- Yes, I still dream about him. My youngest is named after him, so that takes most of the weight off, like more into the heart.
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- INTERVIEWER: Yes, I guess so and I mean, he must be proud of you as well.
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- Very, because anything I’d accomplish, he’d be very proud. He’d been there.
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- INTERVIEWER: What do you think he’s the proudest of, of everything that you’ve accomplished in your life?
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- Me getting married. Yes. Because the night before, this is the table where we had our last conversation and he told me, me and my older brother and my uncle, we’re always going to help each other. We didn’t know why he said that and then he told me I’ll have my own family, I’ll get married, I’ll be working. “No, I want to live with you forever.” He gave me a big hug.
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- INTERVIEWER: And then he passed away?
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- The next morning.
I guess it improved the way we [extended family] interact because if they’re having a bad day or like not all the time we’re going to get along with our siblings or parents, so I guess they just come more often when something is happening at their home, so anyway I just, it brings us close.
I am able to talk to my daughter now about what she does, what she did and her problems and teach her about what my mom taught me; yeah just talk to her, only her, yeah without anyone around … and also with my husband, good privacy. […] That’s the big help for having your own place we can talk without being disturbed. We don’t have to be in a room or hide or be out to talk. That helps a lot.
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- INTERVIEWER: […] do you think that having your kids back with you in your own place, do you think that that would stop you from drinking, or help you a little bit?
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- Yes. I think it would help me a lot.
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- INTERVIEWER: Yeah? […] why exactly?
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- I have to look out for them, and I don’t want to let them see me like that because, you know… Having the kids with me would probably stop me from drinking too much.
No, and then there are some people like me waiting to go into a bigger house. There’s a certain age for our kids to not share a room, like when they become, mostly when they’re a girl and a boy. Because I… I want a three bedroom before she is a teenager, my daughter. My oldest will be nine soon. She [pointing at her youngest] just turned three, so I want to move into a three bedroom soon, hopefully soon in a few years, hopefully…
6. Discussion
6.1. Material Housing Conditions and Inuit Well-Being
6.2. Gendered Housing Experiences in Nunavut
6.3. Ontological Security from the Home in the Nunavut’s Context
6.4. Contributions to the Ontological Security Theory
6.5. Limitations
7. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
Appendix A
- A household is below one or more of the adequacy, suitability, and affordability standards.
- The household would have to spend 30% or more of its before-tax household income to access local housing that meets all three standards.
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Perreault, K.; Lapalme, J.; Potvin, L.; Riva, M. “We’re Home Now”: How a Rehousing Intervention Shapes the Mental Well-Being of Inuit Adults in Nunavut, Canada. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 6432. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116432
Perreault K, Lapalme J, Potvin L, Riva M. “We’re Home Now”: How a Rehousing Intervention Shapes the Mental Well-Being of Inuit Adults in Nunavut, Canada. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(11):6432. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116432
Chicago/Turabian StylePerreault, Karine, Josée Lapalme, Louise Potvin, and Mylène Riva. 2022. "“We’re Home Now”: How a Rehousing Intervention Shapes the Mental Well-Being of Inuit Adults in Nunavut, Canada" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 11: 6432. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116432
APA StylePerreault, K., Lapalme, J., Potvin, L., & Riva, M. (2022). “We’re Home Now”: How a Rehousing Intervention Shapes the Mental Well-Being of Inuit Adults in Nunavut, Canada. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(11), 6432. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116432