title: Contemporary programs in support of traditional ways: Inuit perspectives on community freezers as a mechanism to alleviate pressures of wild food access in Nain, Nunatsiavut.
abstract: Rapid socio-cultural, economic, and environmental changes are challenging wild food access and thus food security for Inuit in the Canadian Arctic. In response to the continued value and practice of harvesting wild foods, communities are establishing "wild food support" initiatives. This study evaluated how one such initiative, a community freezer, in Nain, Nunatsiavut supported wild food access for community members. Data were collected through: interviews and focus groups with users, freezer managers, and active harvesters; participant observation; and document analysis. Results indicated that the community freezer supported socio-cultural, economic and local access to wild foods. However, there were issues associated with supply, dependency, social exclusion, and tension between feasibility and traditional values and practices. Communities, governments, and policymakers are urged to consider social and physical location as factors when investing in and monitoring such initiatives. The Nunatsiavut Government and the Nain Inuit Community Government have since worked together to modify this early freezer initiative due, in part, to this study's findings.
authors.affiliation: School for Resource and Environmental Studies, Dalhousie University, Kenneth C. Rowe Management Bldg, 6100 University Avenue, Suite 5010, PO Box 15000, Halifax, NS, Canada B3H 4R2. Electronic address: jforgan@dal.ca.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Organ
authors.affiliation: School for Resource and Environmental Studies, Dalhousie University, Kenneth C. Rowe Management Bldg, 6100 University Avenue, Suite 5010, PO Box 15000, Halifax, NS, Canada B3H 4R2; Departments of Geography and Public Health Sciences, Queen's University, Mackintosh-Corry Hall, Room D201, Kingston, ON, Canada K7L 3N6. Electronic address: heather.castleden@queensu.ca.
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Castleden
authors.affiliation: School for Resource and Environmental Studies, Dalhousie University, Kenneth C. Rowe Management Bldg, 6100 University Avenue, Suite 5010, PO Box 15000, Halifax, NS, Canada B3H 4R2; Indigenous Environmental Studies Program, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, ON, Canada K9J 6B8. Electronic address: chrisfurgal@trentu.ca.
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Furgal
authors.affiliation: Director of Environment, Nunatsiavut Government, 25 Ikajuktauvik Road, PO Box 70, Nain, NL, Canada A0P 1L0. Electronic address: tom_sheldon@nunatsiavut.com.
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sheldon
authors.affiliation: Departments of Geography and Public Health Sciences, Queen's University, Mackintosh-Corry Hall, Room D201, Kingston, ON, Canada K7L 3N6. Electronic address: catherine.hart@queensu.ca.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hart
mesh_terms: D001110:Arctic Regions; D019058:Community Networks; D017144:Focus Groups; D005523:Food Supply; D005615:Freezing; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D004930:Inuit; D012034:Refrigeration / Q000295:instrumentation*
keywords: Canadian Inuit perspectives; Community freezers; Food security and sovereignty; Sociocultural, economic, and environmental change; Wild food and country food