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This thesis investigates the nature and distribution of ground ice occurrences on the central Fosheim Peninsula, Ellesmere Island, and assesses the potential for thermokarst in light of possible climatic warming. / Field observations conducted in 1990 and 1991 involved geomorphological and cryostratigraphic examinations of twenty-eight ground ice sections exposed in retrogressive thaw slumps and ground probing radar surveys of two of the thaw slumps. Samples were taken of ground ice and sediments exposed in thaw slump headwalls for laboratory analysis. / Samples were analyzed for moisture content, grain size distribution, and Atterberg limits. Gravimetric ice contents were calculated and an average ice content profile was constructed for the study area. / Ground ice was found to be an important component of permafrost on the Fosheim Peninsula and was widely observed in Holocene marine sediments. The ice occurred in two stratigraphic settings at depths of one to five meters in silt and clay, and at ten meters or deeper beneath massive clay. Ice contents were generally found to increase rapidly with depth down to three meters, below which ice content was stabilized. / Ground probing radar was found to be a useful tool for permafrost research, given its ability to discriminate between ice and soil, as well as between frozen and unfrozen water.

Long before the introduction of a western-style formal education for the Inuit of Canada’s north, the people learned everything they needed to know from their immediate and extended family units. The goal of education for Inuit at that time was simple: learn the skills needed to survive. The current goal of education in Canada is similar, though ‘survival’ has a new context where governments and educators focus more on how to prosper and succeed (in addition to being able to survive). There have been many fundamental shifts in the methodology behind educating Inuit students but each paradigm has intended to better prepare children how to survive in the modern world. In 2012, for example, there is more of a focus on Calculus than on skinning caribou and students learn how to read sheet music instead of watching elders beat a sealskin drum and mimicking the rhythm. Curriculum focuses on scientific or historical facts rather than myths or legends to explain how the world works. This thesis examines the latest two paradigms in educational curricula in the territory now known as Nunavut. In 1999, the territory of Nunavut came into effect when the Nunavut Act was proclaimed. Before this, the area now known as Nunavut was part of a much larger and more culturally diverse Northwest Territories. In the years leading up to 1999, plans began to take shape that would lead to the separation of Inuit inhabited lands. Inuit desired a system of government that reflected their own distinct culture, and enabled them to make decisions and policies for those living within their boundaries. The Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (more easily remembered as IQ), a set of principles that refer to traditional Inuit knowledge and knowledge gathering, is a key example. The new government of Nunavut introduced IQ principles to guide decisions, policies and set values that would create a government that was truly representative of the people it served. Prior to this, the Northwest Territories used a system of education and pedagogy that was adopted primarily from the Province of Alberta. Though some curriculum focused on the Inuit as a people, it was not a system designed to incorporate traditional Inuit knowledge. The educational experiences of former Inuit students before Nunavut was established can be compared to those educational experiences of Inuit after the formation of Nunavut (and after IQ was incorporated into the education of Inuit). This thesis evaluates and compares those differences, documenting shifts in attitude, experiences and stories from the time before Nunavut appeared on maps to the time after the territory of Nunavut was created.

Niche segregation among 4 species of sculpins (Myoxocephalus quadricornis, M. scorpius, M. scorpioides and Gymnocanthus tricuspis) inhabiting the east coast of James bay was studied along estuarine and depth gradients at different times of year between 1987 and 1990. A high degree of habitat overlap and absence of feeding segregation among sculpins was observed. M. quadricornis and M. scorpius dominated catch in the estuary and in the coastal zone, respectively. M. scorpioides and G. tricuspis were less abundant and generally avoided the estuary. G. tricuspis was the only cottid which seemed to migrate. Significant differences in the diets were observed at different sites, seasons and years, but not along depth gradients (2 a 20 m). The distribution and abundance of sculpins appeared to be regulated by physical (salinity and temperature) and biological (competition) factors.

This thesis seeks to identify the mosaic, rather than the monolithic, nature of culture contact by integrating historical and archaeological sources relating to the concept of gender roles, as they influence response within a contact situation. Specifically, I examine how the Inuit gender system structured artifact patterning in Inuit-European contact situations through the investigation of three Inuit sites in Frobisher Bay, Baffin Island. These date from the 16th, 19th and early 20th centuries and represent a variety of seasonal occupations and dwelling forms. / The ethnographic data suggest that Inuit gender relations were egalitarian and complementary. On this basis I hypothesize that European goods and materials were used equally by men and women. Within each gendered set of tasks, European goods and materials were differently used, according to empirically functional criteria such as the nature of the tasks. / Opportunities for and responses to European contact differed depending on the types of tasks in which Inuit women and men engaged and the social roles they played. Seasonality of occupation bears upon the archaeological visibility of gender activities. / Sixteenth-century Elizabethan contact did not alter Nugumiut gender roles, tasks, authority or status but served primarily as a source of raw material, namely wood and iron. Based on the analysis of slotted tools I suggest a refinement to take account of the overlap in blade thickness that occurs for metal and slate, and which depends on the function of the tool. I conclude that there was much more metal use by Thule Inuit than previously believed. However, during Elizabethan contact and shortly afterwards there was actually less metal use by the Nugumiut than in the prehistoric era. / Little archaeological evidence was recovered for 19th-century commercial whaling contact, (suggesting geographic marginality to European influence), or for 19th century Inuit occupation in the area. This is partly because of immigration to Cumberland Sound and because of subsequent structural remodelling of the dwellings by later occupants. / By the early 20th century, the archaeological record showed not only equal use of European material across gender but a near-ubiquitous distribution across most activity classes, even though commercial trapping never replaced traditional subsistence pursuits but only supplemented them.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Aberdeen University, 2009. / Title from web page (viewed on Dec. 2, 2009). Includes bibliographical references.

Background: The incidence of tuberculosis (TB) among Inuit is over 400 times that of Canadian-born non-indigenous people. To address this, more patients will need to complete preventative treatment. Methods: First, data were extracted retrospectively for all patients with a tuberculin skin test (TST) implanted in Iqaluit, Nunavut between January 2012 and March 2016 and used to identify sources of loss from the latent TB infection (LTBI) cascade of care. Associations between demographic and clinical factors and treatment non-initiation and treatment non-completion were identified using regression models. Second, using a slightly expanded version of the retrospective dataset plus other sources, a Markov model was utilized to assess the cost-effectiveness of a novel shortened regimen for LTBI (12 weeks of once weekly isoniazid and rifapentine (3HP)) compared to the current standard of care (9 months of isoniazid monotherapy (9H)). Results: Treatment non-initiation and non-completion were the largest sources of loss of TST positive patients from the cascade of care. LTBI testing via employment screening was associated with treatment non-initiation while older age was associated with both treatment noninitiation and non-completion. In cost-effectiveness analysis, 3HP was dominant over 9H: costs were lower ($835 vs $1229 per person) and health outcomes slightly improved (20.14 vs 20.13 QALYs gained per person treated), largely due to an improved treatment completion with 3HP. Conclusions: Interventions to increase LTBI treatment initiation and completion in Iqaluit are needed. This could include the use of 3HP instead of 9H for LTBI treatment which may improve treatment completion and result in cost savings and slightly improved health outcomes.

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