The majority of Inuit people (73%) live in the Inuit Nunangat (Inuit homeland). This is made up of Nunavut, Nunavik (Northern Quebec), Nunatsiavut (Labrador), and Inuvialuit (Northwest Territories).¹ It is reported that 39% of Inuit people in Inuit Nunangat live in crowded homes², 33% of the homes are in need of major repair, and 33% are in core housing need.³ Inuit people are 10 times more likely to live in crowded homes and 5 times more likely to live in homes in need of major repair than non-Indigenous people.

Many Inuit families live in social housing. It is estimated that 15% of Nunavut’s population is waiting for public housing, and over 3,000 homes are needed to meet the need.⁴

These housing conditions contribute to many health and social issues for Inuit children and youth – including increased rates of infectious and respiratory illnesses, e.g., the rates of tuberculosis are 400 times higher than those of non-Indigenous Canadians;⁵ Inuit children living in Nunavut have the highest known rates of RSV bronchiolitis requiring hospitalization – 484 per 1000 infants in the first year of life (versus 27 per 1000 infants in temperate Canada and the United States);⁶ and Inuit people are particularly over-represented in flu pandemics.⁷

¹Statistics Canada. (2011). Aboriginal peoples in Canada: First Nations people, Métis and Inuit. Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada, Catalogue no. 99-011-X2011001.
²Statistics Canada. (2015). Aboriginal statistics at a glance: 2nd Edition. Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada, Catalogue no. 89-645- x2015001.
³Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. [CMHC]. (2015). 2011 Census/National Household Survey Housing conditions series: Issue 5- Inuit Households in Canada.
⁴Knotsch, C., & Kinnon, D. (2011). If not now … when? Addressing the ongoing Inuit housing crisis in Canada. Ottawa, ON: National Aboriginal Health Organization.
⁵Public Health Agency of Canada [PHAC]. (2014). Tuberculosis prevention and control in Canada: A federal framework for action.
⁶Kovesi, T. (2012).Respiratory disease in Canadian First Nations and Inuit children. Paediatrics & Child Health, 17(7):376-380.
⁷National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health (2016). The 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic among First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples in Canada: Epidemiolog y and gaps in knowledge. Prince George, BC: National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health.