The average surface air temperature over Canada has warmed by about 1.7°C between 1948 and 2012 – that is twice the global average.  The rate of warming in Northern Canada has been about 2½ times the global average since the late 1940s.¹

There have already been significant environmental changes in the North as a result of increasing temperatures.  These include decreased ice thickness, melting of permafrost, coastal erosion, rising sea levels, landslides, and altered distribution and migration of wildlife.^2,3

Climate change will likely lead to the spread of animal-transmitted diseases throughout the North, putting children at increased risk of disease.⁴  With remote health services in the North, illness, especially if widespread or epidemic, is of particular concern.

¹Government of Canada. (2013). Canada’s Sixth National Report on Climate Change: 2014. https://ec.gc.ca/cc/16153A64-BDA4-4DBB-A514-B159C5149B55/6458_EC_ID1180-MainBook_high_min%20FINAL-s.pdf-accessed March 5, 2017.
²Berry, P., Clarke, K., Fleury, M.D. and Parker, S. (2014): Human Health; In Canada in a Changing Climate: Sector Perspectives on Impacts and Adaptation, (ed.) F.J. Warren and D.S. Lemmen; Government of Canada, Ottawa, ON, p. 191-232. https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/sites/www.nrcan.gc.ca/files/earthsciences/pdf/assess/2014/pdf/Chapter7-Human-Health_Eng.pdf-accessed July 24, 2017.
³Furgal C. Health impacts of climate change in Canada’s north. Rep. No.: H128–1/08-528E. Ottawa, ON: Health Canada; 2008.
⁴Lemmen, D.S., Warren, F.J., Lacroix, J., & Bush, E. (2008). From Impacts to Adaptation: Canada in a Changing Climate 2007. Government of Canada, Ottawa, ON, 448. https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/sites/www.nrcan.gc.ca/files/earthsciences/pdf/assess/2007/pdf/synth_e.pdf-accessed July 24, 2017.