Dalla Lana School of Public Health

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WIIH Webinar Speaker Series 2024/25

Date: Thursday May 9, 2024, 12:00pm – 1:00pm

Speaker(s): Dr. Jessica Penney, PHD

Title: Inuksiutit – That Which Makes Us Whole: Sharing Intergenerational Inuit Food Sovereignty Initiatives from Nunavut

Abstract: Food security and food sovereignty are significant social, cultural, and public health issues in Inuit communities, and at further risk due to climate change. This presentation profiles the Inuksiutit project, which focuses on food sovereignty in Nunavut and the co-production of country food knowledge. Dr. Jessica Penney, a Co-Investigator on the project, will discuss the importance of Inuit ways of knowing and being in achieving food sovereignty, and how transdisciplinary, community-led initiatives are developing important resources for the intergenerational transmission of Inuit food knowledge. In particular, the talk will discuss the role of Inuit women’s leadership in research, intergenerational digital storytelling, and community-led advocacy.

Bio: Dr. Jessica Penney is a Nunatsiavut Inuk researcher raised in Nunavut whose work focuses on the intersection of Inuit health, food systems, and environmental issues. Her PhD research at the University of Glasgow focused on the experience of Inuit affected by the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project in Labrador, Canada, including the impacts of environmental contaminants on Inuit food systems and health risk communications. She is currently Co-Investigator on the ‘Inuksiutit: Food Sovereignty in Nunavut’ project, which works with youth and elders to consider how Inuit food choices and food futures are affected by climate change, and to promote the intergenerational transmission of food knowledge such as butchering, cooking, and fermentation techniques. Jessica is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto.

Elder: Mr. Clay Shirt

Moderator: Dr. Billie–Jo Hardy