Community wellness in the Northwest Territories: Indicators and social policy
Dates
Year
1998
Citation
Gerein, H. J., 1998, Community wellness in the Northwest Territories: Indicators and social policy: Gonzaga University.
Summary
The communities of Canada's Northwest Territories and its territorial government are struggling with rapid economic, social, political, and technological change in a region which is sparsely populated, largely Aboriginal, and very poor. Each community is committed to improving the condition of the population while also making progress towards economic self-sufficiency and political autonomy. The perspectives and cultural backgrounds of the four principal populations--Inuit, Dene, Metis, and Euro-Canadian--and the views of the legislature and its professional bureaucracy must be harmonized and a common language developed in order to produce appropriate public policy and maximize the use of scarce financial resources. As a foundation [...]
Summary
The communities of Canada's Northwest Territories and its territorial government are struggling with rapid economic, social, political, and technological change in a region which is sparsely populated, largely Aboriginal, and very poor. Each community is committed to improving the condition of the population while also making progress towards economic self-sufficiency and political autonomy. The perspectives and cultural backgrounds of the four principal populations--Inuit, Dene, Metis, and Euro-Canadian--and the views of the legislature and its professional bureaucracy must be harmonized and a common language developed in order to produce appropriate public policy and maximize the use of scarce financial resources. As a foundation for the development of a common language about community, the researcher sought to define a healthy northern community and develop an instrument for the measurement of community wellness. A definition of community wellness and its measures composed a draft instrument derived from the literature on quality of life, sustainable community, healthy community, and moral community movements, as well as northern public policy documents. Designed for adaptation, application, and maintenance at the local and regional levels, the Community Wellness Instrument and its output, a wellness index, were based on available administrative and publicly collected statistics. The instrument is a tool--a means by which the Northwest Territories government and its communities can assess community socio-economic condition, gain insights to causal relationships, and mutually design policies and intervention strategies that will optimize effectiveness and the building of a more just society. The researcher used focus groups to validate and revise the draft instrument. The study measures the condition of the Territories' 58 communities, using the Instrument and statistical analyses to examine the relationships between socio-economic indicators; the differences among the communities based on their size, population composition, and administrative region; and to identify the best predictors of the Community Wellness Index. The project's findings and conclusions include implications of community wellness measurement and reporting to political accountability, policy-making, bureaucratic organization, and administrative practice in Canada's north along with recommendations for change and further study.
