The Meeka project is a collaborative effort of CCSA, Tungasuvvingat Inuit, Mamisarvik Healing Centre in Ottawa and Meeka Arnaqaq, an Inuit Elder from Pangnirtung.

The Meeka Project represents an opportunity to leverage traditional knowledge of Inuit Elders while building resilience in communities so that they may address many future challenges and opportunities in the North. In addition, the project will provide tools for non-Inuit to better understand the culture in which they live and work.

Elders are the connection to the past, a time when language, culture and wellness were strong. Traditional knowledge – centered on culture and balance - is an integral part of wellness for Inuit. This project will work alongside Meeka Arnaqaq, a revered Inuit Elder from Pangnirtung, Nunavut, in translating and publishing her collection of traditional knowledge that recounts the historical traumas of Inuit colonization and today’s intergenerational abuse experienced by families—which forms some of the underlying issues of Inuit substance abuse. Her compilations of traditional knowledge and teachings will inform work and bolster the foundation of strength-based, evidence-informed, promising approaches for working with Inuit and substance abuse issues.
 
The project’s primary audience is the collective community of Inuit living mainly in the territories of Nunavut and NWT as well as Nunavik, Nunatsiavut and the ever-growing Inuit community based in Ottawa, Ontario. Inuit will benefit most from a better understanding of their history and collective traumas and hence intergenerational abuses that are experienced by Inuit. It will help enhance community wellness and build resilience as people in the North examine their issues related to substance abuse, family violence and mental wellness through a cultural approach founded on strength-based knowledge that builds on Inuit culture and traditional knowledge. 

The translation of Meeka’s traditional knowledge manuals from Inuktitut syllabics into English was completed in March 2009, supported by Mamisarvik Healing Centre and funded by CCSA. The publication and printing of the four manuals—again supported by Mamisarvik Healing Centre and funded and supported by CCSA and the Aboriginal Healing Foundation—will be completed in the summer of 2009. CCSA is seeking further collaboration and funding for the development of promising approaches in healing for Inuit with substance abuse problems.