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HUMAN HEALTH AND COMMUNITY WELLNESS

Indicators

Note: The following indicators are identified in the NWT Environmental Audit Status of the Environment Report, 2005.

• Human health*
• Population*
• Education*
• Crime and safety*
• Housing*
• Families and children*
• Income and employment*
• NWT economy*
• Aboriginal culture*

* Trend graphs are available for indicators highlighed in orange.

Trend Graphs (NEW)

Indicators	Trend Graphs
Human Health	Life Expectancy at Birth Northwest Territories and Canada, 1997 (PDF: 74 KB) Age-Specific Fertility Rate (PDF: 73 KB) Number per 1000 Births of Low (< 2500 Grams) and High (4000+ Grams) Birth Weights for Northwest Territories and Canada (PDF: 67 KB) Infant Mortality per 1000 Live Births in Northwest Territories and Canada (1981-2002) (PDF: 67 KB) Mortality Rates per 1,000 Population in NWT (PDF: 56 KB) Deaths per 1000 Population (PDF: 59 KB) Death Rates from Accidents, Suicides and Homicides per 10,000 Populations for Canada and Northwest Territories (PDF: 64 KB) Sexually Transmitted Infection Rate per 1,000 Populations (3-Year Average) for the Northwest Territories (PDF: 61 KB) Potential Years of Life Lost (< 75 Years) in Northwest Territories (1999-2002) (PDF: 80 KB) Leading Causes of Death per 10,000 Population in Northwest Territories (1999-2001) (PDF: 83 KB) Percent of Population 15 Years and Over that Smoke Cigarettes in Northwest Territories 1994-2004 (PDF: 70 KB) Incidence of Heavy Alcohol Use for Canada and Northwest Territories (PDF: 66 KB) Profile of Alcohol Consumption in the Northwest Territories (PDF: 135 KB) Community Well-Being Index levels for First Nations Communities Across Canada (2001) (PDF: 118 KB) Time trends of mean methylmercury concentrations (AMAP) (PDF: 96 KB)
Population	Population of Northwest Territories by Sex, 1996-2004 (PDF: 87 KB) Components of Population Change in NWT by Time Period (January 1, 2001 to October 1, 2004) (PDF: 85 KB) Population Estimates by Ethnicity, 2000-2004 (PDF: 60 KB)
Education	Educational Attainment in the Northwest Territories (PDF: 77 KB) Percentage of Population 15 Years and Older with At Least High School (PDF: 76 KB) High School Graduation Rate for the Northwest Territories and Canada, 1994-2001 (PDF: 66 KB)
Crime and Safety	Violent Crime Rate by Detachment (Incidences per 1000 People) (PDF: 75 KB) Rate of Juvenile Crime (Males, Three Year Average) (PDF: 77 KB) Rate of Juvenile Crime (Females, Three Year Average) (PDF: 76 KB) Admissions of Women and Children to NWT Shelters (PDF: 70 KB)
Housing	Percentage of Households in Core Housing Need (PDF: 74 KB) Percentage of Households with Six or More Persons (PDF: 73 KB)
Families and Children	Percentage of Lone Parent Families (PDF: 69 KB) Children Living in Low Income (PDF: 74 KB) Number of Child Protection Investigations (PDF: 62 KB) Population Dependency Ratio (Less Than 15 Years of Age) (PDF: 74 KB) Population Dependency Ratio (60 Years of Age of Older) (PDF: 77 KB)
Income and Employment	Average Employment Income for Canada and NWT, 1994-2003 (PDF: 82 KB) Average Family Income by Community in the NWT, 1999-2002 (PDF: 80 KB) Average Employment Income (PDF: 69 KB) Percentage of Families with Income Less Than $30,000 and Table 8.4-21 Percentage of Families with Income Greater than $75,000 (PDF: 77 KB) Percentage of Persons 15 Years and Over and Employed at a Job or Business (PDF: 74 KB)
NWT Economy	Gross Domestic Product at Market Prices, 1999-2003 in Millions of Chained (1997) Dollars (PDF: 70 KB) Consumer Price Index - Yellowknife and Canada (All Items and Percentage Change) (PDF: 73 KB)
Aboriginal Culture	Percentage of Aboriginal People 15 Years and Over Able to Speak an Aobiringal Language (PDF: 71 KB) Use of Harvested Meat and Fish (PDF: 69 KB)

Current Knowledge

Information on more than 60 statistical measures including human health indicators and individuals' state of health is being collected in the NWT. Most of the information is collected by government agencies for the purpose of monitoring and identifying demographic, population and social trends.

There are only a few monitoring programs which include community wellness, such as the Lutsel K'e monitoring program, which is conducted from a community and traditional knowledge perspective. Two other community wellness monitoring programs related to diamond mining include a collection of health indicators that try to assess overall community wellness.

The Department of Health and Social Services is developing a framework and a list of indicators to monitor population health and well-being. This will be likely be completed in 2006. At present, there is not common approach to measuring human health and wellness in the NWT. Predicting and defining human health and community wellness is problematic for many reasons including: changing societal norms; lack of baseline data; inconsistencies in definitions; annual variability in data; depth of data collection, etc.

In the NWT, in particular, cultural diversity and rapid economic development make monitoring human health and community wellness especially difficult. Some people suggest that human health and community wellness should be two separate categories for measurement. Discussion on this VC continues and it will be refined.

Current Monitoring

• Traditional Knowledge Study on Community Health: Community-Based Monitoring - Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation
• Annual Report on Community Health and Well Being - BHP Diamonds Inc.
• Archeological Site Investigations - BHP Diamonds Inc.
• Socio-economic Monitoring - Diavik Diamond Mines Inc.
• Employment and Unemployment Estimates - Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT)
• NWT Health Status Report 1999 - GNWT
• Beaufort Region Cumulative Monitoring Indicator Catalogue - Energy, Mines and Resources Secretariat
• NWT Family Violence Database - GNWT
• NWT Suicide Database - GNWT
• NWT Crime and Justice Estimates - GNWT
• National Population Health Survey - GNWT

Gaps and Recommendations

At this initial stage of the process, gaps - in terms of research needed to monitor or measure VCs - cannot be determined, since the VCs have not been identified.

Source: A Preliminary State of Knowledge Valued Components for the NWT Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program (NWT CIMP) and Audit. February 2002; updated February 2005.

For more details, you may also want to look at:

• Human Health Excerpt
• VC State of Knowledge Full Report
• NWT Environmental Audit 2005 - Supplementary Report on the Status of the Environment
  • Chapter 7 – Human Health (PDF: 389 KB)
  • Chapter 8 – Socio-Economic and Community Wellness
    (PDF: 289 KB)

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