Introduction to Social Services, Supports, and Well-Being in Arctic Canada and Beyond

Abstract

This edition of the American Review of Canadian Studies (ARCS) is the outcome of an eighteen-month research project that brought together an international team of scholars and practitioners to address the concepts of wellness and well-being in Arctic Canada as well as other Indigenous communities in Canada and Alaska. The team met frequently, sometimes with outside advisors, to discuss and consider these concepts and practices from Indigenous-centered perspectives. We reflected on how we might understand wellness and well-being from non-Western models, which, until recently, have dominated the conversation. What are the unique challenges to wellness and well-being in Arctic Canada and beyond? How can Arctic Indigenous approaches to these practices shape understandings of wellness and well-being?