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Due to the atmospheric deposition of far-ranging air pollutants, many of these toxins now infuse the
remote Arctic environment. Further contamination risks have also been placed on human health and
wildlife by the unmonitored industrial wastes which have accumulated around harbors, oil rigs,
mines and the Arctic’s two thousand military sites (Fisk et al. 2003). As a result of these pollutants,
contaminated food has become a widespread concern among Arctic indigenous communities which
rely heavily on the hunting and gathering of local foods. The Inuit eat four times the amount of fish
per capita than other Canadians and further increase their exposure risks by eating the fats and
organs of marine mammals where lipophilic contaminants accumulate (Fisk et al. 2003). The
significance of these activities to the well-being of an entire community is further amplified by
kinship systems that promote widespread food distribution and sharing (Birkes et al. 2003).
DFO has never had the capacity nor the mandate to fix the complex international issue of
atmospheric POPs. Indeed, it is a problem which has long engaged Canada and its indigenous
peoples in ongoing United Nations negotiations and treaty-making (Downie & Fenge 2003).
However, DFO and federal policies do intersect around the human use of these contaminated
resources in a number of ways. These policies have the potential to either undermine or support the
well-being of local communities through their ability to provide reliable information, restrict access
to marine resources or valuable habitats, give value to local interests and knowledge, and, ultimately,
determine the future of a community’s overall human and natural resource wealth. With Canada’s
long \