Program Team
Sexual Health Program
Pitsulala Lyta
Project Coordinator, Sexual Health Issues
Pitsulala Lyta, originally from Iqaluit, Nunavut, moved to Gatineau to accept the position of Project Officer on the Sexual Health program at Pauktuutit.
Pitsulala had been living in Montreal for 23 years, where for the past five, she was employed by the Native Friendship Centre of Montreal as an Outreach
Worker with homeless Aboriginal people. Her experience (both personal and professional) with the realities facing Inuit in Urban centres has enhanced Pauktuutit’s
Sexual Health program.
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CIHAN Project
Pauktuutit begun their HIV/AIDS project in 1998 to address the lack of Inuit-specific HIV/AIDS educational material available to Inuit throughout Canada.
The work begun with one booklet including basic information about HIV/AIDS. That one booklet became a series of eight HIV/AIDS
booklets, all translated into two dialects of Inuktitut (Syllabics and Labrador Orthography), and the work expanded to a number of other
community based projects such as AIDS Walks and HIV/AIDS
and Hepatitis C Fairs.
In 1999, Pauktuutit formed the Canadian Inuit HIV/AIDS Network (CIHAN), led by an advisory committee of representatives from the six Inuit regions as
well as an Elder, Inuit youth, and Inuit living with HIV. The six regions include: the Inuvialuit region in the Northwest Territories; Kitikmeot, Kivalliq
and Baffin regions of Nunavut; Nunavik (Northern Quebec); and Nunatiavut (Labrador).
In addition to raising awareness of HIV, the formation of CIHAN has enabled Inuit to be present at pan-Aboriginal and National consultations and providing
Inuit perspective to the Canadian Strategy on HIV/AIDS (now the Federal Initiative on HIV/AIDS).
In 2002, Pauktuutit, led by their CIHAN Steering Committee, developed an Inuit
Plan of Action for HIV/AIDS. This action plan outlined a strategy for addressing HIV in Inuit communities by having regional HIV workers in each of
the Northern regions.
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CIHAN Goals
- To prevent the further spread of HIV and hepatitis C among Inuit in Canada;
- To ensure that Inuit who are living with HIV and/or hepatitis C are able to access the services and support they need in the communities in which they
live; and,
- To save Inuit lives.
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Sexual Health
The focus of the project has expanded over the years to include hepatitis C and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Much of the work
is now framed within a broader sexual health context that is connected to other health and social issues.
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