Styrofoam igloos: A 1950s cure for the Inuit housing crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic and outbreaksin several communities across Nunavut have brought the Inuit housing crisis into focus. Inadequate and unsafe housing is endemic in many Inuit communities and has been blamed for poor health outcomes and susceptibility to infectious disease for decades.
And these problems have historical roots. Canada has been running federal government housing programs for 65 years in the North, including experimental Styrofoam igloos that were tested at Kinngait, Nunavut from 1956 to 1960.
The only reporting of the Styrofoam igloo project was in the children’s section of
The Age, a newspaper in Melbourne, Australia on Sept. 9, 1960. The headline read: “Eskimos Find Plastic Igloo Better Than Snow Houses!” The article informed its young readers that the plastic version of the traditional Inuit housing structure was made from 18 inch by 36 inch Styrofoam blocks, held together by wooden meat skewers and adhesive.

Related Keywords

Cape Dorset , Nunavut , Canada , Australia , Melbourne , Victoria , Northwest Territories , Ottawa , Ontario , Canadians , Canadian , James Houston , Rosemary Gilliat Eaton , Archives Canada National Film Board Of , Department Of Northern Affairs , National Resources , Find Plastic Igloo Better Than Snow , National Film Board , Northern Affairs , Canadian Arctic , Housing , Ndigenous , Minuit , House , Housing Crisis , கேப் டோர்செட் , ந்யூநேவட் , கனடா , ஆஸ்திரேலியா , மெல்போர்ன் , விக்டோரியா , வடமேற்கு பிரதேசங்கள் , ஆடவா , ஆஂடேரியொ , கனடியர்கள் , கனடியன் , ஜேம்ஸ் ஹூஸ்டன் , துறை ஆஃப் வடக்கு வாழ்க்கைத்தொழில்கள் , தேசிய வளங்கள் , தேசிய படம் பலகை , வடக்கு வாழ்க்கைத்தொழில்கள் , கனடியன் ஆர்க்டிக் , வீட்டுவசதி ,