‘Living with diabetes in Moose Factory’ is a photo-essay that explores the daily life of diabetics living in the high-risk, remote community of Moose Factory First Nations, Ontario, Canada. In 2011, I traveled to Moose Factory First Nations, a semi-isolated community located just below the arctic tundra line in Northern Ontario to understand the impact of diabetes in the local population. In contrast to diabetics whom live in more urban areas, such as Toronto, diabetics in Moose Factory have to work especially hard to manage their illness in the face of limited choices, high food prices and inconsistent medical supplies. In such sparsely populated remote regions of Canada as Moose Factory First Nations diabetics and diabetes care is made much more difficult. There are very few easy-to-access health care facilities, and not every community has one, meaning diabetics must travel great distances to obtain services that cannot be obtained in their local communities. In addition, with very poor roads and access into these areas, milk, bread and fresh produce are flown in on passenger flights, or dropped by helicopters. Not only can weather conditions make availability inconsistent, this mode of transportation costs dearly and drives the food prices up.
