Rethinking Arctic Disaster Preparedness Through Relational Belonging: Black and Racialized Immigrant Perspectives from Inuvik

Abstract

Climate-driven hazards are intensifying across Canadian Arctic regions, yet dominant disaster preparedness frameworks continue to privilege technical, infrastructure-focused, and population-neutral approaches. Such approaches insufficiently account for the lived realities of Black and racialized immigrant communities, who increasingly shape the social fabric of northern settlements. In this commentary, we argue for a relational rethinking of Arctic disaster preparedness through a community-grounded case from Inuvik, Northwest Territories. Drawing on a community-engaged collective conversation with 15 Black and racialized immigrant residents living in Inuvik, we show that preparedness is experienced not simply as hazard planning, but as a relational practice shaped by migration status, identity documentation, housing precarity, mobility, and community belonging. The Inuvik dialogue illustrates how preparedness emerges through hazard-specific knowledge, legal identity concerns, and relational forms of belonging that structure how people interpret safety and resilience. These insights reveal a major blind spot in Arctic disaster governance (coordination of efforts to reduce disaster risks). Currently, migrant and racialized experiences remain largely marginal to policy and research. Disaster governance in Canadian Arctic communities must move beyond universalized preparedness models and instead adopt relational frameworks that recognize migration, belonging, and social inequality as central dimensions of climate resilience in northern communities. Our paper also identifies implications for culturally responsive preparedness planning, migrant-inclusive emergency governance, and relational approaches to Arctic climate adaptation.