Makivik eyes legal action against Ottawa on housing

Pita Aatami, president of Makivik Corp., says Makivik may sue the federal government as a last-ditch way of solving the region’s critical lack of social housing.

“We have negotiated, we’ve held discussions, but this hasn’t gone anywhere,” Aatami said in the Sept. 13 edition of the Quebec French-language daily, La Presse. “What legal avenue remains for us?”

Aatami said the goverments are only fulfilling a small part of their obligations under the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement.

“We’re looking at our legal options. If they don’t respect their obligations, we won’t have a choice. We will have to go to court. We hope that the courts will convince them to live up to their responsibilities,” Aatami told La Presse.

Aatami said the recent renewal of the social housing agreement with the federal and provincial governments, which will pay for about 340 housing units over the next five years, isn’t enough.

A recent survey by the Kativik Municipal Housing Bureau shows Nunavik lacks 995 social housing units just to meet its current needs.

The current rate of construction can’t meet the demand for housing due to the region’s young and growing population, says the KMHB.

The KMHB manages 2,294 social housing units for 10,055 tenants in 14 Nunavik communities. But one in three of these social housing units has more than one family sharing the space and sometimes as many as four families.

“No one in the South would accept the situation that people in Nunavik live,” Aatami is quoted as saying. “Here we have no roads to blockade. We want to proceed peaceably, diplomatically. We’re talking with the governments, but we’re starting to lose patience.”