Candidates in Nunavut’s Iqaluit-Sinaa hone in on helping the poor

Iqaluit-Sinaa candidate Elisapee Sheutiapik said the GN should look at more creative options for affordable housing. (PHOTO BY STEVE DUCHARME)

First-time candidate Cindy Rennie said the Iqaluit-Sinaa constituency was not well-represented in the last legislative assembly and is using her candidacy to draw attention to poor housing conditions. (PHOTO BY STEVE DUCHARME)

The incumbent MLA, Paul Okalik, says that because the territory’s biggest employer, the Government of Nunavut, sits right on their doorstep, more job specific training should be made available to Iqaluit Inuit. (FILE PHOTO)

It should come as no surprise that candidates in Nunavut’s Iqaluit-Sinaa riding, home to many of Iqaluit’s social housing tenants, want better access to affordable housing and education for their constituents, as voters get ready for the Oct. 30 territorial election.

Three of the riding’s four candidates put both issues among their top campaign priorities.

Here’s what each candidate had to say to Nunatsiaq News, in alphabetical order:

The incumbent MLA and former Nunavut premier, Paul Okalik, attributes his years of success in Nunavut politics to his education, and believes that improving access to quality education for Nunavummiut can improve the social issues facing the territory.

“Education will always be at the forefront of my platform, because it can benefit our entire territory, regardless of who you are,” he said.

Okalik alleges that the outgoing government’s Bill 37, which failed to pass during the last assembly, would not have fixed the underlying problem with Nunavut schools—graduation rates.

“We should look at devoting more resources and supporting education further instead of looking at the actual [Education] Act,” he said.

Job-specific training should be made readily available for Iqaluit residents, who have access to the territory’s biggest employer, the Government of Nunavut, on their doorsteps, Okalik said.

And increasing public sector employment will cut down on overcrowding through staff housing, he said, while the government develops a more nuanced housing policy to include incentives to help working Nunavummiut build their own houses—or “rent-to-own” programs—along with regular subsidized social housing units.

“We need to be open and look for better ways, because it is not going to go away,” Okalik said.

Okalik, who resigned as a cabinet member in the last government to protest the creation of a beer and wine store in Iqaluit prior to the creation of a substance abuse treatment centre, added that addictions treatment is also a priority.

“When I stepped down it was out of principle, for all Nunavut,” he said. “I’m not there for myself. I’m there to serve.”

First-time candidate Cindy Rennie hopes that 12 years working in public relations at the Nunavut Legislative Assembly will help her communicate the needs of Iqaluit-Sinaa residents if she is elected.

The quadrilingual candidate, fluent in Inuktitut, English, French and sign language, says her riding was underrepresented in the last assembly.

“I don’t think the person that was representing Iqaluit-Sinaa, they weren’t well represented. I don’t think a lot was done for the regular people of Nunavut.”

That much was apparent, she said, from a public housing unit she visited during her interview with Nunatsiaq News, as she went door-to-door canvasing residents.

“There’s a lot of mold and these people can’t even afford to fix their unit,” she said, pointing at long stretches of black mold on the ceiling of a public housing unit that’s home to two young children and their parents.

Nunavut’s “hidden homeless” are ignored by the Nunavut Housing Corp., Rennie added, and says more programming needs to be developed to relieve overcrowding.

“Housing is the foundation to fix other issues,” she said, but admitted she is still developing her complete campaign platform.

Across the road from Iqaluit’s breakwater, outspoken candidate Elisapee Sheutiapik is no stranger to public service, diligently working away on campaign signs while speaking to Nunatsiaq News at the popular Grind N’ Brew café, which she owns with her husband.

Sheutiapik is currently serving as president of the Qulliit Nunavut Status of Women Council, but has also spent time as an Iqaluit city councillor, deputy mayor and mayor.

“I’m most importantly a mother, but I get involved because I care,” she said.

Sheutiapik has most recently been in the news as a critic of the National Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls, whose mandate, she says, should be paused while the inquiry redevelops its objectives.

Sheutiapik believes focusing too much on social housing is a mistake, and that the Government of Nunavut should explore other avenues, like homeownership and affordable housing

“A home is a foundation, it’s a basic right,” she said, and questions the northern housing allowances provided by many employers, which she believes may contribute to more people occupying housing units.

Sheutiapik says her experience as a mayor has taught her to keep an open line of communication between the three levels of government—municipal, territorial and federal—so that each administration can coordinate its agenda.

“If all of us contribute a little bit, then things can become a reality,” she said, paving the way for more public-private partnerships and better infrastructure.

Iqaluit-Sinaa’s fourth candidate, Iqaluit business person Adamee Itorcheak, was unable to schedule a time to speak to Nunatsiaq News by an imposed publication deadline.