Iqaluit city councillor Akumalik pleads for the homeless

Coun. Joanasie Akumalik wants an update on what the City of Iqaluit has done to address homelessness. (PHOTO BY BETH BROWN)

The temperature dipped below zero in Iqaluit this week and Iqaluit Coun. Joanasie Akumalik used that to remind Nunavummiut that there are many in the city, and in the territory, who do not have homes to protect them from the cold.

“When we talk about homelessness, it’s uncomfortable,” Akumalik said in a statement at Iqaluit City Council Sept. 26.

“We think, ‘why do they allow themselves to come to that point?’ We rationalize and think the homeless people are addicted or alcoholics,” he said.

But that’s not always the case, Akumalik said, adding that job loss and family illness could quickly leave a person homeless in Iqaluit.

Akumalik is a regular advocate at council for helping homeless people in Nunavut.

In March, Akumalik chastised councillors for not following through on a resolution to update actions on homelessness, and he asked that help for the homeless be included in the city’s strategic plan.

Last year, he said talks between the city, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., the Government of Nunavut, the Qikiqtani Inuit Association and the Nunavut Housing Corp. to create a homelessness plan did not lead to any action.

“I’ve been trying to advocate for homelessness to get some programs running, but our work here has been very slow,” he told Nunatsiaq News.

“I want to see an update as far as where things are in terms of homelessness.”

Akumalik asked that city administrators and city council expedite efforts to address homelessness in Iqaluit.

But he also used his statement to share a few examples of what homelessness can look like in Iqaluit.

“I know a young couple with a three-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter. I know the young family because they come visit us,” Akumalik said. “They have no home, they go house to house to sleep.”

The couple are unemployed, but when they do earn money they share it with other people, he told councillors.

“Their kids were just baptized last Sunday and to celebrate they made a macaroni dinner for 15 people, that was their way to show thanks,” he said. “They try.”

Akumalik went on to talk about a young man who told him that the warm weather this season has helped him get ahead.

“He said he had the best sleep he ever had this summer, because all he needed was a blanket.”

The youth, who was living in abandoned vehicles, has since found a job with a mining company, through an employment opportunity he found out about, Akumalik said.

“We need to keep pushing for affordable housing,” Akumalik said, adding that health, education and financial stability are all connected to living conditions.

“We need to create some programs to help these people without delay.”

Akumalik suggested that wooden shacks, similar to those built by employers to protect their staff during smoke breaks, could be built as temporary shelters for the homeless.

“Tonight it will be -6 C but it does feel like -32 C. There is a cold wind. Winter is coming. It will be difficult again for the homeless when winter sets in,” he said.

“May you enjoy your warm house and bed tonight.”