Iqaluit elders to miss out on annual gathering

About 20 Iqaluit elders need at least $25,000 to attend the annual eastern Arctic elders’ gathering, which is to be held in Kuujjuaraapik this year Aug. 20 to Aug. 26. (PHOTO BY BETH BROWN)

(Updated Aug. 15, 10:05 p.m., with new information from QIA)

Many Iqaluit elders won’t get to attend an annual elders gathering that they usually attend, unless the Elders’ Qammaq can come up with $25,000.

Inuit elders from Nunavut and Nunavik organize a get-together every year to promote cultural exchange and knowledge sharing. The event will take place in Kuujjuaraapik this year from Aug. 20 to Aug. 26.

“There are at least 20 elders who would like to go. They have signed up out of interest at this point,” Iqaluit’s recreation director Amy Elgersma said during an Aug. 10 meeting of the recreation committee, the group responsible for the Iqaluit Elders’ Qammaq.

But costly northern travel means sending all the interested elders would cost around $30,000, Elgersma said, because funding sources did not come through this year—with only $5,000 raised to date through a donation from the Iqaluit Legion.

While the conference is not a city project and any elder can attend on their own, the Qammaq program usually sends about 20 Inuit seniors, she said.

“Normally we are able to make it happen, but this year has been a bit more of a challenge,” Elgersma told Nunatsiaq News.

“We have applied to QIA and they said they are not able to contribute this year and we are waiting to hear back from the Government of Nunavut under a Culture and Heritage Program.”

In an email sent after the first version of this story appeared online, a QIA spokesperson appeared to say that the organization did give money to the elders last year, but that it was returned.

“We checked with our office and the correct information is that QIA had paid out 80% ($12,000) of the $16,000 to assist the elders attend the gathering. The group did not spend the funds and returned it in June,” the QIA email said.

QIA provided 80 per cent funding to send elders to the conference last year, but found that when the fiscal year ended that the funds had not been used and were returned in June, said the QIA director of social policy, Hagar Idlout-Sudlovenick.

The city then asked QIA if the unused funds from last year could be transferred and used this year. But QIA was unable to transfer those funds outside of the expired fiscal year.

Instead they invited the city to reapply, but never received a new application, Idlout-Sudlovenick said.

Meanwhile, the city will be able to provide in-kind support only, through buses to the airport, and by sending a staff member to support the elders while travelling, Elgersma said.

“It’s about sharing stories and connecting with family. It’s a really neat way to share culture,” she said, adding that many elders wear clothing at the gathering to represent their regions.

The last time the conference was held in Iqaluit, about 300 elders attended from throughout Nunavut and Nunavik, she said.

“It’s something that they look forward to and benefit from.” And “Nunavut benefits as well from these elder’s gatherings and the information sharing that goes on,” Elgersma said.

“This gathering has been going on a long time,” said the recreation committee chair, Coun. Joanasie Akumalik.

“This committee has sympathy for the elders but I don’t think we have the authority right now to see these 20 elders going to that gathering… we might have to give them the bad news.”

The committee planned to write letters to the GN and Inuit organizations requesting support, in hopes of securing enough funding to send five or 10 elders to the conference.

Councillors also moved to bring the issue to the next city council meeting to make sure elders will be able to attend the annual gathering next year.

“It’s to preserve our Inuit values,” Akumalik said.