Nunavik housing talks on hold ahead of federal election

Nunavimmiut will have to wait for after October’s federal election before regional leaders can resume negotiations towards a new social housing agreement for Nunavik. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

KUUJJUAQ — If Nunavimmiut were hoping to have a new housing agreement in place before the end of this sealift season, they’re out of luck.

That’s because the federal election campaign, launched in early August ahead of an Oct. 19 vote, has put those negotiations on ice.

The most recent five-year agreement between the Kativik Municipal Housing Bureau, Makivik Corp. and the governments of Quebec and Canada funded the construction of social housing in the region between April 2010 and March 2015.

But efforts on the part of Makivik to negotiate more housing to help the region cope with a shortage have fallen short for now.

Unable to commit, the federal government proposed last winter a one-year agreement that would run from April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016, to give the parties more time to work out a longer-term plan.

“We do expect they’ll renew another year,” Kativik Regional Government chair Maggie Emudluk told regional council meetings in Kuujjuaq Sept. 17.

“I know at this time that Makivik is doing all that it can to get catch-up housing. But it’s only after the election we can hope they’ll decide on that funding.”

The benefit of a long-term agreement is in the planning; construction materials can be ordered a year in advance to ensure they’re shipped ahead of the construction season, which can start as early as May in Nunavik.

Should an agreement be reached by early 2016, the KMHB said it’s possible to get materials in by sealift the same year, although it will delay the start of construction.

“We won’t stop fighting to get more housing for the region,” KMHB manager Watson Fournier told KRG councillors Sept. 17.

Nunavimmiut are guaranteed to see at least some units built in the region next year; the re-launch of Quebec’s Plan Nord came with the promise of 70 new housing units for Nunavik; 60 two-bedroom homes and 10 units allocated to elders.

It’s yet to be determined what format those elders’ homes will take, Fournier said — if they’ll be built as multi-generational housing (attached onto a family member’s existing home) or as independent units.

For the last few years, Nunavik — led by Makivik — has pursued the federal government to pay for a catch-up program to build enough housing in Nunavik to alleviate its housing shortage.

Makivik has said Ottawa’s failure to live up to its obligations under the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement has resulted in a housing crisis that leaves 68 per cent of Nunavik’s population stuck in overcrowded housing.

The tripartite housing partners, made up of Makivik and the federal and provincial departments of Aboriginal Affairs, last met this past July, KRG councillors heard.

In addition to negotiations toward a new housing agreement for Nunavik, a working group has been created under that body to look at “innovative solutions” and recommendations to help address the region’s short and long-term housing needs.