Housing crisis in Nunavik “not acceptable”

I was happy to read the Nunatsiaq Online article about our housing crisis in Nunavik.

I congratulate the Nunavik leadership for coming forward to state that the housing situation is completely unacceptable. Thank you for representing us in such a strong way.

I have been travelling extensively to our communities in Nunavik for many years, working with my people on community empowerment. I could write a book about some of the horror stories I have heard about overcrowding.

Overcrowded conditions are so bad, that in some cases four to five families live under the same roof, where each family occupies one room, such as a bedroom, as a separate unit for themselves and their family, as if it is a one-room apartment, but there is still only one bathroom and one kitchen for the use of all in that house.

These conditions are not temporary, as they can go on for many years. These stories would horrify the public if they happened anywhere other than in aboriginal communities such as Nunavik!

An even more dangerous by-product of the housing situation is that victims of both physical and sexual assault and other serious crime are often put at extreme risk. A victim is frequently forced to return to the home where the offender lives, because the house where they have found respite no longer has space available for them and the victim has no choice but to return to the home that they have fled.

As Inuit, we have a very strong desire to live a good life and we are working hard towards that, but it seems to me that any time we make some head-way, the governments cut us off. This includes the non-renewal of funds to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation by the federal government.

Aside from new public housing, which our communities are in desperate need of, another way to improve the housing shortage is for more Inuit to build their own houses. Many want to do so, but there has to be a good program in place to help cover the costs of building a house, which I understand is at least two to three times as expensive as the south.

The affordable housing program expired last March 31, 2009 and is still not renewed after almost a year. People who are ready and willing to build as early as this summer are held in a state of waiting, hoping to be able to make the sealift and build this season. But this seems to be of no concern to governments.

There are other affordable housing programs in Canada and I wonder if these people are made to feel like scroungers as well. A good program would allow many people to build, making more public housing available for those who need it the most. It would also free up staff housing and enable the organizations to hire people to fill the positions they are unable to because they have no housing available.

Most Canadians could not imagine these living conditions and a great outcry would be made if this was not an “aboriginal” situation.

Our homes are our sanctuaries, but under the present housing crises in Nunavik, for many they have instead become places “to get away from.” Do we have to start tent cities before attention will be paid to this very serious crisis?

Annie Popert
Kuujjuaq

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