Nunavik leaders: 300 housing units not enough

Pita Aatami, president of Makivik Corp., is surrounded by journalists March 17 at a scrum in front of the National Assembly building in Quebec City. Quebec and Canada renewed an agreement to build about 300 social housing units over the next five years, but that falls short of the region’s needs, Aatami said. (PHOTO BY BOB MESHER, MAKIVIK CORP.)

Nunavik leaders gathered in Quebec City March 17 to rally support for more social housing construction, saying a recent deal to build 300 new units is not enough.

Pita Aatami, the president of Makivik Corp., Maggie Emudluk, chairperson of the Kativik Regional Government, and Noah Tayara, the Makivik board member from Salluit, called the open-air news conference for March 17 in Quebec City.

That’s the same day that Ottawa, Quebec and Nunavik announced the renewal of a five-year agreement that will see about 300 social housing units built in Nunavik.

But Aatami, speaking in front of an inuksuk near Quebec’s national assembly building, blasted the federal government for not making good on a promise to build the 1,000 new social housing units that he says Nunavik needs.

A commitment to build 1,000 additional social units in Nunavik was expected some time in 2009.

Although Quebec and Nunavik have been ready for a year to negotiate this “catch-up” social housing program, the federal government won’t be sit down to discuss a deal until May— much too late to make this year’s sealift deadline, Aatami said.

Aatami and Emudluk told journalists that inaction on the part of the federal government is compromising the development and well-being of thousands of children, youth and adults in Nunavik.

“It is unthinkable that in 2010, up to twenty people are living crammed into a single home. Yet this is the sad reality facing thousands of Inuit today in northern Quebec. These overcrowded living conditions are increasing the risk of violence and sexual
abuse. It is our duty to put a stop to this unacceptable situation,” Aatami said.

Aatami compared the cramped conditions in Nunavik to those experienced by people in the South over the Christmas holidays when families get together.

Only in Nunavik, continual overcrowding leads to health and social problems, Aatami and Emudluk said.

“We can’t afford to wait. The shortage, which is estimated at nearly 1,000 housing units and growing, is affecting the physical and mental well-being of the members of our communities, including our children. Quebec’s Commission des droits de la personne et de la jeunesse has stated that overcrowded living conditions are one of the main causes of the mistreatment of children,” Emudluk said.

Many leaders in Nunavik thought a major social housing construction deal would be announced at a gathering in March of 2009, which saw leaders from Quebec, Ottawa and Nunavik meet in Montreal.

But they only announced a Nunavik housing forum to have been held in 2009.

That forum was cancelled, rescheduled and then put off indefinitely.

The federal government officials now want more details about exactly what kind of housing should be built in Nunavik and what costs this new housing might mean for the future, according to information brought up at a KRG regional council meeting last month in Kuujjuaq.

Ottawa also wants to know whether Makivik is ready to contribute financially to build this badly-needed social housing.

With possible concessions from Makivik, cash from Ottawa and renewed political will, the new deal could move ahead quickly, regional councillors learned