Elder homeowners need help

An open letter to Nunavut Tunngavik and the government of Nunavut.

Question: Take into consideration the fact that we elders who own homes are not getting any benefits to help with taxes, fuel, power, and lot leases.

Elders renting from the Housing Authorities no longer have to pay rent and Housing Corporation starts paying for them. We are part of it and we are aboriginals, but are being treated differently. We are Inuit too.

We would like to get help from our government with the bills that we have to pay for fuel, lot leases and electricity. Ever since we got into homeownership, we have become like prisoners and are treated like prisoners.

My question is that whether people over the age of 60 years can get help within Nunavut. There are more people now who would like to start owning their own homes to make sure that they are not at risk and would be happy to live in Nunavut.

If we can’t get any help, we should start moving to Northern Quebec or the Northwest Territories, or even down South where we can get more benefits.

Allan Maktar
Pond Inlet

Translated from Inuktitut by Jeannie Katsak