Gaining Ottawa’s ear

When it come to attracting the attention of the federal government, sometimes it pays to be mired at the centre of an unending national controversy.

Conversely, sometimes it doesn’t pay to live within the quiet aftermath of a longstanding struggle that’s just been resolved.

In the area of social housing, this certainly appears to be true when you look at the contrasting fortunes of Nunavut and Nunavik.

In Nunavut, where a 25-year-old struggle has brought about the creation of Nunavut and the settlement of the Inuit land claim, the federal government seems to have decided that enough is enough. After spending $5 million on a carefully crafted made-for-TV show-off party, they’ve now left Nunavut’s government with just enough money to operate — but not enough to deal with the social and ecoonomic issues that Nunavut’s residents care about most deeply.

For many Nunavut residents, Nunavut’s growing social housing shortage is at, or near, the top of that priority list. And thanks to Nunavut’s paymasters in Ottawa, Nunavut’s politicians can’t do much about it.

Residents of Nunavik, on the other hand, have been caught within an unending and irreconcilable national controversy that they had no part in creating: the question of Quebec’s relationship with the federal government and with the rest of Canada.

Ottawa is beginning to notice that Quebec City is now acting like a national government in relation to the Inuit of Nunavik. It’s Quebec City that now funds education, health, social services — and housing in Nunavik.

But that is what Ottawa wants Canada’s provinces to do. Since 1995, when Finance Minister Paul Martin’s dramatic deficit-cutting budget withdrew the federal government from many areas of Canadian life, provinces and territories have been obliged to shoulder more and more of what used to be Ottawa’s social program burden.

That includes social housing. Ottawa does not pay for the construction of new social housing anywhere in Canada, including the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. In announcing this back in 1995, Ottawa treated the Northwest Territories as if it were a province, just as it is now treating Nunavut.

As a result, there is no more money for social housing construction in Nunavut. Nunavut is free to build its own, of course — but it’s made-in-Ottawa budget doesn’t provide enough money. And there’s no sign that any more money will be arriving for the forseeable future.

Surprise, surprise. Somehow, Ottawa has found $5 million to participate in a new $10 million social housing program for the Inuit of Nunavik that will see 42 badly needed units built there this year. Ottawa’s chief political competitor in Nunavik, Quebec City, is putting up the other $5 million.

Is this because the federal government has finally noticed that its presence in Nunavik is virtually invisible, and that it’s time for them to do something about it? You can be sure that they’ll never admit it.

But when the Nunavut government finally turns its attention to social housing, and, as they must, approach Ottawa for more money to pay for it, they would do well to remind Jane Stewart and Paul Martin about what they did for Nunavik. JB