Infrastructure man visits Nunavut to finalize $40 million housing fund

SARA MINOGUE

Canada’s Secretary of State for Infrastructure, John Godfrey, traveled to Nunavut this week to formally sign an agreement that will funnel $40 million into housing in the territory this year and next year.

Godfrey is several months too late for any groundbreaking ceremonies, but he did plan to devote part of his northern visit to a “site dedication” in Pangnirtung yesterday, where a much-needed triplex started in September is nearly complete.

The funding partnership, between the Canada Strategic Infrastructure Fund and the Government of Nunavut, which matched the Fund’s $20 million contribution, was originally announced in October 2003, and is already financing construction in 24 out of 25 communities.

“One of the things we did understand before we came is that housing needs are particularly crucial in Nunavut,” Godfrey said from Yellowknife on Wednesday, just before getting on the plane to Iqaluit. “So we made a bit of an exception under the rules of this particular infrastructure program and allowed the money to be used on social housing.”

“We’re very excited about finalizing the agreement,” said Chris D’Arcy, director of policy for the Nunavut Housing Corp.

The Nunavut Housing Corp. started spending the $40 million to land materials for 85 new units in 24 communities at the end of last year’s sealift. Fifty-three units will be completed by March of this year.

Next year, the corporation plans to build 80 units in seven communities, unless costs can be brought low enough to build even more units.

All of the units will exceed the national energy code by at least 25 per cent. Ten per cent of the units will be accessible to people with disabilities.

The people of Pangnirtung were busy making preparations for Godfrey’s visit earlier this week.

“This is the right time for him to visit,” said Jack Maniapik, the recently elected mayor. “I always think summer is a bad time to visit — it’s more like a scenery visit, and the bad conditions in the housing don’t seem as bad when it’s warm.”

Tenants occupying two of the most crowded housing units in town had consented to Godfrey’s request for a private tour of their homes, as an example of the failing infrastructure rampant across Nunavut.

Maniapik saw this as a sign of Godfrey’s genuine interest in fixing Nunavut’s housing shortage, but stressed that the hamlet council had no particular agenda for the visit.

“It’s not the right time to put negative comments to them because we don’t really know what he’s going to say.”

More than just housing

Godfrey also hoped to use his trip to get a better understanding of local infrastructure needs, “so that as we come up with new programs for the whole country, we don’t inadvertently try one-size-fits-all for all communities.”

In Pangnirtung, he will tour sewage and water facilities with Community and Government Services Minister and Pangnirtung MLA Peter Kilabuk, whom he has met once before.

Godfrey has visited Nunavut as a tourist and canoeist several times before, but has not spent much time in any of the hamlets. Nor has he seen Nunavut in the dead of winter.

He also planned to meet with Iqaluit mayor Elisapee Sheutiapik, city councillors in Pangnirtung and Iqaluit, members of the Nunavut Association of Municipalities, and Nunavut MP Nancy-Karetak Lindell, and federal officials working in Iqaluit.