Iqaluit council approves $5.4M Inuit food voucher program
Funding comes from Indigenous Services Canada’s Inuit Child First Initiative and Jordan’s Principle
Iqaluit city councillors voted unanimously Tuesday to adopt a $5.4-million food voucher program for Inuit children and families in the community. (Photo by Jeff Pelletier)
Iqaluit city councillors were eager to cast their unanimous votes Tuesday night to adopt a food voucher program for Inuit families in the community.
The $5.4-million program is paid for by Indigenous Services Canada through the Inuit Child First Initiative and Jordan’s Principle.
The program is specifically intended to help Inuit families and children under the age of 18 purchase food, as well as diapers and other supplies for children aged three and under, said city spokesperson Geoff Byrne.
Byrne said that around 1,300 families in Iqaluit may benefit from the program.
“It’s very important, it should help them buy more stuff,” Mayor Solomon Awa said in an interview.
Coun. Amber Aglukark said it’s good for Iqaluit to be part of an initiative that other communities are also benefiting from.
Arviat, Naujaat, Baker Lake, Pangnirtung and Rankin Inlet are among the other communities that have announced they will administer this food voucher program.
“I think it’s going to positively impact our community, especially Inuit kids and families that are extremely impacted with the high cost of living,” Aglukark said.
“I am hoping that it’s a long-term initiative.”
A follow-up news release from the city outlined that eligible Inuit families will receive $500 per month for each child aged 18 and under, with an additional $250 for children aged one day to three years.
After council Tuesday, Byrne said the funding is available until March 31, 2025.
With no word from the federal government on whether there will be a renewal or extension, the city is operating with that end date in mind, he said.
In the short term, city officials are asking that people wait for more details to be finalized.
Byrne said the hope is that the vouchers will be available for distribution Nov. 1.
What form they come in, whether it be a physical or digital voucher or a direct deposit, is still being worked out.
“We’re very much looking forward to providing this to our residents,” Byrne said.
“We ask residents to, again, bear with us for the next few days as we work internally to roll the program out and get more specifics available to the community.”
No more handouts. Can’t wait to see people trading these vouchers for cash. Wait for the stores to start jacking up their prices now to.
Many are on income support that struggles to put food in table. Many aren’t employed and would really get these support. Many with kids that aren’t employed.
Maybe they should get a job?
Many are capable and willing to work. Childcare is the biggest issue. We can’t make it to work without childcare.
If only there was a way to look ahead and anticipate these kinds of problems.
Family planning?
Jobs, family planning? What’s next? I suppose someone is going to suggest that people take advantage of all the educational options available at no cost. We don’t talk about those things in Nunavut. They require taking personal responsibility for your own life. Such topics are taboo.
Just a wild idea. Maybe some of the social issues mention should be looked at by NTI. Isn’t there an election soon? I bet food security and education will get only vote-for-me lip service.
And it’s shameful.
Many Need More and more Money & Never have enought. the more they have the more their need increasse, more alchool, more drugs and hardly any for the kids
maybe they should serve breakfast lunch and dinner at schools using the subsidy
I really hope it will not be cold hard cash being deposited. Make it like a christmas hamper, add diapers, formula, etc to it. I am sure the city is getting this list from Dept of Family Services. Have actual non perishables and perishables food or even work something out with a local caterer so there will be cooked food available for pick up or even with the hunter/trapper for country food. Because I really do hope the recipients spend on actual nourishing food and necessities for their children and not alcohol, smokes or junk.
This is always a bad idea everywhere. To put it bluntly, recipients can’t be relied to spend the money on real and suitable needs. That’s why many need help in the first place. Food banks don’t stop people trading what they get but they raise the likelihood of meeting the intended purpose. Also, of course, food banks have purchasing power that individuals don’t have.
Decolonize handout !!!!!!!
Time to bring in a guaranteed basic income.
If I was going to suggest something, instead of vouchers. Just hand in the material, as in food, all family and human necessities. I guarantee all this money will be used inappropriately and it will again be the children that will suffer if these vouchers are handed in.
People will find ways to turn that stuff into money. The same people who are going to the food banks are then making food and selling it on facebook. Entrepreneurial? sure. Wrong? absolutely.
Does this seem as if a stepping stone to corral? Using a big carrot of food money to be taken away if don’t obey? What comes next… Must fully be digitally ID registered to access the program. Leading to the requirement to be chipped, which leads to a reduction in their social credit score if one plays bingo while receiving social assistance.
To be lulled with food month after month for a year, then the program ends wham with nothing. Creating mass begging for guaranteed income and all the of above to be done to them.
But over the coming year, no new jobs will be created. No education, job training created or taken. The will for innovating thinking for future growth by all will dry up.
Be interesting to know how much beer and wine consumption will increase this year and into next year. Because the sizeable sum of extra money in pockets not needing to buy food?
Seems as if by design a secondary whopper of a carrot for compliance and without question or resistance is dropping into place.
To accept guaranteed income, be digitally ID registered, and micro chipped. Plus, OK for every inch of one’s life be Social Credit Score controlled to keep the drinking unaware bliss state strong in place.
Um, what?
Expect prices to get jacked up at the local grocery stores.
This is going to increase demand while supply will remain low.
Many companies have delivery contracts with moving companies or have their own vans; maybe they should open a food voucher ordering program with the stores by ordering over the phone instead giving cash out. Some people have other ideas with hand outs like this. People can learn to manage their hand outs; it maybe expensive but we can improvise and cut out our luxury lives.
Can you believe a mother of 4 will get 2K on JP per month, and Child Benefits plus Income Support, these families should be living healthy but cost of food is high as well. So what happens, buy the cheapest least nutritious food for the kids and buy items that can be sold. Then they go and buy their wants (cigarettes, drugs, booze or whatever) then beg for the children’s needs on social media a couple of days later. What a cycle!
What took the City of Iqaluit so long? People missed out on months of benefits.