New Nunavik program aims to help people access government services

The creation of Services Nunavik, a new program that will allow Nunavimmiut to access provincial government services in their own communities in Inuktitut, English and French, was announced Thursday.

A joint venture by Kativik Regional Government and the Quebec government, the program will start in three communities and eventually expand to all 14 of Nunavik’s villages.

The provincial government provided $13 million to Kativik Regional Government over five years for the creation of Services Nunavik, Employment Minister Kateri Champagne Jourdain said at a news conference Thursday at the KRG main office in Kuujjuaq.

Lydia Watt, KRG’s sustainable employment director, says that employment officers in all 14 communities will receive training to offer the best services for Nunavimmiut. (Photo by Cedric Gallant)

“It will improve access to government services in your region through the creation of multi-service checkpoints in all the 14 northern villages of Nunavik,” she said.

“This is going to make a lot of people’s lives much simpler, we will be able to offer truly personalized support,” Jourdain added.

Services supported by this new initiative range from program applications to retirement pensions, changes to family allowance benefits, birth, marriage or death certificates, or employment assistance.

“We’re betting on human contact to answer the needs of the people here,” Jourdain said.

Local employment officers already stationed in the communities will oversee the checkpoints. But it will take time before everything is in place, said Lydia Watt, KRG’s sustainable employment director who is leading the project.

“We have central locations in Kuujjuaq, Inukjuak and Salluit, and we will start from there,” she said. After that, KRG will “expand [it] to all 14 communities.”

Training for the employment officers is to begin early in 2025.

Ian Lafrenière, Quebec’s minister responsible for relations with First Nations and Inuit, says Services Nunavik is a good example of how the government can adapt services in a culturally safe way. (Photo by Cedric Gallant)

“It is an intensive training to ensure that we are going through the processes and have all the information,” Watt said.

She said it will take several years of preparation before Services Nunavik can offer all the services to all the communities.

Her department is also working with KRG to provide services through its website, and will use social media and radio to relay information to the communities.

“All the employees are Inuit,” Watt said. “Even though the forms might be in a different language, whether in English or in French, [Nunavimmiut] will be able to have services in Inuktitut.”

“Instead of asking people to adapt themselves to the service, it will be the opposite,” said Ian Lafrenière, Quebec’s minister responsible for relations with the First Nations and Inuit.

“We talk a lot about cultural safety within health services, but this is the kind of approach that we need to do in every aspect of our government.”