Nunavut youth have no future without housing

On May 25, 2004, Mr. Peterson, the MLA for Cambridge Bay, expressed his concern for homelessness in Nunavut.

In his speech to the Legislative Assembly he remarked that “it is necessary to have shelters for homeless in our territory.” He said that often the homeless feel like they are a burden to their family and end up moving from home to home and have no stability. He also said that it is difficult for people to access the government’s existing programs if they do not have the basic stability of a dependable roof over their heads and help to access those programs. The homeless in Nunavut do not need a hand-out, they need a hand-up.

On May 27, 2004, Mr. Netser, the MLA for Nanulik, spoke to the Legislative Assembly about the housing crisis in Nunavut. He said that he is frustrated, his colleagues are frustrated, and Nunavut people are frustrated as well.

Mr. Netser said that it is estimated that more than 3,000 Nunavut housing units are required to meet the current needs and this figure does not address continued growth, nor does it address the number of housing units that require extensive renovations and/or replacement. In his comments, Mr. Netser complemented the efforts of the NTI, who are lobbying the federal government on behalf of Nunavummiut and encouraged the Government of Nunavut to do so as well.

On June 1, 2004, Mr. Peterson, in speaking to the issue of a Children’s Advocate, quoted Statistics Canada, who report that there are nearly 10,400 children under the age of 14 years in Nunavut, and that this makes up over 35 per cent of our population.

The alarm bell is ringing. If we consider these three separate speeches together, they indicate that our political leaders know full well that we need more housing units right now, and that in the next five to 10 years our children will have no future, since they will not have a place to live unless this problem is resolved.

When we speak of homelessness, we often think of it as a problem with young men. This is not true. In Iqaluit we have families who are homeless and women who are homeless. As a result of this, we already have children who are homeless. It is happening now.

We congratulate our leaders, and encourage them to make housing and homelessness the major issue over the next four years.

Bill Riddell
On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Illitiit Society
Iqaluit