QIA offers emergency vouchers for elders
Eligible recipients can pick up the $250 vouchers at local co-ops
Kimmirut elders can pick up a $250 emergency voucher, courtesy of the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, at the Kimik Co-op Tuesday and Nov. 29. Each Baffin Island elder can pick up a voucher at their local co-op, except for Clyde River elders, who will go to the Northern store. (Photo by David Venn)
The Qikiqtani Inuit Association is handing out $250 emergency vouchers for elders to help them buy groceries.
The final days to pick up vouchers are Nov. 15 and again on Nov. 29 at each community’s co-op store, except for Clyde River, where elders can get their vouchers at the Northern store.
Any elders unable to pick up their vouchers can let QIA know that someone else will be picking it up for them.
The program began in 2020 as a way for QIA to help elders “have the food, basic necessities and cleaning supplies they need to live in dignity” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was renewed last December when the association received money from the federal government’s Indigenous Communities Support Fund. Two other voucher days were also held earlier this fall, as part of a four-part program to help elders.
In its announcement, the association said approximately 1,400 elders in the Qikiqtani region can benefit from the program.
To be eligible, recipients must be 60 years of age or older on or before Dec. 31, 2022, and be registered with a Qikiqtani community under the Nunavut Agreement with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.
Can the vouchers be used for anything like smokes and gas too or does it have to be groceries? Asking for a friend
The Qikiqtani Inuit Association is handing out $250 emergency vouchers for elders to help them buy groceries.
Okay, but if its like any of the previous “grocery vouchers”, they were just gift cards that could be used on anything that the co-op sells. This includes cigarettes.
The money for this is from the Canada Indigenous Communities Support Fund. Should not the title of the story then be “QIA disburses federal funding for elders”?
$95M in this program funding has been allocated to Nunavut. $92M of this total was sucked up by NTI to be given out by them and the RIAs. The typical method of disbursement is in the form of vouchers, which as we all know is subject to abuse and misuse. But vouchers are popular, quick, and could almost be seen as some sort of Inuit org dividend, if communicated in that fashion, which this reporting supports.
Only $3M of this funding has been disbursed through local food banks and Hamlet wellness departments that actually directly provide food to people. These smaller organizations are often much more responsive to local needs, and make much more direct and efficient interventions to ensure people do not go hungry, such as buying and delivering food hampers in bulk. All of these local groups are chronically and greatly strained financially, and no doubt could have well used $92M in Covid relief money.
Political choices have been made in how elders are supported during the pandemic with public money. It is not simply a case of having elders (or whoever preys on them) enjoy a periodic small coop spending spree.