Qikiqtaaluk leaders call for more housing, improved programs

At least one Qikiqtaaluk leader is calling for better results in Nunavut’s effort to build 3,000 new homes by the end of the decade.

“I just want to see some progress — even incremental progress — on a lot of these issues,” said Rob Hedley, Sanikiluaq’s senior administrative officer, during the first Baffin Mayors’ Forum in 14 years,  Tuesday in Iqaluit.

Iqaluit Mayor Solomon Awa addresses municipal leaders at the Baffin Mayors’ Forum in Iqaluit on Tuesday. (Photo by Daron Letts)

Hedley said there are approximately 50 sea cans filled with construction materials situated around his community, destined for Nunavut 3000 builds, but which he said have remained untouched for two years.

“Things aren’t being built,” he said. “I want to see some change. I want to see some progress. I want to see houses built.”

Leaders from the Qikiqtaaluk Region’s 13 communities were in Iqaluit for the three-day gathering. It’s billed as an opportunity for municipal representatives to discuss issues like housing and wellness, economic development and employment, and sovereignty and infrastructure.

Mayors and municipal staff shared wide-ranging concerns with a goal of drafting resolutions on Wednesday to be presented to the Government of Nunavut.

Other topics included the need for more addiction treatment to be available, more youth programming, addressing waste removal, and the spread of tuberculosis amid overcrowding and under-housing across the territory.

A lack of sufficient federal funding was a common complaint.

“We need to have the money that any other city would get when they have a tax base. Because we cannot even fill our potholes, because we don’t have enough gravel, never mind providing the services that people enjoy in other places,” said Pangnirtung’s acting Mayor Markus Wilcke.

“We need a lot of money to meet our very basic needs,” he said.

Late Tuesday, some delegates pitched possible local solutions.

Sanirajaq has a gravel crusher — why not develop “free trade” between hamlets to share resources and capacities, said the community’s deputy mayor Manasee Ulayak.

Iqaluit Mayor Solomon Awa suggested communities draft agreements to collaborate in advocating for more government resources.

“We need to discuss together to help one another,” Awa said in Inuktitut. “We don’t have to be taking from one another. We need to come up with a plan.”

The forum continues Wednesday morning at the Aqsarniit hotel with scheduled discussions on regional funding and employment training opportunities. It wraps up Thursday.