Quebec, KRG announce $163M municipal infrastructure deal

A $163-million deal that allocates money for municipalities to improve roads and other infrastructure has been announced by the Quebec government and Kativik Regional Government.

The deal, named the Isurruutiit-5 agreement, makes funding available until September 2027. It replaces the Isurruutiit-4 agreement that expired last year.

Of the total, $50 million is intended specifically to build roads and other related improvements. As well, $100 million is targeted for municipal projects such as offices, garages and water-delivery services.

The remaining $13 million is left over from the previous agreement and re-allocated to the new one.

Ian Lafrenière, Quebec’s minister responsible for relations with First Nations and Inuit, made the announcement Monday during a brief trip to Kuujjuaq.

He was joined by KRG chairperson Hilda Snowball, as well as Quebec Social Services Minister Lionel Carmant and Sonia Bélanger, the minister for seniors.

“Hilda has been putting a lot of pressure on me because there’s a lot to do in Nunavik,” Lafrenière said in a phone interview.

“This is not going to solve everything, but it’s better than the way we used to have.”

Speaking alongside Lafrenière in the interview, Snowball welcomed the agreement.

She agreed with the minister that the funding won’t necessarily solve all of Nunavik’s challenges, but said she’ll keep pressing for more.

“It’s somewhat a catch-up program for us, because we have to deal with the prices, the high cost of living, the shipments and all that,” Snowball said.

“It is appreciated and we’re hoping to have more negotiations so that we can have more funding for the communities.”

Nunavik’s 14 villages each have their own infrastructural challenges.

To access funding from the agreement, municipalities will have to work through KRG, Snowball said, which will consider each request.

“Each community each year has to present their action plans and depending on their needs it will vary from each community, so we would have to have a conversation with each municipality,” Snowball said.

Lafrenière said the purpose of this Nunavik trip, which was his third so far in 2023, was not just to make an announcement.

While doing interviews, his ministerial colleagues were visiting Kuujjuaq organizations such as Isuarsivik Regional Recovery Centre and the local elder home.

The ministers also briefly visited Aupaluk, the smallest village in Nunavik, as well as several northern Quebec First Nations communities.

“I’m here with my colleagues to make them visit and to see the reality,” Lafrenière said.

“We’re there to help them out if they need help, but we need to respect when we get a nation-to-nation, equal-to-equal approach.”

Snowball, on the other hand, welcomed the ministerial visitors and said there has been an improvement in relations recently between Nunavik and the Quebec government.

“For the past few months, we have been reconnecting with the government, so I feel that we’re seen more as the region of Nunavik within Quebec,” she said.

“We’re hoping to have more presence from them and collaborate more so that we can also develop like the southern region of Quebec.”