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NTI, GN making major pitch for federal housing dollars

"I believe we hit home on this one"

JIM BELL

Paul Kaludjak, the president of NTI. (FILE PHOTO)

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Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and the Government of Nunavut have joined forces to present the federal government with a plan that would see between 300 and 400 new social housing units built in Nunavut over 10 years within a reinstated housing program for Nunavut Inuit.

Paul Kaludjak, the president of NTI, said he and Peter Kilabuk, the Nunavut government's minister responsible for housing, are preparing a proposal that they will have ready to submit to Indian and Northern Affairs minister Andy Mitchell in about six weeks.

In an interview this week, Kaludjak said he believes that MPs on the House of Commons standing committee on aboriginal affairs are now on side.

NTI's newly-elected president, along with NTI housing expert Kowesa Etitiq, gave the MPs an earful on April 20, in a presentation made one day after Prime Minister Paul Martin's highly-publicized round-table meeting with the leaders of Canada's aboriginal peoples.

"I believe we hit home on this one," Kaludjak said.

In that presentation, Kaludjak and Etitiq laid out Nunavut's shocking social housing shortfalls: 3,000 new units needed just to catch up with current needs, and 250 needed each year to keep up with new demand.

"The standing committee gave us an extra hour for our presentation. That indicated that they were quite keen about listening to our issues," Kaludjak said, saying MPs on the committee didn't know much about the depth of Nunavut's housing crisis.

"It was surprising to me how much they lacked understanding of life up here. Some were even surprised that we have that much of a shortage. They asked why did we get to that point? Where did we go wrong?"

Kaludjak told the committee that in 1986, the Tungavik Federation of Nunavut tried to negotiate housing as a "social right" for Inuit within the Nunavut land claims agreement - but federal negotiators refused to consider the idea.

Then, in 1993, the federal government cut its funding for new social housing construction in the territories to zero, and 11 years later, it has yet to be reinstated.

But during the same period, the federal government spent a whopping $3.8 billion on housing for First Nations people living on reserves.

Because of that situation, the federal government essentially treats Inuit as non-aboriginal people with respect to social housing.

Last year, NTI and the GN formed a social housing working group to begin the work of making the case for federal intervention into Nunavut's housing crisis.

Their proposal will include:

• Immediate federal funding to renovate and add rooms to existing social housing units to make them healthier to live in;
• Creation through training and technology transfer of an efficient, Inuit-run construction industry in Nunavut to build the 300-400 homes needed every year;
• Help for communities and tenants to create their own housing solutions, including support for home ownership;
• Reporting on results to get "the best bang for the buck" in Nunavut housing programs.

"The Inuit face the harshest conditions in the country. We face weather elements unlike any other, and we need homes that can meet those conditions and at the same time can be cost-efficient and healthy," Kaludjak said.

Kaludjak said it's also possible that private companies, especially Inuit birthright development corporations, could be part of any future solution.

"That's nothing new. That idea's already been thrown around before," Kaludjak said.

Another issue that needs to be acknowledge in any new housing initiative is finding the money to operate and maintain new units, and making sure the plan recognizes that low-income people can't afford to pay rents that will cover all the cost of operating their units.

"We need a plan that you can back up, so that you don't leave people in the middle of the road in the winter," Kaludjak said.

NTI and the GN also have the support of the National Aboriginal Housing Association, who passed a resolution on March 31 in support of a long-term social housing program for Nunavut Inuit.

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