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More social housing on the way for Nunavut?

Paul Okalik: "I really appreciate that we won't be alone anymore"

JIM BELL

Nunavummiut may look forward to more social housing construction in their communities this fiscal year, thanks to the deal struck last week between Canada's first ministers and national aboriginal leaders.

But Nunavut official still have to figure out how many, and when.

"That will require a bit more work," Premier Paul Okalik said in an interview this past Friday.

At the start of the two-day gathering, Prime Minister Paul Martin announced that "in the far north," the federal government will build at least 1,200 new social housing units over the next five years.

And a press release from the prime minister's office issued this past Friday states that the federal government will help reduce the housing gap in northern Canada by 35 per cent during that five-year period, and by 70 per cent within 10 years.

The PMO also said Ottawa will spend $300 million on "northern housing partnerships during that period."

In Nunavut, the "housing gap" is huge, and growing rapidly. The GN estimated in 2004 that Nunavut needs at least 3,000 units to make up for the current shortfall, and that this need is growing at a rate of about 270 units a year.

The Nunavut Housing Corp.'s capital budget for 2006-07 contains only $5 million for new social housing. At an average cost of $250,000 per unit, that's only enough for about 20 units.

But Okalik said that until the Nunavut government figures out how the new money will be distributed, and when, they won't know how much extra money would be added to the GN's capital budget as a result of last week's agreement.

Nancy Karetak-Lindell, the MP for Nunavut, however, told Nunatsiaq News this week that some of the new housing money may flow in the current fiscal year.

And Okalik said he's delighted with the commitment to aboriginal needs that the country's first ministers demonstrated last week.

"I really appreciate that we won't be alone anymore," Okalik said.

Under the deal worked out last week, the prime minister committed the federal government to additional spending of about $4.5 billion over the next five years to improve the lives of aboriginal peoples in Canada, focusing mostly on education, housing and relationships between governments and aboriginal organizations.

Some parts of the deal that could affect Nunavut include:

• $150 million over the next five years, to be spent on off-reserve public school initiatives, including $50 million for the North;
• an extra $100 million over the next five years for pre-school programs involving urban, Métis and northern aboriginal children;
• $870 million of new spending on the First Nations and Inuit health system;
• $300 million on housing in the North;
• $90 million to national and regional aboriginal organizations to improve their core funding.

As with the social housing money announced last week, it's not clear how much of this spending will be distributed to Nunavut, Nunavik or Canada's Inuit organizations.

Another source of uncertainty is the Jan. 23 federal election. If Paul Martin's Liberals are defeated and Stephen Harper's Conservatives form the next government, it's not clear how much of last week's agreement would be implemented by the Tories.

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