P.J. Akeeagok is the current Premier of Nunavut.
As Nunavut prepares to celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2024, our territory continues to struggle with a housing crisis spanning decades.
Investing in Nunavut is integral to Canada’s pursuit of Arctic sovereignty and security, as well as reconciliation with Indigenous people. Inuit from across the Arctic regions of Canada were lured into permanent settlements in the 1950s by the federal government, which promised them publicly built housing as part of its nation-building strategy. Many communities in Nunavut, like my hometown of Grise Fiord at the southern tip of Ellesmere Island, were created by the forced relocation of Inuit; our families were used as human flagpoles and our communities became placeholders to secure Canada’s interests in the Arctic. Yet, we are still waiting for the federal government to step up and ensure all Inuit and Nunavummiut are properly housed.
In 2022, all eyes turned to Eastern Europe as Russia invaded Ukraine. As a circumpolar country, the war hit close to home for those of us in Canada’s Arctic. In a gesture of solidary, all Nunavut MLAs donned yellow and blue ribbons and observed a moment of silence in our legislature. Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine was a reminder of the fragility of our security in the Arctic. Now, with northern security on the line, we need to expedite the establishment of safe, permanent communities in the Arctic to ensure we retain our stronghold in the circumpolar world. Without meaningful investments in housing, many of our communities may disappear as young Nunavummiut are forced to move to southern Canada to secure homes and opportunities for their families.
A recent report from Canada’s federal housing advocate, detailing the housing crisis in Canada’s North, paints the bleak and appalling picture those intimate with Nunavut have long known. The rights of Nunavummiut are breached daily. “For Inuit, the right to housing has been too long out of reach,” the advocate stated in her report. To be clear, this is only the most recent in a long list of reports detailing this travesty.
Overcrowding in small, often dilapidated structures, which is common throughout Nunavut, has led to a breakdown of health determinants in our territory that most other people in Canada take for granted. Mental and physical health, education, income, life expectancy and familial relationships are all affected in ways that harm individual Nunavummiut, our communities, our territory, and Canada as a whole. Rates of preventable illness and outcomes directly related to overcrowding, precarious housing, and homelessness are tenfold of those found elsewhere. This is evidenced by the spread of tuberculosis in Nunavut – a disease long forgotten by the rest of Canada.
The government of Nunavut has done its part. We are building more homes, faster – just as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called on all provinces and territories to do. Over the past two years, in partnership with Inuit organizations, we’ve made substantial efforts to tackle the severe housing shortage in our territory. We have cut the cost of building homes in half and have expedited construction threefold. The blueprint for this work is outlined in our Nunavut 3000 strategy, developed in 2022.
Despite facing financial constraints, Nunavut has allocated significant resources to housing. By the end of the fiscal year 2024/25 we anticipate spending approximately $250-million of our internal resources on this file. Working in partnerships with Inuit birthright corporations, we initiated or completed 365 new housing units in 2022, with an additional 350 units set to commence construction by the end of 2023. For a territory with a population of almost 40,000 people, this is a significant number of new homes. However, the estimated need is closer to 5,000 new units, and increasing.
It’s important to note that building homes in Nunavut will not only benefit Nunavummiut but also bolster the economies of numerous southern Canadian jurisdictions. One hundred per cent of the materials we use for construction are imported and purchased from factories and wholesalers in provinces such as Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba.
The scale of Nunavut’s housing crisis is severe. We cannot resolve it on our own. Since 2021, the federal government has only provided nominal funding toward our housing needs. In 2022, federal Minister of Northern Affairs Dan Vandal referred to a $60-million sum allocated for Nunavut housing over two years as a “down payment.” We hope that it is indeed an initial payment and have requested that the federal government match our $250-million investment. As piles are being driven into the ground and houses are erected across Nunavut’s 25 remote communities, we need Mr. Trudeau to do his part.
Together, we can strengthen our communities, secure our stake in Arctic sovereignty, and right historic inequities.