This year’s federal budget will help address some of the more pressing needs in Nunatsiavut, says President Johannes Lampe.
“The investments announced in Tuesday’s budget will help enable the Nunatsiavut Government to deal with our current housing crisis, improve the health and wellbeing of many of our people, and create opportunities that will see our communities grow and prosper,” says President Lampe.
“While we await final details, on the surface we feel this is a good budget – not only for Nunatsiavut, but for the whole of Inuit Nunangat.”
Over the next 10 years, the Government of Canada will invest $400 million in housing for Nunatsiavut, Nunavik and the Inuvialuit Settlement Area, and $82 million, with ongoing funding of $6 million per year, to create a permanent Inuit Health Survey.
As well, some $27 million has been set aside, over the next five years, to eliminate tuberculosis in Inuit Nunangat.
The Government of Canada also proposes to invest $161.2 million over five years in the Inuit stream of the Indigenous Skills and Employment Training Program, which supports employment services, skills development and job training.
“For many years the Nunatsiavut Government, along with ITK and the other Inuit regions, have lobbied hard for Inuit-specific funding to help us deal with the challenges we face in trying to address our housing needs and to creating a high and healthy quality of life for our people,” says President Lampe.
“As a government we have demonstrated time and time again that we are better positioned to administer federal funding directly to our people and to our communities.
We know the issues, we understand where our greatest needs are, and we know how to effectively deliver programs and services responsibly.
I am pleased the Government of Canada recognizes our strengths, and has taken an Inuit-specific approach to enhancing the efficiency and impact of federal investments throughout Inuit Nunangat.”