Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Dec. 8th, 2022

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

[Member spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Minister, for giving us an update on the budget items. I regret and I'm sorry to hear that it's going to be a very long process with housing and that very little will be done or completed.

The people I represent have told me many times that in Kugluktuk in the Kitikmeot region, in the middle of winter, there are some people who are homeless at the moment. The housing association in Kugluktuk has informed me that there was a young pregnant woman who was homeless. This young woman committed suicide due to homelessness in the middle of winter. She was totally homeless.

How long must we wait?

In Arviat, the people who live in one house are so numerous that they arrange their sleeping times in each room, in each house, by day and by night.

I hear your updates, but those are the stories I hear from the people I represent, who tell them to me personally. People commit suicide. They have no shelter to go to in the case of domestic violence. If they want to flee an abusive situation, they cannot go to their families because they are overcrowded already.

Why is it taking so long? The budget is so slow in being increased. Why is it so slow? Why can't you produce more budgets and financial resources for housing?

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

Thank you for that question.

I don't disagree with you. I wish we had invested, and when I say “we”, I mean previous governments of all stripes, including some of our own. Governments did not invest what they should have in the north on infrastructure and housing.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

[Member spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:]

I asked you this previously. Again, I ask you why it's never a rush or a priority or an emergency to you. Right now, you should look at this as a crisis situation and do something quickly about it. Why are you not asking us to support you with supplementary funding for housing?

We read the report that you read to us. We heard the report. Many of us see the importance of adding more resources financially. Why aren't you pleading with us to support you to produce more resources, to produce more housing?

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

First of all, it is a priority for us.

We are moving. We are investing dollars in the north as quickly as we possibly can. In fact, I dare say that we are investing them and moving them probably quicker than they can be absorbed by the local communities.

I can tell you that since 2016, Inuit have constructed nearly 500 new units, have repaired a number of existing units—

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

[Member spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:]

Again, I regret—

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

—and have undertaken critical land development work with distinctions-based investment. That's not enough—

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Please let the minister finish, Ms. Idlout.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

That is progress, but it's not enough. I am agreeing with you that we need to do more. We need to build capacity at the community level and at the territorial level. You know better than I do about the limitations—the short construction season, the supply chain problems, the inflation—but we are working.

We are working with the premier. We are working with rights holders. We are working with housing corporations to try to reduce the barriers and accelerate the construction. The only way this is going to get done is through partnerships.

I was very happy to learn—last week, I believe—that in Arviat, a modular housing plant is being planned. I think that's great news. I worked with the former premier on that when I was in Arviat. Ultimately, the answer is to build the capacity and the production ability in Nunavut and in other territories so that homes can be built there and skills can be learned.

It breaks my heart when I hear about homelessness and people dying in the cold weather, and I know I speak for everybody. We are trying to do better, but we are making small progress on a big, big problem.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

[Member spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:]

Listen, you did not respond to my questions—

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Thank you, Ms. Idlout. That's your time. You'll have another chance.

We're going to begin a second round. We'll start with Mr. Melillo for five minutes.

[Eric Melillo, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for being here to answer our questions.

I want to go back to food security. I believe $87.3 million has been allocated to support northern food security. I have a concern with the government's approach. According to all the information I can find, over the last number of years, each year funding has increased to address food security, with programs such as nutrition north, but each year in the northern parts of my riding, and of course the three territories, we see rates of food insecurity continuing to increase. The department is continuing to spend more and not necessarily getting more results from that.

I'm just wondering if you can tell us what more the government and your department are doing to work with communities on the ground to ensure that the dollars spent are actually achieving their targets.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

We are working with people who live in all of the various communities. We know that solutions from the north are better than solutions from Ottawa.

We've invested $163 million of new money in food security initiatives in the north, including in a subsidy increase to nutrition north; a new community food program that's going to work on school programs; other food sovereignty initiatives such as building greenhouses and year-round hydroponic enclosures, which I have visited in my travels; and a hunters and trappers program, through which we encourage and financially help with country foods and traditional foods. Indigenous people helped us co-develop that.

Ultimately—

[Eric Melillo, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

Can I ask a quick question?

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

Sure.

[Eric Melillo, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

I'm pressed for time, Minister. I appreciate that.

Earlier on, you mentioned a bit about the consultation on that. Do you have any information you could provide us on how frequently communities in the north are consulted on those programs?

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

Well, we have a nutrition north advisory council, whose job is to represent the various communities. The north, as you know better than I do, is a vast area. We try to get representation from most of those areas on the advisory council of nutrition north. We work directly with indigenous nations on—

[Eric Melillo, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

Thank you, Minister. I'm sorry, but I want to get to another question.

I want to emphasize that you said I know the north better than you. I really appreciate that. Thank you for that shout-out.

Minister, in June 2021, this committee completed a report on food security in the north. One concern we heard around nutrition north was that the mandate of the program wasn't really to make life more affordable. One recommendation—the third recommendation from that report—was for the program's mandate to be changed in order to improve food security outcomes in northern communities. I'm wondering if your department has taken action to change the mandate.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

We're constantly consulting with the advisory council and the various indigenous governments in the north.

On improvement, we have some funds available for actual data and research—

[Eric Melillo, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

That's good, Minister. I'm sorry.

Has the mandate been changed? Has the all-party committee—

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

The mandate has been expanded. I've talked about the new community foods group we have to encourage food sovereignty initiatives from people who live in the north.

[Eric Melillo, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

Is it explicitly within the mandate of nutrition north to alleviate food insecurity and make life more affordable for people in the north?

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

It's the mandate of our government to alleviate poverty, which is a direct cause of food insecurity.

[Eric Melillo, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

Is it directly in the mandate of nutrition north? I understand that the government is working on it, and that's great.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

Yes. I haven't read—

[Eric Melillo, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

You don't know the mandate of the program you're in charge of?