Nakurmiik.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and good afternoon to all the members of the committee.
ITK is the national representational organization for Inuit in Canada, the majority of whom live in Inuit Nunangat, the Inuit homeland encompassing 51 communities across the Inuvialuit Settlement Region in the Northwest Territories, the entirety of Nunavut, Nunavik in northern Quebec and Nunatsiavut in northern Labrador.
There are three things I hope you'll take from my brief presentation.
First, the Inuit Nunangat housing crisis is decades long. It has persisted to the detriment of Inuit health, educational attainment and economic development. Decades' worth of data show that Inuit experience worse housing outcomes and attendant social and economic challenges than non-indigenous Canadians. This crisis has existed since the Government of Canada coerced Inuit into communities, in many cases after World War II, and has not abated since the advent of Inuit living in fixed communities in the way in which the Government of Canada had hoped that they would.
Second, we need to continue the work of overturning colonial housing policies that systemically marginalize Inuit, who estimate that the cost of ending the Nunangat housing crisis is almost 10 times more than what the federal government is currently providing to Inuit.
Third, we need legislative and policy changes that respect Inuit rights, including the implementation of comprehensive land claim and self-governing agreements and the enforcement of our human right to housing.
Inuit and the Government of Canada jointly recognize that the lack of appropriate and affordable housing is a national crisis. This is the first statement contained in the Inuit Nunangat housing strategy, which was jointly developed through the Inuit-Crown partnership committee and released in 2019.
In the early 1990s, the first aboriginal peoples' survey found that 40% of Inuit households were in core housing need. In 2016, little had changed. That year, 40% of Inuit were in core housing need compared with about 11% of non-indigenous Canadians. We need legislative and policy changes that respect Inuit rights, including the implementation of our land claim agreements, as I've said earlier.
The federal housing policy has changed significantly since 2019 with the passage of the National Housing Strategy Act that recognizes the right to housing as a fundamental human right affirmed in international law, including by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ratified by Canada.
While Inuit applaud this change, we were disappointed by the absence of recognition and commitment to enforce implementation of our human right to housing. Our right to housing must be recognized in Canadian law and given expression through meaningful distinctions-based policies and enforcement mechanisms that advance our right to self-determination.
We must reinvest also in Inuit Nunangat housing delivery. Until quite recently the federal government's inadequate response to the perennial housing shortage in Inuit Nunangat was to build on its relationship with provinces and territories. That relationship changed in 2016 when the Government of Canada began directing distinctions-based housing investments towards Inuit through federal budgets. This was an important move, but $40 million per year over 10 years is not enough. Inuit estimate that it will cost almost 10 times more than this to meet the Government of Canada's housing commitment.
In our view, the Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion will need to make substantial renewed investments in Inuit housing in order to meet his government's commitment to close the Inuit Nunangat housing gap by 2030.
Without these legislative and fiscal tools, the Inuit housing and public health crisis will surely endure. We have heard of a shared intent and a level of ambition by the Government of Canada to end infrastructure deficits and housing deficits within indigenous communities by specific, targeted dates. We now call on the Government of Canada to put the framework in place and get the money flowing so as to make good on the shared ambition that we all have to end the Inuit housing crisis.