Thank you, Madam Chair.
My name is Kilikvak Kabloona. I am the chief executive officer for Nunavut Tunngavik. We are responsible for upholding the Nunavut Agreement, a constitutionally protected treaty.
I am joining you virtually from Iqaluit, Nunavut with really slow Internet speed. If I get disconnected, I will try to connect again.
Before I begin, I would like to recognize Savanna Pikuyak, a 22-year-old from Sanirajak who moved to Ottawa earlier this month to attend college in order to become a nurse. She was murdered by her landlord—a man who was on probation after being convicted and sentenced for assaulting his former girlfriend.
Violence against Inuit women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+, including in the resource sector, is a systemic issue based in colonization. The racist and discriminatory legacy of colonization disrupts, undermines and ignores Inuit women's place in society, and diminishes their roles and responsibilities as Inuit. Colonization leaves Inuit women untethered from their identities, families and communities, with patriarchal values informed by colonial standards that replace Inuit values.
From colonization, there is a long history of racialized, gender-based violence perpetrated against Inuit women. Today, in the Nunavut context, Inuit women are being forced to accept low-wage work on a rotational basis at mining camps and to leave their children, for two weeks at a time, with extended family. However, if governments had provided the training guaranteed under article 23 of the Nunavut Agreement, many of these women would be working in their home communities as nurses, teachers or administrators of their local governments.
More specifically, regarding resource development, “Reclaiming Power and Place” found that indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people across Canada have been targets of violence due to their communities being near natural resource industries. The culture of gender-based violence fostered within these camps has been described as one that exacerbates isolation, drug and alcohol abuse, violence, misogyny, hypermasculinity and racism among the men living there, which all contribute to indigenous women and girls being at high risk for experiencing violence.
In Nunavut, there is a lack of information about the connection between resource extraction and human trafficking. Further considerations and research into violence mitigation strategies, as they relate to man camps, are high needs among all communities in proximity to resource extraction.
I was encouraged by budget 2021's funding commitment of $2.2 billion over five years to respond to the tragedy of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. Our territory was devastated 14 days later by Emerald MacDonald's murder in Kugluktuk. I am discouraged by bureaucratic delays in accessing this funding. As far as I am aware, none of the funding announced in budget 2021 has been spent in Nunavut. Funding for one shelter has been committed.
I would be pleased to accept your questions at the appropriate time.