Mr. Speaker, insofar as Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada is concerned, the response is as follows.
Canada’s northern, remote and isolated communities face unique housing needs because of the challenges presented by geography, climate change, infrastructure and remoteness. Partners of the Arctic and northern policy framework identified the need to address housing in the north as part of the goal of supporting resilient and healthy northern and indigenous people. In response to these challenges, the Government of Canada, through budget 2021, provided the Government of Nunavut with $25 million to support its immediate housing and infrastructure needs.
The majority of Nunavummiut live in social public housing, and it is the territorial government, through its housing corporation, that is responsible for overseeing and maintaining the social housing stock. In the case of Nunavut, 14% of its operating budget is allocated specifically to support social housing.
The entire budget 2021 funding amount of $25 million has been allocated to the Government of Nunavut during the fiscal year 2021-22, and project-specific allocations are determined on a priority basis based on need, as determined by the housing corporation. This budget 2021 funding was provided to the recipient via a grant. This approach of using grant funding is consistent with the principles of self-determination, whereby it is the recipients of this funding who are best positioned to determine how it should be used. As a result, the department is unable to provide numbers in relation to the number of housing units that have been built or constructed or the number of housing units that are occupied, given that this responsibility resides with the territorial government.