Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's a pleasure to be presenting here today to the committee, and it's good to see so many familiar faces. As I've been introduced, I am Natan Obed, the president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. I'm here to talk about the status of COVID-19 across Inuit Nunangat and for Inuit generally.

Health committee  I'm sorry, but because of my trouble getting on I don't have access to translation like the rest of you, and I don't speak French. I apologize greatly for that.

Health committee  I'm on a PC.

Health committee  I had tech staff help me to get on, but it wasn't in the formal way so I don't have access to that particular icon. I greatly apologize.

Health committee  Absolutely, and there have been announcements of a top-up to Nutrition North's expansion of specific items, but there's a larger issue of food insecurity and poverty that has to be addressed in the long term. Also, on a day-to-day basis, we don't know where the COVID-19 response is going.

Health committee  Nakurmiik. Thank you, Niki. I think, just from a structural standpoint, an Inuit Nunangat policy approach should be employed any time the federal government is considering specific interventions for our communities. That means not leaving behind Nunatsiavut and Nunavik in a northern policy approach because that's really the way in which a lot of these interventions are structured—north of 60, south of 60.

Health committee  Perhaps I'll start. We've found that there's been a lot of communication, but also at the same time a lot of confusion. The way the Government of Canada has worked with Inuit in allocating $45 million of the $305 million for the indigenous community support fund was in line with the Inuit Nunangat policy approach, and then the ITK board of directors allocated those funds within the board process, so each of the regions had a specific allocation.

Health committee  Nakurmiik. Thank you. I'm glad that I was able to get on the call. Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami is the national organization representing 65,000 Inuit in Canada, the majority of whom live in Inuit Nunangat, our homeland, and that encompasses 51 communities over possibly a third of Canada's land mass.

Finance committee  Nakurmiik. We've had a housing crisis in Inuit Nunangat for decades, and it is only getting worse. Currently, Inuit experience a 54% overcrowding rate in Inuit Nunangat, our homeland. There have been specific federal investments in Inuit housing in the last four budgets, with approximately $400 million in budgets 2016 and 2017.

Finance committee  Nakurmiik. Good morning, ulaakut, everyone. Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami is the national organization representing approximately 65,000 Inuit in Canada, the majority of whom live in Inuit Nunangat. Inuit Nunangat is our homeland and the term we use to describe the roughly 35% of this country that is governed and controlled by Inuit interests, either through fee simple or through a co-management structure, through modern treaties or land claims.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Currently there is customary adoption within legislation in the Northwest Territories and in Nunavut. It is still a widely practised custom of adoption and it is very different from the adoption that most southern Canadians would know. I think it plays a very significant role within the well-being of Inuit children within Inuit communities.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  ITK is in agreement that clarification around funding would be effective and a positive change in this piece of legislation. In the legislation, “substantive equality” is mentioned. The caring society's case in the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal rulings and the effect that has on this conversation have to be considered.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The first and foremost challenge is infrastructure and service delivery. If there isn't the essential infrastructure in a community, such as was already mentioned—foster homes or the ability for there to be housing for families—then it puts people in really difficult situations that then come into contact with family services.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  As it currently stands, we have incomplete data about how many Inuit are in care. That extends within jurisdictions within the Inuit homeland and also across southern Canada. Having a federal statute that demands that there be a distinctions-based way of identifying children in care systems would allow for us, for Inuit—however service delivery happens in each one of the Inuit regions or in southern jurisdictions—to provide the type of care that upholds the rights of Inuit children.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think that very generally it is focused on outcomes. I think it imagines the agreements that can be made between indigenous governments and the Crown as being key facilitators to those outcomes. The challenge of funding is one that we've talked through all the way. In different statutes, funding is handled in different ways.