Inuit call on prime minister to step in as end to child funding program approaches
CBC
The head of Canada's national Inuit organization is calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step in to save a program that helps fund services for Inuit kids.
In a letter sent to Trudeau last week, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed called on the prime minister to "clearly signal" his "government's commitment" to continue funding for the Inuit Child First Initiative (ICFI), which is set to end on March 31.
"We are alarmed by the growing likelihood of an abrupt curtailing of funding for the program and the consequences this will have for our families and communities," Obed wrote on Feb. 12.
"lf program funding is not renewed, many families will again be left vulnerable to the systemic racial discrimination that characterizes health and education service delivery in Inuit Nunangat."
The letter comes after Obed said Inuit treaty organizations have been negotiating with Ottawa on a long-term approach to funding the ICFI, which was launched in 2019 to support Jordan's Principle.
Jordan's Principle stems from a human rights complaint filed by the Assembly of First Nations and the First Nations Family and Caring Society in 2007. They argued First Nations kids were being denied services equal to those available to other children as a result of constant jurisdictional disputes between the federal and provincial governments.
Under Jordan's Principle, families are to apply for and receive funding as they need it, and the provinces and federal government are expected to sort out jurisdictional battles over who pays for it later.
ICFI funds an array of services in Nunavut alone, including access to speech-language pathologists, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder treatment services and school food programs, said the Arctic Children and Youth Foundation (ACYF), which helps facilitate ICFI applications.
ICFI also helps fund food voucher programs. Eighteen of Nunavut's 25 communities are signed up, with more 13,000 kids enrolled.
Food voucher programs give families $500 a month per child to help buy food, plus another $250 for kids younger than four.
On Tuesday, the City of Iqaluit warned its residents to prepare for the program's end.
The ACYF recently surveyed Nunavut communities on the impact of losing the program and shared the responses with The Canadian Press.
"A lot of people depend on ICFI now…. If it stops, a lot of children will probably rely on the soup kitchen again," said one senior administrative officer in the ACYF survey.
"I have two kids with anemia. We haven't gone to the health centre since the program started. That's a nice change," said another community member.
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