Inuit leaders had frank conversations with the prime minister and federal cabinet ministers on Friday about the urgent need to address a lack of housing and other basic infrastructure across Inuit homelands.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Nain, Newfoundland and Labrador’s northernmost community, for the first time on Friday to co-chair an annual Inuit-Crown Partnership Committee meeting with Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) President Natan Obed.
The needs were apparent as soon as Trudeau’s plane touched down on the community’s short gravel airstrip located on the edge of the Labrador Sea. It was the first time a prime minister ever landed in Labrador’s Inuit region of Nunatsiavut.
Nain’s runway doesn’t have any lights, which means no landings after dark — not even for emergencies. The closest hospital is a five hour plane ride away in St. John’s.
Inuit leaders have been trying to raise funds to replace the airstrip for 15 years. They’re also trying to address a chronic infrastructure and housing shortage that the federal housing advocate dubbed a “human rights failure.”
The Liberal government promised to fill the infrastructure gap in all Indigenous communities by 2030. So far, substantial investments have been made, but not nearly enough to bring about fundamental change, especially in Nunatsiavut.
“It isn’t just that there are a few potholes in the road,” said Obed, who is from Nain.
“There’s a basic lack of services in our communities that are in urgent need of repair or investment.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, centre, greets elders during a community feast in Nain on Friday. (Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press)
Housing was the first issue the committee discussed, Obed said.
Overcrowding in Inuit communities stands at over 50 per cent, he added.
Addressing that issue in Inuit Nunangat — the four northern regions that make up the Inuit homeland — would cost $75.1 billion over 35 years, according to ITK.
“We know the needs are significant, but we also know there are opportunities to create jobs, to create sustainable approaches to housing that are going to make a huge difference,” said Trudeau in a media scrum following Friday’s meeting.
“We will continue to do this in partnership because that’s what reconciliation is all about.”
Need for more deepwater ports in Inuit communities
The most recent federal budget promised $4 billion over seven years for urban, rural and northern Indigenous housing. It’s still unclear how much Inuit communities would get.
“Inuit leadership are very blunt at the table about the needs that still have not been met,” Obed said.
“There is an expectation that we will work together on closing the infrastructure gap by 2030, which will require significant additional funds. We’re not shy about recognizing that fact.”
Natan Obed, president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, attends a meeting of the Inuit-Crown Partnership Committee (ICPC) in Nain on Friday. (Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press)
There’s also a need for more deepwater ports to drive down the cost and reliability of supply shipments.
“We depend upon the sea for our livelihood,” Obed said.
Although the meeting ended with no financial commitments, Obed said it was a chance for the prime minister and cabinet ministers to see first-hand the challenges that Inuit communities face.
“We have frank meetings,” Obed said.
“This is the most progressive government on Indigenous issues that Inuit have seen … we’re willing to work with them and make as much progress as we possibly can without ever saying that we’re done.”
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
