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‘We must do better:’ Nunavut leaders optimistic about housing money from Ottawa

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IQALUIT, Nunavut — Leaders in Nunavut say they’re happy with territory-specific housing money in the federal budget even though the amount is well below what they say is needed to address a long-standing housing crisis.

The Liberal government budget last week sets aside $60 million to go to Nunavut for housing.Federal Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal, on a two-day visit to Iqaluit to promote the budget, called the amount a “down payment.”

Vandal sat shoulder to shoulder Wednesday with Nunavut Premier P.J. Akeeagok, Iqaluit Mayor Kenny Bell and Aluki Kotierk, president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., which represents Inuit on treaty rights.

Akeeagok said the housing shortage can only be fixed if all levels of government and Inuit organizations work together.

“Today’s gathering speaks of our continued commitment to collaborate to address Nunavut’s growing housing gap … Nunavut is united in our call for more affordable housing in our territory,” Akeeagok said at a news conference.

The premier spoke about ongoing COVID-19 and tuberculosis outbreaks made worse by overcrowded and inadequate housing. In some cases, he said, households have been faced with both infections.

“We must do better,” Akeeagok said.

The budget also includes a further $845 million to address Inuit housing needs overall across Inuit Nunangat, the name for the four Inuit regions in Canada. The amount Nunavut is to receive has yet to be determined.

Data from the Nunavut Housing Corp. indicates 56 per cent of Inuit in the territory live in overcrowded homes.

Last month, the corporation’s president, Eiryn Devereaux, told a federal committee on Indigenous and northern affairs that Nunavut would need to build 300 houses a year for the next eight years to meet demand.

Nunavut Tunngavik has a 10-year housing plan that says it would take $4 billion to fix the territory’s housing crisis.

Nunavut NDP MP Lori Idlout has routinely criticized the Liberal government over housing. In March, she rose in the House of Commons to critique a federal announcement of 101 new housing units in the territory, well below the thousands needed.

Despite that, Kotierk said money in the budget shows a “clear acknowledgment” by the federal government of the need for “a new, transformational approach to solving the deep infrastructure and housing gaps in Nunavut.”

Kotierk said she was also pleased to see the $845 million overall for Inuit housing needs.

“We will see what the allocation looks like for Nunavut.”

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Vandal said high costs, a short construction season and a lack of infrastructure all make it difficult to address Nunavut’s housing problems.

“It’s really very difficult to close that gap in one year or two years,” Vandal said.

“We’re going to continue investing significant dollars for as long as we can,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 13, 2022.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship

 

Emma Tranter, The Canadian Press

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Port of Montreal employer submits ‘final’ offer to dockworkers, threatens lockout

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MONTREAL – The employers association at the Port of Montreal has issued the dockworkers’ union a “final, comprehensive offer,” threatening to lock out workers at 9 p.m. Sunday if a deal isn’t reached.

The Maritime Employers Association says its new offer includes a three per cent salary increase per year for four years and a 3.5 per cent increase for the two subsequent years. It says the offer would bring the total average compensation package of a longshore worker at the Port of Montreal to more than $200,000 per year at the end of the contract.

“The MEA agrees to this significant compensation increase in view of the availability required from its employees,” it wrote Thursday evening in a news release.

The association added that it is asking longshore workers to provide at least one hour’s notice when they will be absent from a shift — instead of one minute — to help reduce management issues “which have a major effect on daily operations.”

Syndicat des débardeurs du port de Montréal, which represents nearly 1,200 longshore workers, launched a partial unlimited strike on Oct. 31, which has paralyzed two terminals that represent 40 per cent of the port’s total container handling capacity.

A complete strike on overtime, affecting the whole port, began on Oct. 10.

The union has said it will accept the same increases that were granted to its counterparts in Halifax or Vancouver — 20 per cent over four years. It is also concerned with scheduling and work-life balance. Workers have been without a collective agreement since Dec. 31, 2023.

Only essential services and activities unrelated to longshoring will continue at the port after 9 p.m. Sunday in the event of a lockout, the employer said.

The ongoing dispute has had major impacts at Canada’s second-biggest port, which moves some $400 million in goods every day.

On Thursday, Montreal port authority CEO Julie Gascon reiterated her call for federal intervention to end the dispute, which has left all container handling capacity at international terminals at “a standstill.”

“I believe that the best agreements are negotiated at the table,” she said in a news release. “But let’s face it, there are no negotiations, and the government must act by offering both sides a path to true industrial peace.”

Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon issued a statement Thursday, prior to the lockout notice, in which he criticized the slow pace of talks at the ports in Montreal and British Columbia, where more than 700 unionized port workers have been locked out since Nov. 4.

“Both sets of talks are progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved,” he wrote on the X social media platform.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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‘Disgraceful:’ N.S. Tory leader slams school’s request that military remove uniform

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HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.

Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.

A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”

Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.

“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.

In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”

“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”

Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.

Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.

Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.

“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.

“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.

“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.

“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”

“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Sides in B.C. port dispute to meet in bid to end lockout after talk with minister

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VANCOUVER – Employers and the union representing supervisors embroiled in a labour dispute that triggered a lockout at British Columbia’s ports will attempt to reach a deal when talks restart this weekend.

A spokesman from the office of federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon has confirmed the minister spoke with leaders at both the BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514, but did not invoke any section of the Canadian Labour Code that would force them back to talks.

A statement from the ministry says MacKinnon instead “asked them to return to the negotiation table,” and talks are now scheduled to start on Saturday with the help of federal mediators.

A meeting notice obtained by The Canadian Press shows talks beginning in Vancouver at 5 p.m. and extendable into Sunday and Monday, if necessary.

The lockout at B.C. ports by employers began on Monday after what their association describes as “strike activity” from the union. The result was a paralysis of container cargo traffic at terminals across Canada’s west coast.

In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint against the employers for allegedly bargaining in bad faith, a charge that employers call a “meritless claim.”

The two sides have been without a deal since March 2023, and the employers say its final offer presented last week in the last round of talks remains on the table.

The proposed agreement includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term along with an average lump sum payment of $21,000 per qualified worker.

The union has said one of its key concerns is the advent of port automation in cargo operations, and workers want assurances on staffing levels regardless of what technology is being used at the port.

The disruption is happening while two container terminals are shut down in Montreal in a separate labour dispute.

It leaves container cargo traffic disrupted at Canada’s two biggest ports, Vancouver and Montreal, both operating as major Canadian trade gateways on the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

This is one of several work disruptions at the Port of Vancouver, where a 13-day strike stopped cargo last year, while labour strife in the rail and grain-handling sectors led to further disruptions earlier this year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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