December 1, 2020
The Fall Economic Statement released yesterday by the Government of Canada contains welcome news for Inuit. Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami hopes to learn more in the coming days about how the funds outlined in the document will be allocated to Inuit specifically, as many of the investments announced yesterday were framed as general Indigenous investments.
The statement includes new COVID-19 funding of $380 million in 2020-21 for Inuit, First Nations and Métis as part of the Indigenous Community Support Fund. An additional $174.3 million over three years has been allocated to support essential air access to remote communities.
Given the impact of the pandemic on women, children and families, ITK is pleased that there will now be permanent Inuit-specific funding for early learning and childcare programming and we await further details associated with this roll-out.
Finally, ITK is optimistic about what a promised $1.8 billion to support infrastructure in Indigenous communities will look like for Inuit. Given the size of the infrastructure deficit across Inuit Nunangat, infrastructure remains one of the top priorities of the Inuit Crown Partnership Committee.
