February 9, 2021 – Ottawa, Ontario
ITK commends the Government of Canada for recognizing and responding to Inuit needs during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has hit Inuit communities particularly hard.
On November 30, 2020, the third round of funding under the federal Indigenous Community Support Fund (ICSF) was announced in the Fall Economic Statement, amounting to $380 million. This funding has now been broken down on a distinctions basis, with $22.5 million allocated to Inuit. This funding will be allocated to Inuit regions in the manner set out by ITK’s general regional allocation funding formula.
This follows $45 million allocated to Inuit in the first round of the ICSF in March 2020 and $22.5 million allocated in the second round in August 2020. Regional organizations have used the funding to support a range of pandemic-related relief programs for Inuit within and outside of land claims regions. These have included Inuktut learning packages, support for water and sewer infrastructure, expansion of testing capacity, heat subsidy and food supplement programs and harvesters support programs, among other initiatives.
