Still not enough: Alakannuark
Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services
Iqaluit (Mar 05/01) - Eligible resident in the Eastern Arctic will receive a one-time fuel rebate of $450 from the Nunavut government.
The subsidy, announced last Wednesday in the legislature by Housing Minister Manitok Thompson, is available to low- and middle-income residents earning $125,000 or less annually, who rent or own a home, and who pay for their own fuel.
Thompson said $720,000 has been allocated in the 2000-2001 budget to assist 1,600 residents. She said the money will help ease the economic hardship caused by home heating fuel rising to 13.9 cents a litre last fall.
Some Nunavummiut say they've been forced to choose between food for their children and fuel, while others have given up their homes and moved back into public housing.
"I think it (the subsidy) will probably help people make the decision to stay in home ownership. That's their choice," she said, adding, "if they think it's better to live in public housing, that's also their choice."
Those with a mortgage through the Housing Corporation will be mailed a cheque, which are scheduled to go out March 5. Others have to apply for the subsidy by March 31, 2001. Forms are available at housing association offices.
Asking for more
Ovide Alakannuark, the MLA for the Akulliq region, said the subsidy didn't go nearly far enough in addressing the needs of Nunavummiut. Constituents in Kugaaruk/Pelly Bay, one of the two hamlets Alakannuark represents, pay 98.9 cents a litre for home heating fuel.
"That's only going to put fuel in their homes for two weeks, so it's not going to be enough," said Alakannuark. "They're probably going to be asking for more," he said.
Thompson said the government has already subsidized the fuel for the 3,700 residents living in public housing in the territory, and the latest amount was all they can offer.
She also criticized the federal government's heating fuel subsidy. Many of the $125 and $250 cheques were sent to territorial residents who don't even pay for their own fuel.
"They should have block-funded me that money. I would have been able to do a lot with that money and I would have given it to the right people," she said. "That would have been a better idea."
