People get to keep fuel rebate
Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services
Iqaluit (Apr 02/01) - A federal fuel rebate is safe from the Nunavut government's prying hands.
Education Minister Peter Kilabuk, who's responsible for income support, said Nunavut is not going to follow in the footsteps of the Northwest Territories and deduct the federal payment from income support recipients.
"The simple reason for us not clawing back is that this is a one-time measure taken by the federal government," explained Kilabuk.
The GNWT counted Ottawa's Relief for Heating Expenses cheques for $125 and $250 as "income earned from other sources." They then reduced the amount they paid out.
That decision reportedly left some families with a mere $3 for the month and forced recipients to turn to places like the Yellowknife Food Bank for assistance.
Kilabuk's counterpart, Education, Culture and Employment Minister Jake Ootes, defended the move when questioned by MLAs during their recent session. He said the government paid for the shelter, food and electricity of income support clients.
Ootes also chose to stick to his decision despite the criticism, but later loosened his grip and gave recipients 10 months to pay back the money.
Kilabuk said the Government of Nunavut had no intention of causing that kind of difficulty for Nunavummiut.
"We would cause undue hardship to the residents of Nunavut," said Kilabuk.
"If we were to (claw back) the money, it would affect children more than adults. For that reason, we wanted to take our own approach to the whole thing."
