Rankin Inlet (Mar 24/03) - It's a message ringing loud and clear all across the North - the federal government needs to ante up in transfer payments.

Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI) is the latest group to lend their weight to the argument. President Cathy Towtongie said federal transfer payments are simply inadequate.

"The GN's budget fails to provide adequate funding to meet even the basic needs of Inuit," she said.

The shortcomings outlined fall across a wide spectrum of government services.

"With respect to housing, education, health care, and economic development it clearly shows there isn't enough federal funding to begin with," she said.

Although they are placing much of the blame on the federal government for shortchanging the territory they are also questioning choices made by the Nunavut government.

Towtongie said wildlife is key to the culture of Inuit people yet the GN chose to cut the Department of Sustainable Development's budget for wildlife by over 20 per cent.

She also criticized the territorial government on education funding, especially regarding to the $2 million set aside for curriculum development she says is being wasted.

The $2 million increase for curriculum development should be part of a coordinated approach involving training and legislation, but its not," she added.

Towtongie also believed more money should have been committed to support new homeowners. NTI had also hoped to see funding for a long term approach to suicide prevention.

"Inuit are suffering because the federal government refuses to recognize the realities of Nunavut and the need for more funding to bring our services and infrastructure up to national standards," said Towtongie.

"While some different choices could have been made on specific aspects of the budget, we believe the GN is being asked to do too much with too few resources."

Finance Minister Kelvin Ng said following the budget release that the territory would be unable to maintain current levels of spending without additional federal support.

The GN is predicting the $97 million surplus the government had three years ago will gone by next year.

Ng said the next government may face some tough choices in terms of government spending and may be hard pressed to keep the books out of the red.

"The reality is we can't keep operating on the resources we have," he said.