by Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services

NNSL (Oct 27/97) - Pond Inlet teachers have done the math -- and working there no longer adds up.

Come March, they face massive rent increases thanks the GNWT's decision to sell teacher residencies to Toonoonik Sahoonik Co-operative.

The co-op will raise rents -- 40 to 60 per cent, tenants said.

Earlier this month in the legislature, MLAs Levi Barnabas and John Todd blamed the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

The co-op has no alternative but to increase the rent because of CMHC requirements, Barnabas said.

There is a legitimate concern in Pond by developers that the CMHC has changed the rules and there is a requirement for a greater down payment on commercial residential properties, Todd said.

But CMHC Yellowknife office manager John Soderberg said the CMHC has made no changes and has nothing to do with how much the co-op plans to charge for rent. The CMHC is being made a "scapegoat", he said.

On a rental property, a buyer pays 15 percent minimum down and the remainder is loaned by a bank. CMHC insures the bank loan.

By deadline, the co-op had yet to respond to News/North inquiry but a co-op manager said they were gathering information, including the relevant issues discussed by the legislative assembly, before making a statement.

Though the co-op is not ready to talk just yet, teachers are speaking out.

Teacher and mother of six Geebowah Arreak said the she will be working for "less than nothing" after a rent hike of almost 40 per cent.

She now pays $1,485 a month rent, just under half her $3,000 monthly take-home pay.

Add utilities, food, clothing, and she is left with $375 per month. A 40 per cent rent increase means its about to get "a whole lot worse," she said.

"I will be better off financially on social assistance."

For teacher Naomi Tigullaraq, the rent increase will also put her in the red at the end of the month.

She takes home $3,700 a month and pays $1,454 a month in rent.

"It would certainly appear that the GNWT has finally eroded my spending power to the point that I will be paying them for the privilege of working," she said.

Tigullaraq is also facing a rent hike of just under 40 percent.

It's an "enormous burden," said teacher Phil Flynn, looking at a 60 per cent hike. He takes home $1,453 and has only $600 in disposable income each month.

"I will be in a negative cash flow situation," he said. "I have to ask myself, how can I afford to justify living here?"

Pond Inlet District Education Authority vice chair Philip Paneak said the rent increases threatens the future of the Pond Inlet teaching program, which has 16 future teachers enrolled.

"Given the (proposed) increase in rents, the loss of vacation and travel assistance and the general erosion in spending power of our teachers that has occurred over the past number of years, the DEA is fearful that we may lose some of our aboriginal teachers," Paneak said.

"Many are openly questioning whether it makes sense for them financially to teach in Pond Inlet."

Paneak is also concerned about attracting future teachers.

Last year, when he was on the Pond Inlet DEA's recruiting team, 13 teachers rejected offers to teach in the community.

"This year's teachers are already talking about leaving next year," he said, calling Pond Inlet a revolving door for first-year teachers.

NWT Teachers' Association president Pat Thomas said the union's hands are tied.

Other than lobbying MLAs, there's nothing she can do, she said. Rent is no longer part of collective bargaining.

"I want a stable teaching force, (but) the issue will be with us for awhile."