Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (Aug 16/99) - A vocal advocate on homelessness in Nunavut stole the show last Friday morning as he directed an impassioned and heartfelt plea at government officials.

In the midst of a public meeting about homelessness, held in Iqaluit's Parish Hall, resident Jerry Ell appealed to Housing Minister Manitok Thompson and to Claudette Bradshaw, the minister responsible for homelessness at the federal level, to do something about the increasing number of homeless people in Nunavut. Embedded in his request for action was an accusation that the various levels of government are sluffing off the issue by passing the buck.

"I didn't hear any plans for a solution," said Ell, an active volunteer at Iqaluit's homeless shelter for the last seven years.

"It just sounded like one level of government was passing it on to another level of government -- the town to the territorial government and the territorial government to the federal government," said Ell.

He told the group of about 70 spectators and bureaucrats that the increasingly visible problem in Iqaluit and other Nunavut communities required money and that the three levels of government had to dig into their pockets and come up with the needed finances.

"Any potential solution requires dollars. That's all it boils down to," said Ell.

He explained that, in Iqaluit alone, the situation could be helped by building a new $800,000 shelter to replace the too small Oqota Emergency Shelter. He added that it would take an additional $250,000 to staff and maintain the facility on an annual basis.

Thompson listened to Ell's comments and said that she planned to set up a taskforce of MLAs and ministers to look at the issue and to come up with concrete, viable solutions.

One critical aspect of the problem to be brought to the taskforce's table, Thompson said, is the continuing and drastic reduction in dollars used to build social housing units in Nunavut and across Canada.

Since the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp. cut its funding in 1992, no new units have been constructed in Nunavut and the population has continued to boom. As a result, there are currently 673 families and individuals waiting for public housing units in Nunavut.

Translating into well over 2,000 people, or about 13 per cent of the overall population, those residents are usually forced into moving in with family or friends until more suitable accommodations become available. It is this overcrowding that is perhaps the biggest indicator of the problem of homelessness in Nunavut.

Thompson was unable to say exactly when the taskforce would be struck or when it would begin to come up with solutions or money, but she said she would do her best to cut through the red tape and get the ball rolling.

"It's a different homelessness than down south. Down south, at least you can go under a vent or get into a cardboard box and you'll survive. Up here, you can't do that."