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NUNAVUT
Nunavut communities will be the driving force to tell government and other funding agencies how to tackle poverty in their communities, Nunavut's Anti-Poverty Secretariat director Ed McKenna said Feb. 24.

Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. vice-president Jack Anawak and Economic Development and Transportation Minister Peter Taptuna present the Makimaniq Plan at the legislature in Iqaluit on Feb. 24. - Casey Lessard/NNSL photo

He spoke to Nunavut News/North after the government presented and endorsed the Makimaniq Plan, the paper that came out of the Nov. 28-30 poverty summit in Iqaluit.

"We will encourage communities to look at the plan again and come forward with initiatives and then we will support that," McKenna said.

Community representatives from all over Nunavut wrote the paper in conjunction with government and non-governmental agency representatives, particularly Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. The resulting plan includes six key themes that need to be addressed to tackle poverty: collaboration and community participation; healing and well-being; education and skills development; food security; housing and income support; and community and economic development.

Ahead of the summit, the government committed $6.8 million in May 2011, "to address poverty, funding social assistance improvements, allowances for food and clothing, parenting and community breakfast programs, and increasing access to country food," McKenna said.

It's hard to measure the government's total commitment to poverty reduction as it is the hopeful result of many aspects of the recently-presented 2012-13 territorial budget. These include commitments to address the public housing rent scale, addictions and mental health treatment at the community level, and to create a food security coalition.

"Each of the things that were approved in the current budget has a dollar figure," he said. "When you look at what the government does with social services, there's a lot of investment in quality of life here. Next year, there will be measures there with program funds attached. I say that with confidence."

Making sure those program funds reach the groups making a difference on the ground is a priority, as the Makimaniq Plan would see the establishment of an organization to support community initiatives.

"It will require a lot of co-ordination from a lot of different agencies who will have a role to play in those programs," he said. "Poverty is the kind of complex problem that it will require co-operation, and the legislation will point to the collaboration that will reduce poverty."

The legislation to put the Makimaniq Plan into law is McKenna's top priority. Without it, everything could fall apart if a new government changes tack after the next election.

"Legislation is really critical," he said. "The government has made the commitment to do all these things in this mandate, and if they don't do it, the commitment doesn't necessarily pass over – but if we get the legislation done, the next government will be bound to continue this work."

That legislation is expected to hit the table in the winter 2013 sitting of the legislature.

Even with legislation, the government will have a lot of work ahead, Economic Development and Transportation minister Peter Taptuna said.

"It is a huge task," Taptuna said. "Nobody's looking for instant results. It's going to take time, planning and perseverance."

NTI vice-president Jack Anawak said his organization would be there with the government every step of the way.

"Times have changed where it was a communal effort to survive. Some people are being left behind," Anawak said. "We're going to be there in partnership with the government to ensure we do something to reduce poverty in Nunavut."

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