The lack of suitable and affordable housing is a major concern in Canada’s northernmost locales, leading to serious health and safety concerns like tuberculosis, mental health problems, and respiratory infections.
The Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples’ report makes 13 recommendations to address these issues. The study, which began in February 2016, paints a picture of housing in communities in Nunavut, Nunavik (northern Quebec), Nunatsiavut (parts of Newfoundland and Labrador) and the Northwest Territories in the hopes of shining a light on the challenges faced by the residents of Canada’s north.

Recommendations

1. That the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation work with other federal departments, and the relevant provincial, territorial and Inuit organizations, to develop a funding strategy for northern housing.
2. This funding strategy should address concerns about declining funding under social housing agreements and provide adequate, predictable, stable and long-term funding for housing in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Nunavik and Nunatsiavut.
3. That the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation work with Inuit organizations in the Northwest Territories, Nunavik, and Nunatsiavut to ensure funding for Inuit housing is provided directly to those organizations, where appropriate.
4. That Fisheries and Oceans Canada amend the Fee Schedule to exempt all Nunavik communities from marine navigation services fees.
5. That the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation provide sufficient funding to northern housing authorities to permit the construction and operation of additional transitional housing options based on community needs.
6. That the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, in consultation with other federal organizations and Inuit governments, take immediate steps to review and expand the Isolated Posts and Government Housing Directive’s eligibility criteria to include local Inuit employees, where appropriate.
7. That the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, in co-operation with the relevant provincial, territorial and Inuit housing authorities, explore ways to support homeownership, such as co-operative and cohousing ownership, home buy-back and grant programs, that are suited to community needs in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Nunavik and Nunatsiavut.
8. That the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation continue to provide funding to Habitat For Humanity’s Indigenous Housing Program.
9. That the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation allocate a portion of the Affordable Rental Housing Innovation Fund specifically to the development of alternative housing options in communities in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Nunavik and Nunatsiavut.
10. That the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation work with relevant federal departments and appropriate housing agencies in order to develop a coordinated strategy for government research and development into northern housing.
11. That the National Research Council work with the provinces and territories and other stakeholders to develop model building codes tailored to the conditions and limitations of the North.
12. That Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada reinstate the Climate Change Adaptation Program to provide funding to help Indigenous communities minimize the impacts of climate change.
13. That the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation ensure that a greater number of young Inuit from Nunavut, Nunatsiavut, Nunavik and the Inuvialuit Settlement Region participate in the Housing Internship Initiative for First Nations and Inuit Youth.
14. That the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, in collaboration with Indigenous organizations and other relevant partners, ensure that the proposed national housing strategy include a specific strategy to address the housing challenges in northern Indigenous communities located in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Nunavik and Nunatsiavut.

https://sencanada.ca/content/sen/committee/421/APPA/Reports/Housing_e.pdf