The federal government has doled out more than $100 million in Covid-19 aid for the North over the past few weeks and there could be more to come.

SA国际影视传媒淚 know there's great needs. I'm not pretending this is covering off all issues in the North... if we can help some more, we will,SA国际影视传媒� said Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal. SA国际影视传媒淲e're going to continue talking to the premiers and to the Inuit leaders and the Indigenous leaders to talk about how things are progressing. We're going to make it through this crisis in partnership.SA国际影视传媒�

Financial assistance has been designated for Northern health care, food security, businesses and transportation recently. There are also national pots of money that Northerners can access such as the Canada Emergency Response Benefit for those who lost work, the 75 per cent wage subsidy for employers and aid for students and the homeless.

SA国际影视传媒淒uring the last five, six weeks Covid has actually seized the actions of our government and it's seized the nation,SA国际影视传媒� said Vandal. SA国际影视传媒淲e need to take decisive action to help the North, who are facing a unique hardship as a result of this outbreak.SA国际影视传媒�

Nunavut MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq told Nunavut News earlier this month that the federal government needs to move SA国际影视传媒渕ore quicklySA国际影视传媒� and that a lot of announcements have been SA国际影视传媒減atchwork fixes for the shortcomings of earlier announcements.SA国际影视传媒�

Vandal noted that these emergency programs are being developed over the course of just days or weeks, whereas they'd normally take many months.
SA国际影视传媒淲e realize they're not perfect. We realize we're not covering everybodySA国际影视传媒� he said. SA国际影视传媒淏ut we've built in a certain amount of flexibility that when we need to make amendments and changes that we do that based on our consultations with Canadians and other leaders.SA国际影视传媒�

Responding to Qaqqaq's criticism, Vandal said, SA国际影视传媒淭his is the time of a crisis, it's a pandemic. It's not the time to try to score political points.SA国际影视传媒�

He added, SA国际影视传媒淚f Mumilaaq has suggestions to make it better then we're all ears and we want to hear that.SA国际影视传媒�

Housing and healthcare

Other areas where Qaqqaq said the government must do better is in regards to limited health services and overcrowded homes, problems that have persisted for decades and which could result in devastation if Covid-19 gets a foothold in Nunavut.

Vandal said the federal government had already begun to address the housing shortage through its National Housing Strategy and 10-year, $400-million agreement with Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, signed in 2018.

SA国际影视传媒淭here's been some progress made. The problem is that the gaps are so huge that it's going to take several years to catch up... there is no magic bullets when you have a deficit as significant as housing in the North,SA国际影视传媒� he conceded.

On April 14, the federal government pledged $30.8 million for Nunavut and $23.4 million to the NWT to bolster health and social services during the pandemic.

Vandal said some of that money can be used to construct isolation units to keep Covid cases or potential cases separated from the general populace. That could entail converting existing structures, building new temporary structures, even tents, if needed.

SA国际影视传媒淲e're prepared to work in partnership with the territorial governments in helping the treatment of the virus should it come up there, he said. SA国际影视传媒淭he minster of Defence is prepared to intervene and offer help if it becomes necessary. The minister of Public Safety, Bill Blair, is very engaged in the issues of the North as well... we're carefully monitoring the situation.SA国际影视传媒�

He also commended the Government of Nunavut for doing SA国际影视传媒渁n excellent jobSA国际影视传媒� and taking SA国际影视传媒渂old measuresSA国际影视传媒� to prevent the virus from reaching the territory.