24-04-2025
Cost of living top of mind in Grise Fiord ahead of federal election
Residents of Grise Fiord say the high costs of travel and food are among their top concerns ahead of the April 28 federal election.
Located 1,500 kilometres south of the North Pole on Ellesmere Island, the Nunavut hamlet of 140 people is the northernmost community in Canada.
Getting in and out is a challenge. Canadian North offers scheduled flights to Grise Fiord twice a week to and from Resolute Bay. Those flights alone can cost more than $1,000, one way. To get to Iqaluit, then Ottawa — the most convenient destination from which to fly south from Nunavut's capital — and from there to anywhere else easily costs thousands more.
'A lot of people would like to go for vacations, but we can't,' said Monica Kiguktak, a full-time teacher and a single mother of two who has lived in Grise Fiord most of her life.
'I have to plan like 10 years ahead of time if I want to go out for a good vacation.'
Jimmy Qaapik, a Grise Fiord resident since 1987, said he also doesn't travel much unless it is work-related. He pointed out the cost of leaving isn't limited to just flights. It often requires overnight stays in Resolute Bay, Iqaluit or other communties.
'Nobody can afford to go anywhere out of their own pocket,' he said.
'There's the hotels and the food that has to be paid [for], unless you have friends or families who are willing to take you in through these communities that we have to fly through.'
Getting supplies in is about as complicated as it is to come or leave.
Grise Fiord, like all other Nunavut communities, relies on air cargo to supplement the annual sealift delivery. With that comes higher prices for food,
such as
$50 for a jar of pickles or $29 for a litre of soup broth.
On top of that are frequent weather-related air travel cancellations, meaning food often is delayed, and expired, by the time it gets to the community's Arctic Co-op grocery store.
The federal government has offered some programs intended to reduce the cost of food in Nunavut communities, including Nutrition North and the Inuit Child First Initiative (sometimes referred to as Jordan's Principle) food voucher program.
Grise Fiord administered the food voucher program last year, where families with Inuit children under 18 could collect a $500 voucher monthly per child. Children under four were also eligible for a supplementary $250 per child for products such as diapers and formula.
Hamlet Coun. Laisa Audlaluk-Watsko has three kids for whom she collected $1,500 monthly in food voucher support, but the hamlet's funding agreement with Indigenous Services Canada expired at the end of March.
The Inuit Child First Initiative was
extended
to the end of March 2026, but Parliament must reconvene to approve the spending. That won't happen until after Monday's election.
Even with that funding extension, the department is
indicating it won't renew
funding requests for its community-wide food voucher program.
Audlaluk-Watsko expressed how much she relied on the program while it was in place.
'The first time I got it, I was teary or so happy with joy that I'm getting this much help and I can pay the rest of the bills or I can order clothes for that month,' she said about the vouchers.
'Now, we're budgeting again.'
All three Nunavut candidates in the federal election have
shown their support
for Inuit Child First Initiative and other measures to ease the cost of living for Nunavummiut.
Conservative James T. Arreak, New Democrat Lori Idlout and Liberal Kilikvak Kabloona all also
addressed the need
to improve Nutrition North. The Liberal government announced in October that it would
undertake an external review
of the program.
'I hope that someone comes through,' Audlaluk-Watsko said about the prospect of a solution.
Kiguktak said Grise Fiord needs help. High costs impact peoples' well-being in a community where some residents struggle to find employment and where people endure 24/7 darkness throughout the winter.
'We were relocated here, relocated to Grise Fiord, and then [the] federal government doesn't do anything for these people,' she said.
This article was published with financial support from the Covering Canada: Election 2025 Fund.
