Iqaluit, Nunavut – November 4, 2020 – The Qikiqtani Inuit Association (QIA) is accepting application for the new Qikiqtani Family Support Initiative to assist Inuit during the COVID-19 pandemic.

QIA is allocating an additional $2.65 million to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on Qikiqtani families. Each household is eligible for a $1,500 grant. The funds can be used for: harvesting, purchasing groceries, and sewing.

“The  Qikiqtani Family Support Initiative provides much needed financial support to Inuit as we face the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic,” says QIA President P.J. Akeeagok, “these funds will help families harvest country food, purchase groceries including cleaning products and access supplies for sewing warm winter clothes.”

This initiative is an expansion of QIA’s previous COVID-19 Emergency Harvester/Social-distancing on-the-land initiative rolled-out in April 2020. That initiative distributed $2 million in funds to Qikiqtani families to social-distance on-the-land and harvest healthy country food.

Applications for the Qikiqtani Family Support Initiative are available from November 4, 2020 until February 26, 2021, or when the funds run out. Applications can be accessed online at https://www.qia.ca/qikiqtani-family-support-initiative/ .

The funds for QIA’s COVID-19 response plan come from the Indigenous Community Support Fund (ICSF) announced by the Federal Government. QIA’s share of that fund is $4,311,793. Additional funds for the Qikiqtani Family Support Initiative are from the COVID-19 Mental Health Surge Funding.

QIA has plans for additional initiatives to support Qikiqtani families as the COVID-19 public health emergency continues. More information about these initiatives will be released in the following weeks.

For more information, please contact:

Sima Sahar Zerehi,

Director of Communications,

Qikiqtani Inuit Association

szerehi@qia.ca

867.975.8413 or

1.800.667.2742