{"id":41736,"date":"2026-05-12T10:32:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T10:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/41736\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T10:32:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T10:32:07","slug":"ottawas-promised-spending-in-the-north-wont-invest-in-the-human-rights-of-northerners-ndp-argues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/41736\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa\u2019s promised spending in the North won’t ‘invest in the human rights\u2019 of northerners, NDP argues"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Mark Carney\u2019s government is failing to invest in the human rights of people in Northern communities, says the federal NDP’s northern critic.<\/p>\n

Leah Gazan, a Winnipeg MP, says billions in promised spending for the North\u2014specifically for defence and major infrastructure projects\u2014should instead go toward things like housing and food insecurity.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s putting all of this money in defence at a time of an affordability crisis,\u201d said Gazan. \u201cHe’s failed to invest in the human rights of the people in northern communities across Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gazan suggested publicly-owned grocery stores, as pitched by new leader Avi Lewis, could help people in the North.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s really a life and death initiative for families up North,” she said.<\/p>\n

The prime minister\u2019s last visit to the territories was in March, when he came to Yellowknife<\/a> to announce a $35-billion plan to bolster civilian infrastructure, upgrade northern military bases and improve airports.<\/p>\n

If Ottawa is planning to spend billions on defence for the region, Gazan said, \u201ccertainly [Carney] could have the creativity and the imagination to make sure that people have a house to live in and kids are no longer starving up North.\u201d<\/p>\n

The promised spending is meant to demonstrate the Liberal government\u2019s commitment to Arctic sovereignty. The major infrastructure projects, the Mackenzie Valley Highway, the Taltson hydro expansion and the Arctic economic and security corridor, are all meant to be of national interest.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it not of national interest to ensure all northerners across Canada are provided with their human right to housing?\u201d Gazan asked. \u201cIs it not a project of national interest to put forward public options for food… because food is so costly?\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Indigenous services department and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada said the government has other initiatives aimed at affordability in the North.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

(Devon Tredinnick\/CBC)<\/p>\n

It cited a list of funding commitments, including $115 million to renew the Inuit Child First Initiative<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The federal government also says affordability in the North is linked to the cost of transportation.<\/p>\n

It says the $1 billion Arctic Infrastructure Fund<\/a> for airports, ports, and all-season roads are infrastructure investments that directly influence affordability.<\/p>\n

Canada also has programs including Nutrition North and a myriad of other funds aimed at food security. The federal government says all of those programs help reduce the cost of food.<\/p>\n

“We will continue to create new opportunities by investing in communities and by supporting initiatives led by Indigenous partners,” the statement reads.<\/p>\n

Ottawa\u2019s promises have been met with broad approval locally in the N.W.T., but also with some mixed reactions elsewhere<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nunavut Premier John Main has said he’s happy to see new military investments, but also says parts of his territory also needs upgrades to community infrastructure.<\/p>\n

“We can’t only have defense infrastructure being addressed,” he said.<\/p>\n

First Nations and M\u00e9tis leaders have also criticized the federal government’s spring economic update<\/a> for a lack of distinctions-based funding for Indigenous communities.<\/p>\n

The federal Conservative Party did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prime Minister Mark Carney\u2019s government is failing to invest in the human rights of people in Northern communities,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41737,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[1187,2110,18214,9409,12896,18211,111,18213,18212,17784],"class_list":["post-41736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mark-carney","tag-affordability-crisis","tag-federal-ndp","tag-food-insecurity","tag-human-rights","tag-infrastructure-projects","tag-leah-gazan","tag-mark-carney","tag-national-interest","tag-northern-affairs-canada","tag-northern-communities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}