Hon. Dennis Glen Patterson: Honourable senators, my question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate. Senator Gold, phase 4 funding of the Indigenous Community Support Fund, or ICSF, was announced in June 2021.

However, the funding has only just been received by regional Inuit organizations.

The total amount for Nunavut is over $30 million, of which the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, or QIA, my region’s Inuit organization, has been allocated $11.7 million. The intended use of these funds will be to help secure our communities against the ever-prevalent impacts of COVID-19. I have been advised by the QIA that they, along with the other two regional organizations in Nunavut, urgently require confirmation that their ICSF agreement will be extended into 2022-23, as has been done in previous phases.

I submit that it’s unreasonable and impractical for the Government of Canada to provide substantial and fundamental investments to Inuit without consideration for the sufficient time needed to provide vital supports.

My question, Senator Gold, is simple: Will the government confirm that this critical funding can be carried over into the 2022-23 fiscal year in order for Inuit to adequately address and respond to COVID-19?

Senator Patterson: Senator Gold, I appreciate your willingness to inquire into this urgent matter, but this is not the first time we’ve heard of promised funding flowing into the hands of those who need it so late in the fiscal year that it leaves them scrambling. As I said earlier, phases of ICSF funding also had to be extended. Chasing down these extensions puts additional and unnecessary strain on organizational capacity. Is the government willing to put measures in place to ensure that funding is flowing in a timely manner, relieving partners like the QIA of the burden of chasing down extensions? Shouldn’t carry-overs, for instance, be automatic if funding is only received well into Q4 of a fiscal year?