2025-2026 Highlight report: Inuit

Reporting on progress made to address violence against Inuit women, girls, and LGBTQI+ people.

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Introduction

In response to the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and its Call for Justice 1.1, the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People National Action Plan was launched on June 3, 2021. The Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People is the Government of Canada's contribution to this plan and outlines its commitment to ending violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people.

The federal government recognizes the urgent need for distinctions-based, Inuit-informed action. Inuit communities continue to face unique challenges, including persistent overcrowding and inadequate housing, limited access to shelters and culturally safe services, economic insecurity, harms to language and cultural continuity, and barriers to health and wellness. Guided by the Calls for Justice and priorities identified in the National Inuit Action Plan on Missing and Murdered Inuit Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people (PDF) (National Inuit Action Plan), jointly published by Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and Pauktuutit, the 2025-2026 Inuit Highlight Report summarizes federal progress made towards Inuit-identified priorities and Inuit-specific Calls for Justice that aim to advance the safety, economic security, self-determination, language and culture preservation, health and well-being of Inuit women, girls, and LGBTQI+ people.

This highlight report outlines federal action in 2025-2026 that advances Calls for Justice 16.1 to 16.46 across four priority areas:

These priority areas reflect Inuit‑identified needs and show both the immediate impacts and the longer‑term systemic changes resulting from federal investments, partnerships, and distinctions-based program delivery.

Shelters, housing and infrastructure

As outlined in the National Inuit Action Plan and the Calls for Justice, access to safe, affordable, and culturally appropriate housing is important to the safety, health and well-being of Inuit. The longstanding housing crisis in Inuit Nunangat directly contributes to overcrowding, housing insecurity, increased violence, and poor health outcomes. Limited access to shelter leaves many Inuit women, girls, and LGBTQI+ people with few options when fleeing violence. Infrastructure gaps across Inuit Nunangat further increase the cost of living and limit access to many services, often forcing Inuit to make difficult decisions between remaining in their home communities without necessary supports or relocating to urban centres far from family, culture, and language. The federal government is committed to addressing the urgent need to close these gaps and improving access to housing, shelters, and critical infrastructure to improve the safety and well-being of Inuit women, girls, and LGTBQI+ people.

The Urban, Rural and Northern Indigenous Housing Strategy provides funding to First Nations, Inuit and Métis partners to establish and sustain distinctions-based, Indigenous-led, low-barrier shelters, safe spaces, and second-stage housing. Distinctions-based funding for Inuit partners is delivered through Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, and in 2025-2026, this funding continued to support Inuit-led, distinctions-based housing solutions. Funding was provided directly to Inuit partners to advance culturally informed approaches to building and repairing homes, as well as to expand shelter and transitional housing capacity in urban, rural, and northern communities. By prioritizing strong partnerships, sustained investments, and Indigenous self-determination, the strategy supports long-term efforts to reduce housing disparities and promote safe, stable, and dignified homes for Indigenous peoples across Canada. This aligns with Calls for Justice 4.6 and 4.7.

The National Housing Strategy continued to address the needs of Indigenous peoples, including Inuit, through an approach to housing that invests to reduce chronic housing crises, overcrowding, substandard housing, and address a lack of essential services, among other barriers that have historically marginalized Indigenous populations. Through programs delivered by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the National Housing Strategy, supported the construction of new houses and renovation of existing homes in Inuit Nunangat and with Inuit partners. These investments address urgent housing needs and align with Calls for Justice emphasizing the importance of safe, secure, and adequate housing as a foundation for safety and healing, in particular Calls for Justice 4.6 and 4.7.

In 2025-2026, Reaching Home: Canada's Homelessness Strategy allocated $9.2 million to five Inuit projects to meet distinct needs of Inuit experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

As part of the implementation of the Comprehensive Violence Prevention Strategy and the National Housing Strategy, the $723.1 million Indigenous Shelter and Transitional Housing Initiative is delivered by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and Indigenous Services Canada. This includes $420 million in program dollars for the construction of 38 shelters and 50 transitional homes through Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. As of December 31, 2025, 18 Inuit-specific projects were underway. These investments in new builds increased access to culturally appropriate, Inuit-led housing and supports for Inuit women, girls, and LGTBQI+ people fleeing violence. This work responds to Calls for Justice that identify safe, accessible housing and shelters as essential to preventing violence and enabling individuals to leave unsafe situations, particularly Call for Justice 4.7.

Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada's Inuit Housing Investment continued to provide Inuit-specific funding to all four Inuit Treaty Organizations. In 2025-2026, $51.6 million was allocated to new and improved housing across the four regions of Inuit Nunangat. This initiative is designed to help Inuit communities meet both their immediate and long-term housing priorities. This work aligns with Calls for Justice 16.1, 16.18, and 16.19 by providing distinctions-based funding supports for the full housing continuum, from construction of new homes to major repairs and renovations, ensuring that Inuit communities can advance long-term, self-determined housing priorities and increase access to safe, adequate, and culturally informed homes across Inuit Nunangat.

Economic security

As the National Inuit Action Plan highlights, economic insecurity places Inuit women, girls, and LGBTQI+ people at higher risk of violence, particularly those living in Inuit Nunangat where the cost of living remains significantly higher than the rest of Canada. Limited economic opportunities can undermine safety by restricting individuals' ability to leave unsafe situations and contribute to food insecurity, housing instability, and poor physical and mental health. Recognizing the interconnected elements of safety and security, along with ongoing challenges, the federal government is committed to improving Inuit economic security. In 2025-2026, federal investments continued to support Inuit-led economic priorities and respond to Calls for Justice emphasizing the importance of increased and equitable employment, training and education opportunities.

Employment and Social Development Canada continued to implement the Indigenous Skills and Employment Training program, providing $32.6 million in Inuit-specific funding to support training, skill development, and the wraparound supports needed to seek long-term, meaningful employment. Complimentary investments through the First Nations and Inuit Youth Employment Strategy, helped Inuit youth gain essential skills and work experience, and explore potential career opportunities, responding to Call for Justice 4.2, which highlights the importance of equitable access to economic and social development resources.

Indigenous Services Canada continues to support post-secondary educational attainment through the Inuit Post-Secondary Education Strategy launched in 2019 and developed in partnership with Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, and Inuit Treaty Organizations. In 2025-2026, approximately $14.2 million was allocated to support Inuit learners through the Strategy, which reflects the Government's commitment to a renewed relationship with Inuit, one that is framed by principles of reconciliation, including recognitions of rights, respect, cooperation, partnership and self-determination. This transformational approach includes direct financial supports for Inuit students, complementary programs and services, and governance capacity to support service delivery. Closing the post-secondary attainment gap through increased access to post-secondary education strengthens Inuit employment opportunities and long-term economic security. This aligns with Calls for Justice 4.2, 4.4, and 12.11, which emphasize the importance of equitable access to education.

Economic development across Inuit Nunangat continued to be supported by the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency through the Northern Indigenous Economic Opportunities Program, which promotes greater Inuit participation in northern communities and businesses by supporting employment, entrepreneurship, access to capital, and economic research and knowledge development. Similarly, through the Inclusive Diversification and Economic Advancement in the North, additional departmental investments in infrastructure, sector development, and capacity building further strengthened northern economic ecosystems, supported Inuit-owned businesses, and advanced long-term economic diversification. These efforts align with Calls for Justice 4.2, and 16.1, which highlight the importance of economic and social development.

Language and culture preservation

The National Inuit Action Plan and the Calls for Justice state access to Inuit culture as a right, and emphasize the importance of the preservation and transmission of Inuit culture as essential to safety, identity, and well-being. In 2025-2026, the federal government continued to invest in Inuit language and cultural preservation.

Through engagement with over 20 federal departments and agencies and in collaboration with Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, Canadian Heritage is currently in the process of determining the capacity of the federal government to provide services in Inuktut in Nunavut and identify opportunities to further enhance services. A 'What We Heard' engagement report was completed and has been shared with Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, with the intent to release publicly in Summer 2026. Building on the report findings, Canadian Heritage is working to identify opportunities to enhance access to federal services in Indigenous languages and inform the co-development of formal agreements and/or regulations.

To support the implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act, Canadian Heritage continued to deliver the Indigenous Languages Program, which provides long-term, distinctions-based funding to Inuit organizations to reclaim, revitalize, maintain and strengthen Inuit languages. In 2025-2026, as part of five-year agreements totaling $92.1 million, approximately $17.1 million supported Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, Makivik Corporation, and the Nunatsiavut Government to implement their respective Inuktut language revitalization strategies, ensuring responsive, predictable and flexible resources for Inuit designed language priority projects. This work aligns with Calls for Justice 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 16.2, and 16.25.

Aligning with Calls for Justice 2.7 and 6.1, Canadian Heritage's Indigenous Screen Office program strengthened narrative sovereignty and supported cultural renewal by funding Inuit-led storytelling across screen-based media, across film, television, podcasts, and video games, ensuring that Inuit stories are created and shared by Inuit voices. Funded projects include:

The Museums Assistance Program, led by Canadian Heritage, continued to support the preservation and presentation of Inuit cultural heritage, and promote cultural awareness. This work aligns with Calls for Justice 2.1, 2.5, and 2.7. Funded projects include:

Indigenous Services Canada continued to deliver the Inuit Cultural Education Centres Grant Program, supporting Inuk and Inuit communities to express, preserve, develop, and promote Inuit culture and cultural awareness. This included $35,061 for Inuvialuit Regional Corporation to expand the Inuvialuktun Website to introduce three Inuvialuktun dialects as a way to help learn the language and dialects, as well as update and reprint the revised Uummarmutin Dictionary. Similarly, through the complementary First Nations and Inuit Cultural Education Centres Program, over $1 million supported Inuit education centres to preserve and strengthen Inuit culture, including $100,642 for Piruvik Preschool Society to work with specialized manufacturers to create and pilot culturally grounded, durable Inuktitut learning materials that strengthen early language learning and development, and cultural identity. These programs align with Call for Justice 16.25.

Health and wellness

As outlined in the National Inuit Action Plan, limited availability of accessible, culturally safe healthcare services continues to slowdown efforts to address the root causes of violence against Inuit women, girls, and LGBTQI+ people. As a result, Inuit must travel long distances to urban centres to receive care, disrupting connections to family, culture and community. Improving Inuit health and wellness remains a federal priority. In 2025-2026, the federal government advanced Inuit-led health priorities through investments aimed at strengthening culturally grounded services, increasing access to care, and supporting Inuit self-determination in healthcare.

Mental health and substance use programs continue to expand across Inuit Nunangat and are having a direct impact on Inuit communities. A central component of this is Aqqusariaq, the Inuit-led trauma healing and substance use treatment centre in Nunavut being developed in partnership with the Government of Nunavut, Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, and Indigenous Services Canada. Construction is currently underway with operations commencing in fall 2026. Aqqusariaq will offer land-based healing, trauma-informed treatment, and in-community supports delivered by an emerging Inuit health workforce, significantly improving access to culturally safe mental wellness services, aligning with Calls for Justice 7.5 and 16.28.

Complementing these efforts, Health Canada's Substance Use and Addictions Program continued to fund evidence- and community-informed projects such as the Kitikmeot Friendship Society's Nuna Buddies Youth Addictions Program in Nunavut, which received $233,000 in 2025-2026. The program provides counselling, group therapy, and recreational activities for Inuit youth aged 12 to 19 years, supporting early intervention and culturally grounded mental health care, and responding to Call for Justice 3.2. Additionally, the Emergency Treatment Fund supported urgent responses to the overdose crisis for Inuit communities, such as the Nunatsiavut Government's Harm Reduction Hub, which received $248,710 in 2025-2026, to create a low-barrier harm reduction hub that provided culturally appropriate substance use services for Labrador Inuit. As of March 31, 2026, two Inuit-led projects have received a total of $354,922 in funding.

The 2024-2027 National Suicide Prevention Action Plan (the Action Plan), led by the Public Health Agency of Canada, recognizes Inuit self-determination and Inuit-led suicide prevention efforts underway. The Action Plan does not seek to replace but rather, complement this work for increased impact. As part of the Action Plan, the Public Health Agency of Canada established a Suicide Prevention Science Advisory Table that will seek to include an Inuk expert, in recognition of the importance of distinctions-based approaches to inform suicide prevention and life promotion initiatives.

Family and community wellness initiatives continued to strengthen supports for Inuit children, youth and families through focused investments in prevention and support programs. Through the Preventing Family Violence program, the Public Health Agency of Canada invested in Inuit-led projects that address child maltreatment and youth dating violence. Notable projects in Nunavut include:

Health Canada's Sexual and Reproductive Health Fund supported Inuit-led, culturally safe access to family planning, abortion services, gender-affirming care, fertility services, and provider training, aligning with Calls for Justice 3.1 and 3.2. Complementary programming, through the Sexually Transmitted and Blood-Borne Infections Program provided prevention, education, and culturally safe testing and treatment services tailored to the needs of Inuit communities, ensuring equitable access to essential sexual and reproductive health care. This responds to Call for Justice 7.3.

Systemic change in Inuit health is also being advanced through long-term change in health education and governance. The National Circle for Indigenous Medical Education, developed in partnership with the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada, Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada, College of Family Physicians of Canada, Medical Council of Canada, and Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, continued to support Indigenous-led reforms in medical education, that strengthen cultural safety, works to end racism in healthcare, and expand Inuit representation across health professionals. This aligns with Call for Justice 7.1.

Indigenous Services Canada's Addressing Anti-Indigenous Racism in Canada's Health Systems initiative further advanced culturally safe patient care by expanding Indigenous midwifery and doula services, increasing Inuit representation in health professions, and embedding Inuit knowledge across health systems. This included funding to the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services to strengthen the region's internationally renowned Inuit midwifery services in Nunavik through community-based training and birth support programming, aligning with the National Inuit Action Plan's call to revitalize Inuit midwifery. Federal investments are helping to reduce systemic barriers, rebuild trust, and ensure care reflects the values and priorities of Inuit communities its serves. This work advances Calls for Justice 3.2, 3.4, 7.6, and 7.7.

Progress toward transformational systemic change

Federal investments are supporting long-term systemic change by strengthening housing and infrastructure across Inuit Nunangat, expanding Inuit-led safety systems, and increasing access to culturally relevant, trauma-informed supports. Distinctions-based, flexible, multi-year funding shifts decision-making to Inuit partners, enabling coordinated systems of shelters, transitional, and permanent housing while addressing the structural drivers of violence against Inuit women, girls, and LGBTQI+ people. They also advance Inuit self-determination in economic and education systems by supporting Inuit-designed programs aligned with regional priorities. Investments in post-secondary education, workforce development, and economic diversification help reduce socio-economic inequities. Language and cultural initiatives reinforce linguistic rights and support long-term revitalization through Inuit-led strategies, media, storytelling, and early childhood language development, strengthening identity, wellbeing, and cultural continuity. Finally, in health, federal investments are embedding Inuit governance, knowledge, and practices into care systems while building a sustainable Inuit health workforce through medical education and midwifery programs. These efforts lay the foundation for more equitable, culturally grounded, and self-determined systems across Inuit communities.

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