Rankin Inlet Hamlet Council voted to approve the introduction of the Jordan鈥檚 Principle program into the community on Monday.

Senior administrative officer Darren Flynn said once the hamlet gets its contract in place with Indigenous Services Canada, it will be rolling out the program as soon as possible.

He said he is already working on recruiting the two positions of food security co-ordinators the program creates, as well as securing them a space to work from.

鈥淭he total amount approved is $6.224 million, but on that, there鈥檚 overhead costs and wages, so the amount for food distribution will be somewhere in the neighbourhood of $5.8 million for the balance of 2024-25,鈥� said Flynn.

Jordan鈥檚 Principle allows for $500 per month support each for youth 18 and younger, with an extra $250 for youth aged one day to three years from the Inuit Child First Initiative/Jordan鈥檚 Principle programs through partnership with the Indigenous Kids Network of Canada.

Jordan River Anderson from Norway House Cree Nation in Manitoba passed away in hospital at the age of five in 2005 because of governmental arguments at the provincial and federal levels.

Jordan鈥檚 Principle works to ensure First Nations youth (Inuit are also eligible) aged up to 18 (19 in some provinces) have access to the services they need. The program covers health, education and social services, including specialized programs based on cultural beliefs and practices, specialized school transportation, medical supplies and equipment, and many, many others.

Flynn said as for the number of eligible kids in Rankin, Statistics Canada puts the tally at 1,048.

He said as far as what Jordan鈥檚 Principle means to the hamlet, any program that addresses food security in the community is always quite valuable.

鈥淚鈥檝e seen it here with some of our staff members, who lead responsible lives and look after their kids well. They鈥檙e working, but they鈥檝e also seen tremendous increases in food costs. That holds true for everybody right clean across the country, but it gets further exacerbated here.

鈥淲ith the amount of increases we鈥檝e seen in fuel prices and electricity prices, this will have a positive impact on a lot of people in Rankin Inlet. This will have a huge impact on those people who are, perhaps, on the lower end of the income scale in town, or, perhaps, are reliant on assistance.

鈥淏ut it will impact everyone in the community, in that it will decrease food insecurity, and it will certainly help offset the challenging increases in food prices and every other cost to live in Rankin Inlet that鈥檚 occurred during the past three to five years.鈥�

Flynn said each transaction under the program will have a detailed invoice or receipt with it, which will be part of the job of the security co-ordinators to ensure.

He said the hamlet will do everything possible to ensure the program is not abused in any manner.

鈥淚f we were to find, for example, some people were selling food or whatnot, then they would run the risk of being suspended from the program.

鈥淭he contract we鈥檒l sign with Indigenous Services Canada is pretty prescriptive and we鈥檒l make sure we follow that. This is a huge gift for everyone in our community. People need to realize just how lucky they are to be benefiting from this and they鈥檒l have to live within the rules.

鈥淚f they don鈥檛 live within the rules, then we will have the unfortunate duty of enforcing them.

鈥淢aybe I鈥檓 being optimistic here, or looking at this a little too favorably, but I鈥檓 hoping people are going to see this for the significant benefit that it is, appreciate the program and play by the rules.鈥�