The head of Canada鈥檚 national Inuit organization is calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step in to save a program that helps fund services for Inuit kids.

In a letter sent to Trudeau last week, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami President Natan Obed called on the prime minister to 鈥渃learly signal鈥� his 鈥済overnment鈥檚 commitment鈥� to continue funding for the Inuit Child First Initiative (ICFI), which is set to end on March 31.

鈥淲e are alarmed by the growing likelihood of an abrupt curtailing of funding for the program and the consequences this will have for our families and communities,鈥� Obed wrote on Feb. 12.

鈥渓f program funding is not renewed, many families will again be left vulnerable to the systemic racial discrimination that characterizes health and education service delivery in Inuit Nunangat.鈥�

The letter comes after Obed said Inuit treaty organizations have been negotiating with Ottawa on a long-term approach to funding the ICFI, which was launched in 2019 to support Jordan鈥檚 Principle.

Jordan鈥檚 Principle stems from a human rights complaint filed by the Assembly of First Nations and the First Nations Family and Caring Society in 2007. They argued First Nations kids were being denied services equal to those available to other children as a result of constant jurisdictional disputes between the federal and provincial governments.

Under Jordan鈥檚 Principle, families are to apply for and receive funding as they need it, and the provinces and federal government are expected to sort out jurisdictional battles over who pays for it later.

ICFI funds an array of services in Nunavut alone, including access to speech-language pathologists, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder treatment services and school food programs, said the Arctic Children and Youth Foundation (ACYF), which helps facilitate ICFI applications.

ICFI also helps fund food voucher programs. Eighteen of Nunavut鈥檚 25 communities are signed up, with more 13,000 kids enrolled. Food voucher programs give families $500 a month per child to help buy food, plus another $250 for kids younger than four.

On Tuesday, the City of Iqaluit warned its residents to prepare for the program鈥檚 end.

The ACYF recently surveyed Nunavut communities on the impact of losing the program and shared the responses with The Canadian Press.

鈥淎 lot of people depend on ICFI now 鈥� If it stops, a lot of children will probably rely on the soup kitchen again,鈥� said one senior administrative officer said in the ACYF survey.

鈥淚 have two kids with anemia. We haven鈥檛 gone to the health centre since the program started. That鈥檚 a nice change,鈥� said another community member.

ICFI was always set to sunset on March 31, and with Parliament prorogued the government will have only a short window to get appropriations passed to keep the program alive into the new fiscal year.

But Obed said Inuit started worrying about the program鈥檚 survival well before Parliament was prorogued on Jan. 6.

鈥淲e felt as though there was a distancing happening in the last six months that has become more acute in the last couple of months,鈥� Obed told The Canadian Press.

He said Inuit paused negotiations six months ago so they could get a clear direction from Ottawa on what it was willing to take on long-term, and focused on working out what a shared responsibility model would look like.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been hard, though, to negotiate that shared model when we don鈥檛 have the clear terms and conditions from the federal government about what they鈥檙e willing to negotiate and what they鈥檙e not,鈥� Obed said.

Obed said he鈥檚 had good dialogue with Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu but the minister hasn鈥檛 been able to give clear direction on the program either.

鈥淚 hope this is not just a cold calculation of political priority, where the country has decided that it has spent too much money on Indigenous peoples, and this is one of the areas where it would need to start tightening the purse strings,鈥� he said.

Nunavut Health Minister John Main said he鈥檚 asked Hajdu about the program鈥檚 future but has received no response.

鈥淚t鈥檚 causing me quite a good deal of concern, not knowing, because I鈥檓 looking at the health aspects to it and all the benefits,鈥� Main said.

鈥淟ike on the nutrition side, we know one of the key things we鈥檙e up against is food insecurity here in Nunavut.鈥�

Newly-elected Nunavut Tunngavik President Jeremy Tunraluk said he鈥檚 also received no response from Hajdu鈥檚 office on the file.

鈥淲e鈥檝e reached out multiple times 鈥� It really is very concerning that we鈥檙e not getting any responses from her office,鈥� Tunraluk said.

Hajdu was unavailable for an interview Tuesday to respond to Obed鈥檚 letter. The Canadian Press has reached out to the Prime Minister鈥檚 Office for comment but has not yet received a response.

In a previous interview with The Canadian Press, Hajdu said Ottawa is committed to co-developing a long-term model for the program.

鈥淚 know that there鈥檚 a lot of anxiety related to where the government is politically right now,鈥� she said.

鈥淏ut I can tell you that the commitment of this government is to continue to support not only ICFI, but also the self-determined implementation.鈥�

鈥擝y Nick Murray, The Canadian Press