Retired Iqaluit minister billed for medical home stay
Some people in Iqaluit are outraged that a longtime resident was billed nearly $17,000 by the Nunavut government for staying at a medical boarding home in Ottawa, on the basis that he is not Inuit.
Retired Anglican Rev. Michael Gardener, 79, has been in Ottawa since January, as he is escorting his wife Margaret while she receives medical treatment there.
In the past, he had stayed without a problem at the Larga Baffin boarding home, which offers accommodations for Nunavummiut travelling from the territory's Baffin region to Ottawa for medical treatment.
But Gardener was recently asked to leave the Larga Baffin. At the time, he was informed that he could no longer stay there because he is not an Inuit land-claims beneficiary.
And earlier this month, Gardener received a letter from Nunavut's Health and Social Services Department demanding that he pay almost $17,000 for his stay at the boarding home.
"I find that letter [to be] a racist letter calling him a white person staying at Larga," Iqaluit resident Natsiq Kango told CBC News on Wednesday.
"I try not to be ignorant, but I haven't heard that Larga is only for Inuit. I have seen other white people stay there."
Annamarie Hedley, the manager of health insurance programs with the Health Department, said the department has allowed non-Inuit to stay at the boarding home before, but it cannot do that now.
"In the past, Department of Health and Social Services officials and boarding home staff occasionally — and on a short-term basis — permitted non-NIHB [Non-Insured Health Benefits] clients to stay at the boarding home," Hedley said, reading from a prepared statement.
"However, we have stopped that practice due to over-capacity issues."
Health Department officials would not field questions about Gardener's case.
Overwhelmed by support
Some Iqaluit residents have begun raising money to assist Gardener, who lives on a missionary pension.
Gardener's daughter, who lives in the Nunavut capital, told CBC News that she has been overwhelmed by the support for her father.
Gardener came up north as an Anglican missionary in the 1950s, and has been recognized for helping many Nunavummiut through his long career. He was named a member of the Order of Canada in 2007.
While he stayed at the Larga Baffin, Gardener offered spiritual help to those in need, according to his daughter.
Some supporters, like Kango, said Gardener and his family deserve an apology from the Nunavut government.
"I'm sure there is a way to work this out," Kango said.
"Those of us who have heard of this issue are very concerned. If I can be of any help of any way or assist anybody to do something about it, I'm willing to."