Nunavut’s Family Services minister enters job amid damning reports on her department

Even before Gwen Healey Akearok began her new role as Nunavut’s Minister of Family Services, she was tuning into the Office of the Auditor General’s (OAG) hearings on the state of the Family Services department.

As one of the founders of the Qaujigiartiit Health Research Centre, she was interested as a researcher, and heard first-hand the variety of issues with the department.

The Family Services department has been the subject of numerous damning reviews by the OAG since 2011. The latest report, released in March this year, found a lack of progress by the department to fix the care it provides to vulnerable children and youth.

Healey Akearok is well aware of the task at hand, and while she’s not making any big promises yet, she said she is listening to people’s thoughts about what needs to change.

“What I'm actually committed to is learning and listening, visiting our frontline staff, continuing to engage with our communities and ultimately, I think we are all committed to seeing improved outcomes for our children,” she said.

Jane Bates, Nunavut’s representative for children and youth, is optimistic about the new leadership, but stressed the need for clear standards and procedures for children in care. 

As of March 2025, there were 444 children in the territory receiving family services from the government, and 89 outside the territory — a huge number, in Bates’s view, considering the size of Nunavut's population. 

“The department hasn't set out what the expectations are, so every child isn't getting the same service if they're a child in care,” she said.

Healey Akearok acknowledges those concerns, but she points to the Ilagiitsiarniq Strategic Action Plan 2023-2028, which she believes provides a clear roadmap for transparency and accountability. 

“The foundation of the strategic plan is [also] based on the concept of Inunnguiniq, which is the philosophy for Inuit in Inuktitut of supporting a child from infancy all the way into adulthood in a way that helps them become capable,” she said. 

The OAG’s 2025 report however found the plan "lacked targets and baselines needed to measure progress, specific timelines and clear accountabilities."

Margaret Hollis, a researcher for Amautiit Nunavut Inuit Women’s Association, believes there needs to be more emphasis on poverty as a contributing factor to children being taken into state care.

“The problem is if you don't have enough money to supply the necessities of life for your children, well, that is the threshold for when children get apprehended, when their parents cannot supply the necessities of life, and the income assistance system in Nunavut pretty much makes that true,” she said. 

Hollis takes issue with income assistance regulations, which were inherited from the Northwest Territories. According to Section 16 of the Income Assistance Act, income assistance officers can terminate support for people who refuse to participate in activities such as community service, counselling and employment.