Taxing churches: Religious institutions in Iqaluit no longer exempt from property tax
Following the invention of unmarked graves at former residential faculty websites and forward of Pope Francis’ go to to Nunavut’s capital on Friday, the Metropolis of Iqaluit has handed a bylaw that might require church buildings to start paying property taxes.
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Spiritual establishments in Canada are typically exempt from paying taxes. Iqaluit’s new bylaw, first proposed by the mayor final 12 months, requires church buildings and different neighborhood teams to use for tax reduction. Candidates should meet a sequence of strict situations and the whole annual funding obtainable for all teams is capped at $300,000.
Metropolis council authorised the third and last studying of the bylaw on April 12, which suggests native church buildings threat receiving solely partial tax reduction, or none in any respect, starting in 2023.
“It’s unfair, it’s a form of revenge, a form of sport,” stated Father Daniel Perreault, pastor at Our Girl of the Assumption, Iqaluit’s solely Catholic Church.
Father Daniel Perreault is the pastor at Our Girl of the Assumption, Iqaluit’s solely Catholic Church.
Jeff Semple / International Information
Perreault stated the bylaw might restrict the church’s means to supply free providers — from weddings and funerals to hospital and jail visits.
“It won’t kill us. It’s only one thing more to make us undergo somewhat bit extra,” he informed International Information. “For some church buildings, they’ll even (develop into) bankrupt by that tax.”
Final 12 months, 16 native organizations have been exempt from paying property taxes beneath town’s earlier guidelines, together with eight spiritual establishments.
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In a press release, a spokesperson for the Metropolis of Iqaluit stated the “intent of this bylaw is to offer a good alternative, to all community-based organizations, to use for full or partial property tax reduction.”
“This isn’t a by-law particular to the church,” the spokesperson stated.
Saint Jude’s Anglican Cathedral in Iqaluit could also be pressured to start paying property taxes subsequent 12 months, together with different spiritual establishments and neighborhood teams.
International Information
Nunavut MP Lori Idlout additionally defended the bylaw in an interview with International Information in Iqaluit, noting the distant northern metropolis is already struggling to pay for fundamental providers.
“Everyone seems to be missing in sources,” she stated. “It’s not truthful to the remainder of the municipality to have to hold the burden of a faith-based group, that itself is a part of the historical past of colonialism.”
The bylaw has proved polarising locally, which is dwelling to about 7,500 folks. The per capita affect of residential faculties was greater within the North than anyplace else in Canada, attributable to its massive Indigenous inhabitants.
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However regardless of their traumatic historical past with the church, round three quarters of Iqaluit’s inhabitants nonetheless identifies as Christian, in accordance with Statistics Canada.
Sunday morning mass at Our Girl of the Assumption Catholic Church in Iqaluit.
Jeff Semple / International Information
International Information lately attended Sunday morning mass at Our Girl of the Assumption, the place parishioners from a spread of ethnic backgrounds recited scripture in English, French and Inuktitut. The pews have been filled with a number of dozen folks, who bowed their heads as Father Perreault prayed for individuals who “hate the church.”
Requested concerning the significance of the Pope’s upcoming go to, Father Perreault confessed he didn’t know what to anticipate.
“Will probably be an excellent day for all of us,” he informed International Information following the service. “However for many individuals it will likely be one other event to hate us extra. That is their determination: to like or to hate. It’s a determination.”
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The Pope will spend simply three hours in Iqaluit, the place he’ll attend a public occasion hosted by members of the Inuit neighborhood and a non-public assembly with a few of Nunavut’s residential faculty survivors.
Abraham Tagalik attended Sir Martin Frobisher Federal Day Faculty as a toddler. The previous radio host and co-founder of the Aboriginal Peoples Tv Community informed International Information he welcomed the Pope’s go to and hoped for a heartfelt apology.
“It’s good that he’s coming. It’s virtually surreal,” Tagalik stated.
Residential faculty survivor Abraham Tagalik grills freshly caught Arctic char on the banks of the Sylvia Grinnell River in Iqaluit.
Jeff Semple / International Information
Whereas grilling freshly caught Arctic char on the banks of the Sylvia Grinnell River, he defined why he believes the invention of unmarked grave websites has solely accelerated the decline of the church’s function in Nunavut.
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“Within the early days, our mother and father have been very a lot going to church and following the teachings of the Bible,” he stated.
“The younger folks immediately, they don’t go to church, they don’t learn the Bible, they’re probably not spiritual in any method anymore. I feel it was sort’ve pressured on us at that stage. It was all a part of changing us,” he stated.
“They’ve misplaced the management they used to have.”
