CBC North reported Sept. 22 that two judicial-review applications were filed in the Nunavut Court of Justice on John Amagoalik’s behalf on Sept. 16. One reportedly challenges a Health Department decision not to fund his requested Iqaluit accommodation and care; the other seeks urgent interim funding while the court matter proceeds. CBC reported his supporters requested about $16,000 a month for accessible housing and up to 10 hours a day of support-worker care. The Department of Health told CBC it could not discuss his individual care but said it had not refused publicly funded health care and was working in good faith to support him. Source↗

The case puts a public focus on whether Nunavut’s health system can support elders with complex needs who want to live at home rather than in southern facilities. CBC reported that 73 Nunavut elders were then receiving care at Embassy West Senior Living in Ottawa. Any court decision could clarify the limits of territorial responsibility for care arranged outside the government’s existing service system, but it would not by itself create a new territory-wide elder-care program. Source↗

The court must decide whether to grant urgent interim relief and later hear the judicial-review challenge. The Government of Nunavut may file a response. No hearing date, ruling or settlement was identified in the available reporting as of Sept. 22.

Amagoalik returned to Iqaluit in June after about 16 months at Embassy West in Ottawa, according to earlier reporting. Nunatsiaq News reported Sept. 16 that the application seeks judicial review of the government’s refusal to fund his medical care and housing in Iqaluit, and that the department had previously said independently arranged private care could not be publicly funded. Those are parties’ and government positions, not court findings. Source↗