Amagoalik has filed an application for judicial review at the Nunavut Court of Justice over the territory's refusal to pay for his at-home care and housing in Iqaluit, according to Nunatsiaq News. The dispute centres on where, and at what cost, Nunavut will fund his care after a health crisis left him unable to live independently.
From Iqaluit to Ottawa
In February 2025, Amagoalik had surgery at Qikiqtani General Hospital in Iqaluit, where his right leg was partially amputated. Since then, the territory has been paying for him to live at Ottawa's Embassy West Senior Living, a cost the Globe and Mail reports runs about $32,000 a month. His wife, Evie Amagoalik, and daughter, Lily Amagoalik, were photographed with him at Iqaluit's airport on June 10, a sign of the family's ongoing effort to bring him home.
The problem, according to his lawyer Steve Kelliher, is that Nunavut has refused to cover the far smaller cost of caring for him back in Iqaluit. Kelliher said the territory would not assume Amagoalik's housing costs there of about $2,000 a month, even though the family is currently requesting only about $16,000 a month for his care, roughly half of what Ottawa's Embassy West placement costs.
"Cruelty, not policy"
"We're asking them to pay in Nunavut half of what they were paying in Ottawa," Kelliher said. "The issue here is cruelty, not policy." He added that there are virtually no funds left to pay for Amagoalik's care, and that his client, who is 79, may only have a few months left to live.
A government spokesperson defended the territory's position, telling Nunatsiaq News that a minister may exercise only the authority provided within existing frameworks and cannot set them aside to create an exception for an individual case. That response is now at the heart of the judicial review Amagoalik has filed.
Why it matters in Ottawa
It's a reminder of how far northern residents sometimes have to travel, and how long they can be kept, away from home for care that isn't available in their own communities.
The case is now before the Nunavut Court of Justice, with no timeline yet for a ruling.
Sources: The Globe and Mail, Nunatsiaq News
