Iqaluit (Mar 24/03) - Lighting, sound, audio-visual and security equipment at the Unikkaarvik Visitor Centre will be upgraded this year.

Alison Rudolph, left, travel counsellor, and manager Marilyn Scott say the renovations at the Unikkaarvik Visitor Centre in Iqaluit should be complete by June. - Christine Kay/NNSL photo

Canadian Heritage is providing $88,000 in funding for Nunavut's Department of Sustainable Development (DSD) to help finance the redesign.

Money from the DSD's capital budget is also being used to update exhibits and displays. Work began in January.

"We've started the basic renovations such as painting and a company is fabricating the new exhibits as we speak," said Heather Gosselin, manager of park planning and establishment for DSD.

The money from Canadian Heritage will be received at the beginning of the next fiscal year -- April 1 -- so updating equipment will not take place until then.

The funding provided was approved in the 2003 federal budget.

The centre opened in 1994 to exhibit the heritage, culture and unique environment of the Baffin Region.

When renovations are complete, the visitor centre will move away from being Baffin focused and become a Nunavut-wide centre.

"Since we're the gateway to Nunavut, we will have information on all Nunavut communities," explained Unikkaarvik manager Marilyn Scott.

The theme of the centre will be the relationship between man and land.

It's the DSD division of parks and tourism which co-ordinates and operates the visitor centre located in Iqaluit.