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 Annie Nowyuk is one of the elders who visit the Tukisigiarvik Centre every Thursday. Nowyuk shows Josie Pisuktie how to make a traditional belt. - Neils Christensen/NNSL photo |
After seven months in operation, the Tukisigiarvik Centre is in its permanent home. The centre moved to the building of the former Netscher's Clinic in January.
The two counsellors, Annie Quirke and Pitsula Akavak, run the centre with a big emphasis on it being a home instead of just another office.
Located just down from Baffin Regional Hospital, the centre has all the latest comforts from a full kitchen to a TV.
As to why it looks more like an apartment then an office, Quirke said this way it's more comfortable.
"In 2001 there was a study done on homelessness in Iqaluit. The society resulted from the study and they created the centre," she said.
"It gives the homeless a place to go," added Akavak. "We also welcome everyone here. It's a place where people come to get away from their stresses at work."
Provides a needed service
Akavak and Quirke said the service also extends beyond a simple drop-in centre. The facility plays number of roles from advice group for Inuit to promoting traditional skills.
When translated Tukisigiarvik means a place to find information, to understand. Akavak and Quirke said they live up to that name.
"People will come here for any reason," said Quirke.
Akavak and Quirke also encourage people to further their education at Arctic College. They also provide the little necessities that many people take for granted.
Laundry services are available for people to wash their clothes, a bathroom provides a spot for a hot shower and the phone gets used during their users' job hunts.
"I think we have a very important role in the community," said Quirke.
Focus on traditional skills
Currently the centre is trying to develop programs promoting traditional skills.
At least once a week, it brings an elder in to teach some of the clients how to clean seal skins or make kamots, gloves and other materials, for example. Akavak said it's important the centre helps to preserve the Inuit culture and language.
"If you don't practice your skills or values you begin to lose them. You begin to not know yourself," said Quirke.
"We are trying to promote what is important to us as Inuit, like Inuktitut. It tells us who we are as a people," said Akavak.
Two of the elders who regularly visit the centre every Thursday are Annie Nowyuk and Ooleenpeeka Noshoota.
Their role is to help pass on traditional skills to anybody who wants to learn.
Nowyuk is proud of the centre and what it is trying to accomplish. It provides a safe, warm place for people less fortunate.
"If this place wasn't here, it would be a lot harder for people who are in need," she said. "We try to help one another."
Noshoota explained that she likes being able to talk to the people at the centre and pass on the skills she has learned over the years.
Noshoota said that by teaching people a skill, she can help build someone's confidence.
"When they come here they don't know how to make something, but then they realize how easy it can be. They start to feel better," she said.
One story Akavak told was about one of the centre's clients who kept watching an elder clean a skin at the centre.
"He sat there for an hour just watching, not saying anything. After he came up to me and said he used to watch his mother clean seal skins and he missed that," she said.
"That's the kind of help we want to provide."
More money
Quirke said the biggest problem facing the centre is money. It currently receives a grant of from Health and Social Services, but it's not always enough.
"We have lot of ideas for the program. In the summer we want to start an on-the-land program. It all takes money," she said.
The centre will celebrate its grand opening on Feb. 14. Everyone in the community is welcome to attend the opening from 1 to 5 p.m.
