Stephanie McDonald
Northern News Services
Published Monday, September 17, 2007

IQALUIT - The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is set to open a centre in Iqaluit by the end of the year.

Currently, the Qimaavik Women's Shelter in Iqaluit has a mandate to house women fleeing violence. The shelter has 21 beds, most often occupied. Therefore some homeless women, some of them with children, are left stranded when the shelter is full.

The YWCA first heard of the plight of the Qimaavik shelter last year when it was almost forced to close its doors. Representatives with the YWCA travelled to Nunavut, and have been making regular visits since, meeting with local women and government departments, planning how they can provide essential services for the homeless.

"A lot of our young women go couch surfing," Napatchie McRae, executive director of the Qimaavik Women's Shelter said. "A lot of young women ... would walk into an abusive relationship, just to have a roof over their heads."

It's a vicious cycle that the YWCA hopes to end. The organization received a grant of $20,000 from the GN to write a plan for providing services to homeless women and women at risk of being homeless. The organization envisions a centre with 12 to 20 beds and a family resource centre that would provide counselling, addictions treatment, referrals, budgeting help, and job hunting skills, said Kelly Breuls, director of membership services at YWCA of Canada. There would also be counselling for children who have witnessed abuse.

The YWCA is waiting to hear if it will receive funding, which would come between September and December this year. They have been looking for houses that they could use in the city.

Women from Iqaluit would run the new centre. An employee from the YWCA in Yellowknife is also training women at the Qimaavik centre and those interested in the line of work.

Breuls acknowledged that finding and keeping staff for both facilities could be a challenge as "it's an issue in the North for everyone."

Although there will be one YWCA Iqaluit branch and one board, the two shelters should remain separate and distinct, according to Sheila Levy, a Qimaavik board member. Each facility will be applying for different funding that meets their specific mandates - Qimaavik for abused women and children and the YWCA for homeless women and children

"Their needs are very different (homeless and abused women), so it can create problems," Levy said in regards to the prospect of one shelter eventually folding.

McRae agreed. "I will never, ever recommend that."