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IQALUIT - Homeless women and children are closer than ever to getting a safe place to stay and a fresh start in Iqaluit.

On Oct. 28, city council approved $300,000 in Service Canada funding, which will be used to purchase a building for a second women's shelter in Iqaluit.

Crisis intake worker Charlene Sammurtok and shelter director Caroline Anawak show off the bright and colourful children's room at the Qimaavik women's shelter in Apex. - Karen Mackenzie/NNSL photo

While the existing Qimaavik Women's Shelter in Apex, run by the Baffin Region Agvvik Society (BRAS), is mandated specifically to help women in crisis, the new facility, called Sivummut House, will be open to all women and children in need of shelter and support.

"Women shouldn't wait to be abused to be helped and this is great," Caroline Anawak, shelter director for Qimaavik and Sivummut, told council.

With the site selection for the new shelter near completion, the project's partners will be making an offer to purchase a building once it has received financial commitment from the Government of Nunavut.

The development of Sivummut and the continuance of the Qimaavik shelter is largely due to the support of the YWCA, said Anawak. More than a year ago, the YWCA in Yellowknife stepped in to keep the crisis shelter running. At the time, it was on the verge of closure and sought funding from the organization's national bureau to create the shelter director position and help BRAS expand its services.

Eventually, the two organizations will merge to fulfil the needs of homeless women in Iqaluit.

"As the largest national women's organization delivering services across the country, we cannot sit by and see the situation so dire and do nothing," said Paulette Senior, CEO for YWCA Canada. "(The new shelter) is not just a roof overhead. It's actually a home for those who have no home as well as for those who want to actually make a step in their lives."

According to Anawak, the creation of a new shelter is vital for the hidden homeless in the community.

"There are women hanging around the bar at night for a place to live," she said. "There are kids waiting for mom to score a bed somewhere ... There are kids that can't get up in the morning, don't have an address, because they're running around on this circuit or they're couch surfing in places where they can't get enough sleep, can't do their homework, can't concentrate and may even be in situations that could be abusive through homelessness."

For the women who are coming to the Qimaavik shelter, which had 97 per cent occupancy last month, the new facility will be equally as important, Anawak added.

"Although we have people here fleeing violence, there's only a certain period they can stay here in the shelter under that criteria," she said. "The problem is while people in the criteria are fleeing violence, in fact, as soon as they flee violence, they are homeless. So they fall into both categories."

Which is why as a new shelter is realized, community support is more important than ever, Anawak said.

"We have to supply an entire large household with everything from toasters to office supplies to clothing donations to computers," she said. "We have to really turn to the community to ask them to please help us yet again so we can put the service in place."