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PANNIQTUUQ/PANGNIRTUNG - Pangnirtung's youth centre is being expanded, and the construction work is being done by the people who will benefit from the new space.

A youth experience program funded through Kavikak Association is putting youth to work building the new computer room onto the older building.

Aimo Alivaktuk and Robbie Akulujuk keep their lungs warm as they work, installing the floorboards of the youth centre expansion on a cold day in Pangnirtung. - photo by Chris Heide

In addition to being able to use the new building, youth will benefit from the hands-on training of construction work. All the work is being done by a four-man crew of young Inuit ages 15-30, overseen by local contractor Tim Dialla.

At the end of the fiscal year in March the funding for the project runs out, so co-ordinator Chris Heide is hoping to get as much work done as possible before that deadline. The situation is challenging: when the weather is too cold workers can't stay outside for long and need to warm up indoors periodically.

Additionally, sometimes workers fail to show up, so sometimes even good weather days are wasted.

"It's definitely going to be a bit of a struggle," Heide said.

Work began in December 2008. The young construction crew tore out the old porch at that end of the building and set up an indoor working area to store tools and materials inside the youth centre building, kept separate from the rest of the centre by a temporary dividing wall. Hamlet vehicles levelled the frozen ground beneath and the crew laid in the support beams and the floor. At present the work consists of insulating the floor of the addition.

Some of the work can't be done until much later in the year. For example, installing a wheelchair access ramp is impossible while the ground is frozen. Pangnirtung's youth centre is a one-room building with a pool table, six computers, card table and large-screen TV and video game system. The new room will move the computers out of the older structure and make them available to the general public as well as youth.

The old building can be drafty, so the work includes general renovations such as new windows and doors, insulation, roofing and siding. Materials for the project arrived by sealift in October, paid for by Nunavut's Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth.

Up to 50 young people use the youth centre, especially on Friday and Saturday nights.

"There's not really any place else for kids to gather," said Heide.