INUVIK
Inuvik's new Emergency Warming Centre opened its doors on the evening of Dec. 15.

Sheila O'Kane, left, and Rev. Stephen Martin were ready for guests when the new Inuvik Emergency Warming Centre at the Anglican Church of the Ascension opened its doors on Dec. 15. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo

That's the official name of the shelter being operated out of the Anglican Church of the Ascension, Matthew Clark said. He's one of the board members responsible for the operation of the new shelter.

"It's mostly semantics," he explained in an interview Dec. 10 before the shelter opened. "There's a bit of a stigma attached to the 'shelter' term."

Nor does the new board, being operated via the Interagency Committee, like the term "damp shelter" which has been bandied about, although it's one of the key differences between the new centre and the existing homeless shelter, where Clark is also a board member.

"At the end of the day, it's not designed to encourage drinking, it's not designed to be a place to go crazy in. It's more designed to encourage a safe place to keep people alive."

By 9 p.m., four people had signed in for the night.

The first of these was a man who showed up at 7 p.m. He said he had been sleeping in various places around town for the last week, including stairwells. With the temperature flirting at -40 C just a few days before, that's not a good situation.

Anglican Church Rev. Stephen Martin and Sheila O'Kane, who was volunteering her time, were careful to guard the privacy of their guests. They wouldn't allow the Inuvik Drum into the hall where the centre is running once people began to arrive for the night.

"I don't think you'd like to have someone in taking photos of your bedroom," Martin said firmly.

O'Kane, like Clark, is one of members of the board operating the new shelter. She recalled a friend who froze to death on the streets during the winter, years ago, as incentive for helping out now with the new centre that's operating in loose conjunction with the Inuvik Homeless Shelter.

"Obviously we're all somewhat new to this," Clark said. "We're working in partnership with the Anglican Church. It's going to be set up for a maximum occupancy of 15 people."

Martin, who has an extensive background in street ministries and shelter operation, will head up the pilot project with two part-time staff members, Clark said. A volunteer team is also in development to help out.

"I'm almost more comfortable doing this than being in front of a congregation," Martin said.

"It's not a permanent solution for Steve, since he has a job to do and a church to run, but it's a good first step and opportunity to pilot this and get it off the ground because of his background," Clark added.

It's taken six weeks of meetings for a working group – that's included representatives from the Beaufort Delta Health and Social Services Authority, the town, the RCMP and various community organizations – to take the program from concept to reality.

While that's an impressive pace, Clark said it's actually taken longer than anticipated. The working group had hoped to open the shelter by Dec. 1.

Since it's being operated in conjunction with government entities, Clark said it was important to have all the paperwork in place before opening.

"We've got a couple of funding partners," Clark said. "An agreement with the Beaufort Delta Health Services isn't finalized yet, but we hope to have something finalized by the end of this week. Everything looks goods at this point. The other partner we've submitted an application to is the Inuvik Community Housing Corporation.

"There are a lot of other funding partners," he added. "We're also going to be writing letters to some of the other corporate partners, to try to bring them on board."

The operating hours have been set and there are some rules.

"The doors will open at 7 p.m. and the centre will close at 11 p.m. The only way to get in to the shelter after that would be by a referral by the RCMP," Clark said. "At 8 a.m. people would leave the centre for the day.

"One of the things the Interagency Committee and the board are looking at are day programs and a permanent solution," Clark added. "We realize that this shelter will operate from now until May 30. So after June 1, we'll be back in the problems again. This shelter is not about losing focus on that, we still want to be focused on that for a solution down the road."

The budget for this pilot project is $115,000, Clark said. That will cover staff wages, food, utilities, insurance and supplies.

"We did a number of in-kind donations, including the RCMP, which is giving us mattresses and furniture which is surplus to them.

"Mayor Floyd Roland is donating his personal television," Clark added. "It's one thing to have a warming centre open, it's another to have it with nothing for the people to do. That's not ideal. We want to encourage a little bit of social engagement with the TV and with board games, etc.

"Until we provide heat, shelter and food, we can't begin to help people with addictions, or financial issues, or emotional and mental issues."

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