Tukisigiarvik Centre in limbo
It's business as usual, but clients and staff are worried after hotel approved for the site
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Monday, July 24, 2017
IQALUIT
The sky is not falling and it remains business as usual for Iqaluit's Tukisigiarvik Centre despite uncertainty surrounding its future, according to executive director David Wilman.
The Tukisigiarvik Centre has been operating out of this building for about 14 years, but the property owner has plans to build a hotel on the site. That has staff and clients at the family support facility worried about its future. - photo courtesy of Elisapi D. Aningmiuq |
Wilman said it is his understanding that the building currently housing the family support centre is slated for demolition and a hotel has been proposed and approved by city council for the site. Wilman added that the search is on for a new location, but that it is not going well. He added that staff and clients are worried and stressed, but emphasized that no one is pushing the panic button and he remains optimistic that a new location will be found.
Wilman said he is reluctant to discuss exactly who they are talking to about a possible new location and the status of those negotiations because it could jeopardize them. He added that the centre has not received an eviction notice and he does not believe one is pending. He said however that the community would suffer if a new location is not found. Wilman added the lease is between the property owner - Jam Investments -and the GN.
Wilman said they have operated at the current location near the hospital since the centre was founded about 14 years ago. He added that they have known for about four years now that they would have to find a new home. Wilman said he has been in talks with the territorial government and the building's owner, but describes the centre and its future as being in a state of limbo.
"The government's position is that under the current lease they have the right to extend the lease and that's what they want to do. I know (the owner) wants to develop the building," Wilman said. "Things take time. We're worried. We are trying to find options that might be viable. We need 3,000 to 4,000 square feet of space to run the kinds or programs we do. There are not very many options that are in prime locations for the kind of clients that we have."
Wilman said they looked at a nearby vacant government building - the former mental health facility -but added that the cost of renovating it was just too high for the centre to absorb.
"We're a non-profit, grant-driven organization. We don't have any capital assets, any capital funding. For groups like ours it's almost impossible to obtain capital funding," Wilman said. "To purchase or renovate a building for ourselves would basically put us out of business."
The centre provides a wide range of services including counselling, daily breakfast and nutritious food programs, laundry and bathing facilities for the homeless, year-round cultural and land skills including wellness programs, and hunting programs that provide food to the elders' centre.
Wilman said they have six full-time staff and several part-time staff. He added that the centre has between 7,000 to 8,000 drop-in visits each year.
Iqaluit Mayor Madeleine Redfern said the negotiations for a new site do not directly involve the city government, but added that she is well aware of their search for a new location. She acknowledged that the old mental health facility is the preferred location and added that the city will do what it can to make that feasible.
"Given that this is a territorial election year there's an opportunity ... to ask candidates who want to be an Iqaluit MLA what are their views - do they support it? Would they support the GN renovating (the vacant mental health facility) and making it accessible for Tukisigiarvik so that it has the facility it needs for long-term, stable, sustainable funding and program delivery for residents and other community members it serves," Redfern said. "If it came to a situation where the doors would be closing I suspect that different levels of government would likely do everything to assist in ensuring the facility is not permanently closed and that the services can be continued."
Nunavut News/North reached out to the GN's Dept. of Health - the main financial supporter of the centre -for comment but had not heard back as of press time.
