Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (Sep 27/99) - Inuusiqsiurvik was only supposed to close for six months while a more culturally appropriate and effective healing program was developed.

That was the decision that was handed down by the Baffin regional health and social services board almost one year ago.

But due to a severe funding shortage -- to the tune of more than $350,000 -- the Apex-based treatment centre cannot re-open without financial help from the GN's Department of Health and Social Services.

That relief has to date, not been forthcoming.

But as announced last week during the health board's quarterly board meeting in Iqaluit, the 18-bed centre may soon serve a valid new purpose for residents of Nunavut.

"What has happened is the department of justice and the department of health have approached us and asked if they could use this facility for mental health programs for inmates (of the Baffin Correctional Centre)," said Dennis Patterson, the chair of the board.

He noted that the board welcomed the idea of the new program with open arms and were particularly excited that the facility would be used in the manner it was meant by residents from across Nunavut and not just from the Baffin region. This he said, was a goal they'd always tried to reach.

While the proposed mental health program is still in its infancy and planning has just begun, Patterson said government officials hoped that it would be up and running sometime this fall.

Until a new addictions healing treatment centre can be established in Nunavut, residents requiring acute addictions treatment will continue to be sent to Hay River. Not only is the western territory's centre the only one left standing, but it costs approximately $130 a day as compared to the $265.92 required to treat someone in Nunavut.

Patterson also noted that while the regional treatment centre was missed, the board had spent a great deal of time, energy and money beefing up the community healing programs.

"We're now more successful at dealing with these wellness issues at the community level. There's a tremendous grassroots movement towards healing and healing programs are going on all the time."

Beverly Ilauq, the co-ordinator of the Ilisaqsivik Family Resources Centre in Clyde River, presides over one of Nunavut's most successful holistic healing programs.

She said that along with developing a new program to deal with acute treatment issues in a land-based environment, the centre's variety of programs owed their success to the empowering model they were based upon.

"We believe that we're building individuals and families on such a solid basis that they're building their own resources to deal with their own grief and abandonment issues," said Ilauq.