Iqaluit (Oct 30/06) - Offers of help from two national women's organizations have saved the Qimaavik women's shelter from closure.

Facing a $200,000 budget shortfall, the shelter was planning to shut its doors March 31 and stop taking clients in January. But the YWCA and the National Aboriginal Circle Against Family Violence learned of the centre's plight through media reports.

Napatchie McRae, Qimaavik's executive director, said word of the incoming aid was greeted at the shelter with hugs and cheers.

"We all started high-fiving each other," she said.

Members of the Baffin Regional Aggvik Society, which runs the shelter, met with officials from the Department of Health and Social Services Oct. 23.

Department staff say they won't dock Qimaavik for any funding it receives from outside the territory.

McRae said better communication between the shelter and the government might have averted the brief crisis. The society wasn't aware it was free to seek outside funding sources, she said.

"It almost sounded like we were blaming the government, but if there was better communication it wouldn't have gone that far," she said. "I'm sorry it did... but we are staying open."Reached in Cambridge Bay, Health and Social Services Minister Leona Aglukkaq echoed McRae's comment, saying Qimaavik was always free to seek outside funding.

Nonetheless, Aglukkaq is glad the shelter's future is looking brighter than it was three weeks ago.

"I think it's a very positive move on the part of the YWCA and the National Aboriginal Circle (Against Family Violence)," she said. "If we can partner with agencies like that and help our communities address the issue of violence against women, I'm open to those kind of discussions."

The YWCA and the National Aboriginal Circle Against Family Violence will send workers to Iqaluit in November to help the shelter examine its bylaws and financial management practices.

Qimaavik's debt crisis struck at a time when the YWCA was looking to extend its services to smaller, under-served centres, said Paulette Senior, CEO for the YWCA. Iqaluit was near the top of that list.

"When we heard about what was happening with the shelter, we decided to contact the shelter provider (to ask) how can we help?" she said.

No financial deals have been worked out yet, but Qimaavik will be submitting a proposal to the YWCA.

McRae hopes that the funding will allow the shelter to have a full complement of staff during weeknight back-shifts.

Currently there is only one staffer at the front desk during those hours.