SANIKILUAQ - The women's shelter in Sanikiluaq was going to be the first of its kind in the community, but a forthcoming hamlet council decision has yet to determine the fate of the building.

According to John Jamieson, a member of the Najuksivik Society, a non-profit organization in Sanikiluaq, the shelter was given the go-ahead by hamlet council in the summer of 2007.

The house built by female students from Nuiyak school in Sanikiluaq. This photo was taken in November 2007. - photo courtesy of John Jamieson

Jamieson said women in the community had requested that a shelter be built and female students from Nuiyak school were commissioned to assist with the construction.

But by September, the council gave a stop-work order to the building crew because they did not approve of the location of the building.

"They just didn't like the location, they thought it should sort of be on the outside of town" Jamieson said. "They were probably right; it would have been nice to get it near the nursing station, near social services, but the site already existed there because there was a house there before that had burned down."

He said after the crew was given the order, they proposed building a house instead.

"So right away we changed our plans and said OK, we're going to build a house, we're going to highlight women in the trades," Jamieson said. "And they said that was OK, we just couldn't use it as a shelter, which is really sad."

He said he does not know why a stop-work order was given and it is still unclear if the finished product will be used as a women's shelter, but female students from the school are still helping to construct the building.

Community members were let down after they were informed about the hamlet council's decision, he added.

"When the community heard that it wasn't going to be put up a lot of people were unhappy that the decision by hamlet council had been made," he said. "But, it was made."

Shylah Elliot, executive director for the Qulliit Nunavut Status of Women Council, said she is disappointed that the shelter's outcome is still unknown.

"Well obviously it's disappointing to hear, when the community has identified the need for something to house women in violent or in homelessness situations," Elliot said.

Nunavut's harsh climate, astronomical rent prices, and lack of infrastructure puts many women in Nunavut in a constantly uncertain position, according to a report released by the Qulliit Nunavut Status of Women Council last year.

The report, titled The Little Voices of Nunavut - A Study of Women's Homelessness North of 60 states that women's shelters are an important service for Nunavummiut women, even if they are only a temporary solution.

"You go with this man even though you don't want to," one participant in the study said. "You don't love him, you don't like him, but he has a bed to sleep on."

The report also stated that the rate of reported assaults in Nunavut is more than six times higher than the rest of the country, when measured by the actual number of persons charged.

The hamlet of Sanikiluaq was unable to comment by press time.