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Renewed hope for arena MLA says the Government of Nunavut is working on the design phase for a new arena in Rankin
Miranda Scotland
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, July 24, 2013
RANKIN INLET
There is renewed hope that Rankin Inlet will finally get the community complex residents have been asking for for years. However, it won't be built all at once.
This coming winter, the Government of Nunavut will be working on the design phase of a new arena for the community, said MLA Lorne Kusugak.
The plan for the building, he continued, will allow for other elements to be added on in the future, such as a community hall, a swimming pool and a gym.
"You have to start somewhere," he said.
After the design phase is complete, the next step will be to secure funding to build the structure.
Kusugak said he is optimistic the support will be there.
"Let's face it, we're a very big community and we need to have a new arena," said Kusugak, adding the old one is decrepit and the ice-making machine is constantly breaking down.
"We talk about empowering our youth and giving them the tools to better themselves and one of the ways is through recreation. Recreation is one of the best tools we have for healthy living, for teaching people to work together."
If the community receives the funds needed and is given the go-ahead on the arena, it would be built on the patch of land behind the new health centre, said Mayor Robert Janes.
The original plan was to put it at the back of the existing arena but, he explained, it was changed once it was understood that the structure would be added to in the future.
Janes said the first element he would like to see built onto the new arena is a municipal office.
"The one we have right now is too small, it's old, it's decrepit, it's in really, really bad shape," he said.
"It was originally built as a very small, almost settlement office with a bar hall attached.
"We did some renovations to it I believe in '93 and that's what we have there right now and it's just not doing the job."
After that he wants to see a pool and a gym added on.
But, those projects are a ways down the road, Janes said.
Construction on the arena itself won't get started until at least 2015 and that's thinking optimistically, he continued.
"We're at the whim of the Government of Nunavut," said Janes. "We don't have much revenue ourselves. We're basically dependent on these guys to give us whatever we get so it's not like we can go out as a tax-based community and actually finance a lot of this stuff ourselves."
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