Gjoa Haven, Nunavut, opens men's, women's shelters for people in need

People without a safe place now have homes to go to in Gjoa Haven. The hamlet has opened two shelters, one for men and the other for women and children. 

"It's real now," said Gjoa Haven Mayor Raymond Quqshuun Sr. "If they are ever in need, then we got places for people."

The shelters opened after more than 20 years of advocacy. Quqshuun began working toward the shelters as chief administrative officer for the community in the 1980s. 

"It was really hard for people in the community when you have to send the mother or even sometimes a father with children to go to shelter, there's nothing in the community at that time," Quqshuun said. 

People would be placed with other families in the community or often flown to other communities until there was a safe home in town, Quqshuun said. The hamlet also heard of people breaking into furnace rooms of housing units simply to have a place to sleep.

Gjoa Haven received funds from Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and Infrastructure Canada to purchase homes in the community, and the government of Nunavut is providing the operating funds.

"Really pleased with the outcome and they are being used now, and that's a really good thing for our community," Quqshuun said. 

The Kitikmeot Friendship Society is operating the shelter and training staff, providing meaningful employment for Inuit in Gjoa Haven, Quqshuun said. The friendship society has been operating shelters and programming in Cambridge Bay for a number of years. 

"They have a whole lot of expertise on staff that most hamlets typically don't have," said Jennifer Wakegijig, Gjoa Haven's chief administrative officer. "All of those people have pooled their knowledge and experience to create a training program for our shelters."

Nine people from Gjoa Haven have been trained in Cambridge Bay, and are now working in the Gjoa Haven shelters. Wakegijig said the hamlet doesn't have a timeline on when they may take over operations of the shelters as the society is the organization with the important expertise. 

The society staff have been working hard to make sure the confidential homes are welcoming spaces for people in need as people began using them right away, said Kendall Aknavigak, co-founder and executive director of Kitikmeot Friendship Society. 

"We hope that it's warm and inviting," Aknavigak said. "We want to provide them that sense of stability."

People staying at the shelter can do their own laundry and cook their own meals.

There will be traditional food, clinical therapists and programming for the people staying in the shelters specifically, Aknavigak said. There will also be follow-up care through partnerships with the Department of Family Services and Department of Justice. 

"They're able to really engage with somebody who knows that their traumas are not them, but they're their own person," Aknavigak said. 

The training given to the new staff in Gjoa Haven was part of the society's newly created dedicated training program for shelter staff, Aknavigak said. 

Aknavigak said it's been fulfilling and rewarding to see Inuit trained and helping each other throughout the region. She said it's important to have locally trained staff who understand the community's nuances and the society hopes to train more people throughout the region.

"We're building capacity, which is really, really important, especially for smaller communities like Gjoa Haven," Aknavigak said. 

The hamlet is working toward more support for people in the future, Quqshuun said. The council is working to build a more than 20-bed shelter in the future and transition homes for families, as well as building an eight-plex apartment and 12-plex homes.