Notorious Montreal Nunavik House to move soon

Nunavik’s health administrators have their eye on a new locale for Montreal’s Nunavik House, now located in a dangerous and unsavory location on St. Jacques St. in the southern end of Notre-Dame-de-Grace. (FILE PHOTO)

KANGIQSUJUAQ — Nunavik’s Montreal-area patient residence is on the move.

The announcement comes amid a regional campaign to relocate Nunavik House from its current location on St. Jacques St. in the southern end of Notre-Dame-de-Grace, within a seedy, crime-ridden section of the otherwise affluent borough that residents have complained about since the centre opened its doors in 2000.

Recently, Nunavimmiut have voiced their concerns about the centre’s location on Facebook, over local FM airwaves and via an online petition created by Aupaluk’s Janice Grey-Scott: http://bit.ly/cUB9aB

In the past few months, 150 people have added their signatures to the petition, which asks that Nunavik House be relocated out from St. Jacques St.

“This area is known to be gang territory, is surrounded by shady motels and bars, and drugs are abundant and distributed to Inuit,” the petition reads.

“We find it unacceptable that the most vulnerable segment of our population is exposed to such dangers on a daily basis.”

On signatory said gang activity and gun violence is common in the area.

“There have been gun shots and other dangerous activities in that area across the street and this sort of danger is happening too often in that area,” wrote Elizabeth Annahatak.

Another signatory, Annie Weetaluktuk said: “A white guy tried to pick me in his car saying that he’s been picking up girls that look like me and I was terrified of him when I was on my way back to Nunavik House from the corner store in the middle of the afternoon. So I definitely agree…”

Jane Beaudoin, the director of the Inuulitsivik Health Centre on Nunavik’s Hudson coast, said the regional health board has been looking for a new venue to house the patient centre for more than a year now.

“It’s not been an easy process,” Beaudoin said. “Early last year, we did an assessment… and our needs have changed.”

With several thousand Nunavimmiut travelling south to Montreal for care every year, the 55 beds at Nunavik House are not enough.

“This new facility will need to have 100 beds,” she said. “We have to move.”

Beaudoin said an agreement is close to being signed. The lease at the current Nunavik House location is up on March 31.

But staff at Inuulitsivik and the Northern Quebec Module – who run Nunavik patient services in Montreal – were tight-lipped about the new centre, including its location, until details could be confirmed.

A Northern Module director said only that: “This is very good news.”

Nunavik House opened in 2000 in what was formerly a low-end motel.

Due to the high cost of running smaller family-run transit houses, the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services contracted a local company to run the larger patient residence at 6177 St. Jacques St.

But only months after the centre opened its doors, residents began to complain about the surrounding neighbourhood.

Nunavik House was originally chosen for its proximity to McGill University’s future mega-hospital, but its more immediate neighbours included seedy hotels and a bar across the street reportedly taken over by Hell’s Angels.

The patient home has also been the subject of complaints about staff who don’t speak English well, and rowdy behaviour on the part of patient escorts and patients.

One room, number 113, was even subjected to an exorcism ritual, after residents complained that evil spirits made noise and grabbed them as they slept.