Quebec minister opens centre, hands out anti-poverty money in Nunavik

Kangiqsualujjuaq elder Tivi Etok cuts the ribbon at the June 21 official opening of a new assisted living apartment complex. From left to right, Kitty Annanack, mayor of Kangisualujjaq, Dominique Vien, Quebec’s social services minister, Etok, Geoff Kelley, Quebec’s native affairs minister. (PHOTO BY PASCAL POULIN)

Magie Edmudluk, chairperson of the Kativik Regional Government, speaks at the June 21 opening of a new assisted living centre in her home community of Kangiqsualujjuaq. (PHOTO BY PASCAL POULIN)

(updated June 22, 6:45 a.m.)

Quebec’s housing bureau, la Société d’habitation du Québec, the Nunavik Regional Board of health and social services, the Kativik Municipal Housing Bureau and the Kativik Regional Government officially inaugurated Kangiqsualujjuaq’s new assisted living centre June 21 in front of a crowd of nearly 200.

And, as elder Tivi Etok cut the ribbon, everyone burst into applause.

“This multifunctional community centre expands the range of services available to the aging population of the village of Kangiqsualujjuaq. It’s an initiative I’m very proud of, and one that will have positive repercussions for the well-being of the entire community,” said Quebec’s native affairs minister Geoff Kelley, who attended the official opening, in a joint news release.

This centre includes 11 housing units for elders, five units for people with disabilities, common areas equipped with kitchens, and two adapted transition units for people recovering from illness, awaiting renovations to their homes or who are victims of violence.

The original building was salvaged after the 1999 avalanche that slammed into Kangiqsualujjuaq’s Satuumavik school, killing nine people and injuring many more.

The school’s gym was destroyed, but the new wing of the school remained intact.

Moved away from the avalanche-prone slope, it was renovated into social housing units.

Speaking at the opening, KRG chairperson Maggie Emudluk, who comes from Kangiqsualujjuaq, reflected on the building’s evolution, comparing it to the “circle of life.”

Similar apartment blocks are needed elsewhere in Nunavik, she said.

The cost of the $4-million renovation of the building into the assisted living centre was split between the SHQ and the provincial health department.

Until the current round of renovations started, the building served as a 17-unit apartment complex, which quickly acquired a reputation as a hang-out for parties, drug-dealers and bootleggers.

Some features of the building, now dubbed M-19, have been adapted for handicapped persons, including the addition of an elevator.

There’s also office space for staff who will work at the facility Monday through Friday.

The SHQ’s president, John MacKay, also on site for the centre’s opening, said the centre would “will unquestionably improve housing conditions and quality of life for the people in this village.”

“The SHQ is proud to encourage projects like this one that meet real needs in a community and benefit all the people who live there.”

Also on June 21, Quebec announced that Nunavik will receive $1,578,342 to fight poverty from now until 2015.

“With this money the Kativik Regional Government will be able to put extra measures in place to fight against poverty in all the northern villages,” Kelley said in a Quebec government news release. “I’m convinced that this help will contribute to the social development of the 14 Inuit communities.”

(with files from Pascal Poulin in Kangiqsualujjuaq)