City to hire trained fitness instructors for Iqaluit aquatic centre

Amy Elgersma, the City of Iqaluit’s director of recreation, at a recreation committee meeting Aug. 11. (PHOTO BY BETH BROWN)

Paid fitness staff are on the City of Iqaluit’s hiring agenda, Iqaluit’s recreation director, Amy Elgersma, told members of the city’s recreation committee Aug. 11.

An upcoming competition to employ more fitness instructors at the Iqaluit aquatic centre comes after the city did not renew the contracts of volunteer instructors who said they would resign if certain safety upgrades and training needs were not met.

The new hires will be trained to deliver a streamlined series of courses to ensure a sustainable program and avoid breaks in service, Elgersma told members of the recreation committee, Aug. 11.

“If someone is away or sick, another one of the instructors will be able to step in, instead of [having] a class that is specialized and only one person knows how to teach,” she said.

But committee members wanted to know how the former volunteers, many of whom worked as instructors at the since-closed Atii Fitness Centre prior to the Aquatic Centre, would be included in the new plan.

“In your hiring, are you going to welcome back some of the volunteers?” committee member Vicki Sahanatien asked.

“It would be a shame to waste their skills. They spent many years getting their training. It would be good to welcome them to be part of the team.

Elgersma did not say whether previous staff would be hired but did say that, “we are going to follow the regular city hiring process and anyone is welcome to apply for those positions.”

She said a hiring committee will be put in place for the new recruits, who will work 10-month terms with flexible part-time hours.

And while paid staff will run classes, there will still be lots of options for drop-in classes included with the aquatic centre pass, she said.

Other classes will require registration and an additional fee.

Elgersma said in her update on pool operations that the summer fitness schedule began 11 days earlier than planned, “due to volunteer group instructor resignation.”

In a Facebook post at the time, volunteer instructor Janine Budgell said, “you may have heard that the volunteer instructors at the Aquatic Centre resigned, We did not. We were resigned.”

She added that the group hopes to have a chance to teach fitness in Iqaluit in the future.

Committee chair Coun. Joanasie Akumalik said some residents brought concerns to him, after a virtual fitness program—video classes—were put in place over the summer.

“They would rather have a person doing instruction for safety reasons,” he said.

Elgersma said the video classes will continue as a value-added program, for variety.

“We are not looking to replace people with DVDs,” she said.

Community members will still be able to volunteer at the front desk, in the youth program and in the fitness centre to supervise the gym.

An 11-year-old resident, who recently spoke to council with concerns about overcrowding at the pool, also presented to the committee Aug. 11.

In response, Elgersma said the city is training more lifeguards to address the understaffing issues in the fall, and she herself has been recertified as a lifeguard so she can be on call.

She also reminded the committee that comment cards are available at the aquatic centre’s desk for anyone to make suggestions or ask for small upgrades and add-ons they think would benefit users.

“We take those comment cards very seriously,” she said.