GN moves on turning Iqaluit boarding home into mental health facility

The former Tammaativvik patient boarding home in Iqaluit is slated to become a new mental health facility. (FILE PHOTO)

The Government of Nunavut has a plan to deal with mental health issues in the territory, Peter Ma, Nunavut’s deputy health and social services minister, told reporters at a May 16 briefing.

Mental health has been a priority for the health and social services department, Ma said, acknowledging that “the department hasn’t been doing as well as it could at this time.”

“But we are taking steps to remedy that,” he said.

Actions include $2.4 million worth of renovations to the former 45-bed Tammaativvik patient boarding home near Iqaluit’s Inuksuk High School.

A request for proposals for work on this project was recently published, Ma said.

Until 2010, the building was used as a residence for high school students from smaller Baffin communities studying in Iqaluit.

The new mental health facility would replace the much smaller Akausisarvik mental health facility in Iqaluit, which can only take about a dozen residents.

Akausisarvik, which opened in 2002, is designed to offer care for Nunavummiut who suffer from serious or moderate mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, manic depression or personality disorders.

Ma said the move to the new, larger facility would allow for the delivery of more programs.

Nunavut also plans to transform 12 community-based positions for mental health workers from term to permanent jobs.

And the GN continues to work on a mental health framework for the territory, Ma said.

As for last week’s national mental health strategy, Ma said his department is studying the strategy’s recommendations, adding that “it would be good if the federal government would throw money to support strategy.”

Asked about whether Nunavut has indeed suffered a jump in mental health incidents that require police intervention (as RCMP Supt. Steve McVarnock recently stated), Ma said that he believes “people are more open to speaking about mental health issues.”