Iqaluit library seeks new computer-access support

No matter when you go to the Iqaluit Centennial library’s computers, you’ll see many people surfing the web, checking their email and applying for jobs. (PHOTO BY SAMANTHA DAWSON)

The federal government cut the Community Access Program that provides internet access in rural and remote areas, like Nunavut, but that doesn’t mean computer access will disappear tomorrow, says Catherine Hoyt, president of the friends of the Iqaluit Centennial library.

But once the computers and other equipment at Iqaluit’s library break down or need to be replaced, the library will hard pressed to pay the replacement bill without a guaranteed source of money.

And the other organizations with public internet terminals in Nunavut, which relied on CAP money, are in a similar situation, she said.

The library is still waiting to hear back on possible funding from other sources after learning that its CAP grant, set to end at the end of March, won’t be renewed.

“If we don’t have the funding, things will start to shrink,” Hoyt said.

CAP money helped pay for the library’s 18 computers, most of which were purchased in 2009.

But these will need to be kept in good working order or eventually replaced, Hoyt said.

Library patrons wrote letters to the federal government expressing their concern over funding cut, Hoyt said, and “we were hoping the government would have a change of heart.”

But that didn’t happen.

Still, the service is appreciated, says François Charette, who has used the library computers to write resumés and cover letters.

Many people with a low income can’t afford computers and the high costs of an internet connection, he said.

“It limits them to what they can do and accomplish,” Charette told Nunatsiaq News. “It’s very important — just for learning. Even just accessing your emails. That’s something you need everyday.”

If you don’t have access to a computer, you end up being behind, Charette said, and if you don’t have a computer these days, it makes things that much harder.

And, when you don’t become at ease with computers, when you’re young, you may find that as an adult you’re way behind on everything else, he added.

“It might affect you in your work and social life and the way you can be successful in life,” Charette said.

Last week, for example, Charette worked on making business cards.

“It was just wonderful, I couldn’t have done that at home. I think it’s an essential service.”

As for the library’s computer access, it’s “not going to close its doors tomorrow,” Hoyt said.

But the loss of the $5,000 spent on supply that service and to maintain the computers will be felt.

“It’s a lot of money to a small group like us,” she said.