Nunavik halfway house waits on staff hires to re-open

Louisa Taqulik, interim director of Kangirsuk’s Makitautik half-way house and Noah Eetook, a member of its board of directors, speak to Kativik Regional Government councillors Nov. 30 about the centre’s progess. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

Makitautik halfway house in Kangirsuk, pictured here in 2011, moved into its $3 million home in 2006. (FILE PHOTO)

KUUJJUAQ—Following a three-year closure, Nunavik’s Makitautik rehabilitation centre has a handful of staff positions to fill before the correctional facility can start taking clients again.

The halfway house in Kangirsuk, which first opened in 1999 to house low-risk offenders, has struggled to keep its doors open.

Most recently, the centre closed in October 2013 after federal inspectors found it was understaffed and under-managed.

The centre was re-accredited earlier this year; Makitautik has also assembled a new board of directors and secured a seven-month grant of $550,000 from the province.

In recent months, however, some of the centre’s staff have retired, and the centre’s furnace has also required maintenance.

“We haven’t been able to open yet because of a staff shortage,” Makitautik’s interim director Lucy Taqulik told Kativik Regional Government councillors Nov. 30. “We cannot open the centre until we have a full staff.”

Taqulik said the centre has posted three jobs: head night guard, an elders counsellor and an animator or program coordinator.

The 14-bed correctional centre hopes to start taking referrals again in early 2017.

To be referred to Makitautik, an offender must be on parole or serving a conditional sentence of less then two years. Nunavimmiut charged with sexual offences aren’t permitted at the centre.

But the centre currently only offers reintegration services to male offenders.

Parsa Kitishimik, regional councillor for Kuujjuaraapik, said her community wants to see that centre or a new one accommodate women offenders as well.

Philemon Boileau, who heads the KRG’s legal department, noted that Makitautik is an independently-run organization and it would be up to communities to initiate the process of launching a women’s facility.

But Boileau suggested Nunavimmiut wait until Makitautik re-establishes its own services.

“It’s worth nothing that the trouble Makitautik has had staying open,” he told regional councillors.

“Let’s give it a couple years and get it running properly. I think it’s premature to start negotiations with Quebec when right now. It’s still not operational.”