Nunavut college won’t re-open Ukkivik residence in Iqaluit

An April 2015 forced Nunavut Arctic College to relocate students accommodations and program space from its Ukkivik residence. The college now says the residence won’t re-open anytime soon. (FILE PHOTO)

Nunavut Arctic College won’t re-open its Ukkivik residence in Iqaluit this year, nor anytime soon, the college said this week.

This past April, a fire broke out in the student residence and program space.

No students or staff were injured, but the building’s sprinkler system ran for a long time, causing extensive damage to the building.

The RCMP later charged a 34-year-old man with arson with disregard for human life in relation to the fire.

College administrators took the summer to decide what to do with Ukkivik, finally opting against renovating the building, said Eric Corneau, dean of Iqaluit’s Nunatta campus.

“In the long run, it wasn’t the way to go,” Corneau said. “Bringing the students closer to the main campus [building] was also something we wanted to facilitate.”

With the start of the fall term, roughly 100 NAC students are now living in the Q units located beside the college’s main campus, as well as in Creekside Village units.

Many of the college’s four-bedroom units have been converted into single residences, which can accommodate more students who require housing.

The college in now in the final phase of identifying an alternate program space that it will announce next week, Corneau said.

Neither the college nor the Government of Nunavut have decided what will happen to the Ukkivik building, although Corneau said “it won’t re-open in the foreseeable future.”