Kugaaruk gets money to refurbish emergency shelter

Nunavummiut facing homelessness in Kugaaruk will benefit from new emergency housing thanks to $94,000 that the Hamlet of Kugaaruk will receive from the Homelessness Partnering Strategy.

“Our government is committed to assisting Nunavummiut with housing needs to help them break free from the cycle of homelessness and poverty,” Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq said March 18.

“We are pleased to partner with the Hamlet of Kugaaruk in its efforts to find local solutions to local problems. By partnering with local organizations to provide essential services to people in need, we are doing our part to prevent and address homelessness in Nunavut.”

The money will help provide “safe and comfortable housing for people who are homeless after escaping domestic violence,” the news release from the federal government said.

The money will pay for renovations and furnishings for a house owned by the hamlet, which will be used as an emergency shelter for up to six people.

“We are grateful for this funding that enables us to provide a safe place for people to begin their healing process,” said Stephan Inaksajak, mayor of Kugaaruk, which has a population of about 700.

“We are a small community without the crisis response resources to address the complex needs of our vulnerable members. On behalf of our residents at risk, those who are homeless, and those who are fleeing domestic violence, I want to formally thank the Government of Canada.”

That announcement of the money for Kugaaruk comes after Akulliq MLA John Ningark stood up several times during this past legislative sitting to deplore violence against women.

Nattilik MLA Jeannie Ugyuk also said in the legislature that homelessness is a “growing problem,” especially for women and children.

The shelter in Kugaaruk may also reduce the number of women from Nunavut’s Kitikmeot communities, who are escaping violence at home, and flee to Yellowknife.

Women and children from Nunavut fill half the beds at the YWCA shelter in Yellowknife.

Over the course of a year, these Nunavut women and their children account for about half of the occupancy at the 12-bed Alison McAteer House shelter and for more than a quarter of the residents at its 39-unit Rockhill transitional and emergency transitional housing unit in Yellowknife.