Nunavut elder care facility on track for 2017

Iqaluit Niaqunnguu MLA Pat Angnakak says she got tired of waiting for government to move on an elders residential care facility in Iqaluit so she decided to spearhead the project herself with a local committee. Her efforts are paying off. (PHOTO BY LISA GREGOIRE)

Pat Angnakak is sticking to her prediction that a new residential care facility for elders will be up and running in Iqaluit by December 2017.

And the Iqaluit-Niaqunnguu MLA, known for her velvet persuasion, seems to be well on the way to making that happen.

“I am very ambitious. People laugh at me, but that’s alright, because I am really trying to stick to that opening date,” Angnakak told Nunatsiaq News.

“I can’t stress enough how kind people are. If people weren’t kind, there’s just no way I’d be where I am today. It’s only because of their kindness and their belief in the project.”

Angnakak recently tabled some documents in the Nunavut Legislative Assembly to show the kind of momentum she has garnered so far.

Those documents include letters of support from the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, the Nunavut Housing Corp., Qikiqtaaluk Corp., the City of Iqaluit, Monica Ell-Kanayuk, MLA for Iqaluit Manirajak, and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

The CMHC has referred Angnakak’s file to an Iqaluit staffer to help facilitate seed funding “which is used in the initial stages of project development,” the letter says.

Support from QC and the NHC is crucial — both are offering to hand over adjacent shoreline properties near the breakwater for the purpose of building an elder care facility.

An existing elders home in Iqaluit has eight beds, but it’s designed to serve low-needs clients. Staff there are not trained to deal with dementia patients.

Caroline Anawak, general manager of the society that runs the Iqaluit elders centre, said in January there are currently 40 people on the wait list hoping to secure a bed there.

Angnakak has been advocating for elders rights and needs since she joined the legislature in 2013.

She currently co-chairs a steering committee on the Sailivik Society, which hopes to build an 80-bed, long-term care facility for elders in the territory’s capital.

She even has an architect who’s willing to design the facility for free.

Mason White of the Toronto-based firm Lateral Office, visited Iqaluit in February to look at the potential site on the Iqaluit shoreline and to consult with the local committee on needs and specifications.

White is quite familiar with the northern landscape. He helped to curate Arctic Adaptations, Canada’s entry in an international architecture exhibit in Venice, Italy, in 2014

Angnakak also has a verbal commitment from the Nunavut Construction Corp. to build the facility in a way that the non-profit society can afford.

The NCC is owned jointly by Qikiqtaaluk and Kitikmeot corporations, Sakku Investments Corp. and Nunasi Corp.

As soon as the infrastructure is squared away, Angnakak plans to go to the government to press them for operational funding.

For now, though, she’s letting government off the hook.

“I thought maybe it’s time we stopped waiting for government to do everything. Maybe what we need to do is come together as a community and show government how serious we are about issues such as elders care,” Angnakak said.

“We’re going to do our part and then we want government to support us, to do their part,” she said.

An elders facility can’t come soon enough.

A GN report entitled “Continuing Care in Nunavut 2015 to 2035” says that by the end of 2014, there were 32 people on a wait list for residential long-term care, most of them over age 60.

At the time of the report’s release in April 2015, some of those people had been waiting for more than 1,000 days, the report said.

According to the report’s statistics, the number of Nunavummiut over age 80 was estimated to be fewer than 150 but that is expected to double by 2025 and double again by 2035.

In other words, the report predicts there could be more than 600 Nunavummiut over the age of 80 by 2035 — a time when frailty and mental deterioration are common.

As of the end of 2014, there were six Nunavummiut diagnosed with dementia who had been referred to long-term care out of the territory “due to a lack of services in Nunavut,” the report said.

Nunavut doesn’t currently track dementia rates, but applying prevalence rates and demographics from the rest of Canada, the report suggested there could be 120 Nunavummiut living with dementia by 2035.

When Angnakak first broached the idea of a residential care centre in Iqaluit, some people were opposed, saying elders should be cared for in their home community, not warehoused in one place.

Angnakak agreed it would be better for elders to stay in their communities, near families, but it’s not feasible to have a residential care facility in every hamlet.

“I would support elders staying home if they can. But if you can’t, it’s better to come to Iqaluit, I think, than going to Ottawa,” she said.

At least they can hear their own language and eat country foods, and get to see family when they travel through the city.

“It’s all about dignity and bringing care closer to home,” Angnakak said.