Inuit, non-Inuit join in Villeray one last time

Brooke Amaly Sivuarapik claps with delight as her mother, Alasie, throat-sings at a community event held Sept. 18 in the Villeray district in northeast Montreal. (PHOTO BY JIM BELL)

Caroline Novalinga, originally from Puvirnituq, and her cousin, Alasie Sivuarapik, also of Puvirnituq, found an enthusiastic audience Sept. 18 when they performed at Parc Villeray in northeast Montreal. (PHOTO BY JIM BELL)

MONTREAL — As the Montreal Inuit patient home saga moves on to a new chapter, Inuit and non-Inuit joined together one last time in the Villeray district of Montreal this past weekend at a community festival held Sept. 18.

“It was a good closure,” said Allison Irqumia, president of the Association of Montreal Inuit.

Irqumia and other Inuit from Montreal attended the event to mingle with their non-Inuit allies in Villleray and thank them for supporting the relocation of the Nunavik House patient hostel within their district, in a building formerly occupied by a Chinese hospital.

“This is a nice way for the Inuit of Montreal to say thank you for their support,” Irqumia said.

Andrés Fontecilla, a local community organizer and member of the Québec solidaire political party, provoked loud cheers from local residents when he said the Inuit are one of the “founding peoples of Quebec and Canada.”

But he said it was “relatively sad” to see that the elected officials of the borough were less welcoming than most residents.

After an introduction from Fontecilla, throat singers Caroline Novalinga and Alasie Sivuarapik of Puvirnituq entertained Villeray residents, inspiring more loud cheers.

This past May and June, some residents of the district responded to the Inuit patient home proposal by circulating a handbill entitled “Danger Imminent.”

They alleged that the presence of Inuit in their community would bring an increase in street crime and substance abuse and lead to the “smell of urine.”

Afterwards, the mayor of the Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension borough made various statements that appeared to sympathize with the Inuit patient home’s opponents.

Another group of local residents then formed a committee in support of the Inuit and began to lobby the borough council.

But on Sept. 9, the Nunavik regional health and social services board announced the withdrawal of its Villeray relocation plan and that they will now seek other options for replacing the current patient home, which is located in a dangerous neighbourhood on St. Jacques West.

View this video to hear remarks from Andrés Fontecilla, followed by a throat song from Caroline and Alasie: