Private sector donations take up slack as GN annual grant remains unchanged

Full to bursting with abused women and young, traumatized children, the Baffin regions's 24-hour Qimaavik emergency shelter still teeters close to financial collapse.

Despite Qimaavik's pleas for assistance and a threat to close down a year ago, the Government of Nunavut did not give the shelter more money.

The GN has not told the Baffin Regional Agvvik Society, which runs the 21-bed Qimaavik shelter, whether it can expect to receive an increase to its annual grant for the next fiscal year, which starts on Apr. 1 2008.

Meanwhile, Qimaavik remains open because individuals, businesses and organizations gave more than $50,000 and donated many urgently-needed items after it threatened to close about a year ago.

At that time, the board said the shelter would stop accepting clients on Jan. 31, 2007 and close for good three months later.

But the service continued after a flood of donations, surprise assistance from the YWCA and a promise from the GN that the shelter's monthly $50,000 cheque from the health and social services department would not be cut even if the society received money from other sources.

The shelter's executive director, Napatchie McRae, says the shelter‘s wish list still includes many essential items that it can't afford: cleaning supplies, a new washer and dryer and an industrial vacuum cleaner.

"The list could go on forever, so I'm just naming a few items," McRae said.

Qimaavik's only hope is the continued generosity of donors and the hope that the YWCA will provide more support to the shelter and other projects for homeless women in Iqaluit.

The Baffin Agvvik Society held its annual general meeting in Iqaluit last week.

Sheila Levy, the acting chair, said the Agvvik board still struggles to run a safe and efficient shelter because there's simply not enough money for employee pay raises or benefits. As a result, employees leave as soon as they find better jobs.

"All we're doing is offering bandage solutions," Levy told the AGM.

To continue, Qimaavik needs at least $200,000 more a year to cover basic operations.

The shelter, which receives about $600,000 a year from the Government of Nunavut, has been under-funded for a long time, board members said.

"It really has been tough. We need to look at more core funding," Levy said.

Kelly Breuls, director of membership services at the YWCA, who came to Iqaluit for the Agvvik Society meeting, said her organization feels the shelter needs $1.2 million a year to properly operate.

Since 1986, Qimaavik- known in its early years as "Nutaraq's Place"- has served as the last and often only hope for thousands of women and children victimized by violence.

The former Inusiqsiuqvik treatment centre building in Apex became Qimaavik's new home in 2000. It's set up to offer six-week stays for women in crisis, although many stay for 12 weeks.

Even in 1999, a health department audit of the shelter found it was "clearly under-resourced." After moving to the larger building in Apex, money got even tighter. The shelter's funding increased by 30 per cent but operating expenses also increased.

From April 1 to Oct. 31, 2007, Qimaavik accepted 259 women and children. Over the previous 12 months, 502 women and children used the shelter. If Qimaavik's occupancy continues at near 100 per cent, the number of users will be higher than ever by the end of next March.

"This is the first year where we had to put women and children on a waiting list," the shelter's executive director Napatchie McRae said in her report to the board. "We don't quite know the answer to why more women and children are coming. It might be due to more violence or women are starting to speak up more about their abuse."

Of 259 recent residents, 141 were children. They came from eight communities in Nunavut, while one woman came from Nunavik. All suffered from various forms of abuse. Of the 118 women who passed through the shelter, 34 returned to their spouses.