City land near dump ‘perfect’ for Alianait storage needs: director
Iqaluit planning committee recommends lease of property to arts festival
Iqaluit-based group DANZ’AFRO performs at the 2023 Alianait arts festival. A deal with the City of Iqaluit to rent a parcel of land for storage is a “perfect solution” to the festival’s needs, said Victoria Perron, the festival’s artistic director, during Tuesday’s planning committee meeting. (File photo)
Alianait, Iqaluit’s arts festival, could be in store for a new storage area.
The city’s planning and development committee voted Tuesday to allow Alianait access to some unused property in the West 40 area after a residential development in the city’s core forced the festival to move.
“I know the organization does a lot for this community so I hope that’s something we can work towards,” said Coun. Kim Smith, the committee chairperson.
The move will allow the festival relocate its storage facility from the city’s core area to a 1,300 square metre lot on Akilliq Drive, across from the city dump.
The festival, which began in 2005, has had several locations for its office and storage space over the years.
“Each time we move, we hunt for affordable space that can meet our needs,” said Victoria Perron, the festival’s artistic director.
The lot it’s using now for its storage facility is near the Capital Suites hotel.
The site was sold in March and its new owners plan to build on it in May.
“May is now in two weeks,” Perron told the committee.
Being allowed to move the storage shed would be the “perfect solution,” she said, because it would give the festival “long-term peace of mind.”
Moving Alianait’s storage facility out of the core is a good move because more residential buildings are needed in that area, said planning director Mathew Dodds.
A 2023 bylaw allows the city to lease land to non-profit organizations without having to go through a competitive bidding process.
The city would charge Alianait rent, but not at a “significant” rate, Dodds said, estimating the annual rent would be between $2,000 and $3,000 a year.
Coun. Harry Flaherty wondered if the city should find a more desirable site for the festival instead of “cornering them to the worst site.”
But Dodds said the festival only needs to access its storage container a few times a year.
Iqaluit’s culture is becoming less and less Inuit-centric. The population of Iqaluit is now probably less than 50% Inuit, especially considering transient workers who spend the majority of their time in Iqaluit but are not counted as residents in the census, whereas it was over 60% Inuit 25 years ago. I imagine this trend will continue exponentially.
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Additionally, many of the people that move to Iqaluit do not wish to embrace the local culture, instead banding together with like-minded individuals and pushing their own culture into the room. I’m sure many will label this as a win for diversity and label my comment as hateful, but I feel it is a shame that Inuit are being pushed out of their own space.
Same thing in this town , lot of transients, they all stick togther in their little corner.
Isn’t this human nature though?
Look at the transient Inuit in Ottawa – exactly the same thing – whole Inuit neighbourhoods. Isn’t it pretty normal human behaviour to stick with your linguistic and cultural group?
It is human nature to stick together. Which is why there is also “chinatown”, “little italy” and so on and so forth in bigger cities. It is just the comforts of home. Danz Afro was almost non-existent in Alianait until a few years ago. I am glad to see diversity and Iqaluit growing up to embrace this. When my child was very young, they had “wear traditional clothing’ to school day. My child picked something from my culture (non inuk). They were told by the school that it is not traditional clothing. That is not cool.
Nunavut is a insular place, very inward looking and frankly, many are oblivious to the outside world. I’m sad to hear the ignorance your child faced that day, yet I would be more surprised had their culture been legitimately recognized.
I agree that it is human nature. If it wasn’t human nature, then I wouldn’t find it a shame that Inuit culture is being pushed out because there would be no need for “culture”.
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Ottawa is not the same though, as, although there are neighbourhoods with higher concentrations of Inuit (definitely not whole Inuit neighbourhoods), Indigenous people make up 2.6% of the population. Not over 50%.
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The problem is that Iqaluit is the capital city to an entire (small) population’s culture, and it is being “overrun”, for lack of a better term, by people that are not Inuit. All the people that are moving into Iqaluit have cultures that can be found prominently elsewhere. It is only in Inuit Nunangat that Inuit culture can be found prominently, and that is at risk of being lost.
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You can see even in other countries that there are concerns about culture-loss. Sweden, Hungary, Greece, Italy, and more, have concerns that immigration is a burden rather than a strength. This is not necessarily due to immigration itself, rather it occurs when there is a lack of willingness to adopt host-countries customs. I believe that this is happening in Iqaluit as well.
This comment, yes! The lack of willingness to adopt to the local culture! Or history. It’s going to get to the point where Inuit are going to be expected to adhere to outside cultures! Or accommodate them. As they say “do as the Roman’s do”, Adapt to the local environment. Now, the government is full of immigrants who hire there own and also have no clue about the Nunavut government’s history along with the hiring policies that are set in place. It’s a legal agreement put in place and no one cares. The department of Human Resources need to ensure they are followed, train them.
Inuit culture is one of many in this country. All of them are welcome to be honoured and practiced everywhere in the country.
I see Inuit continuing to practice their language and eat their food here in Montreal and not doing a very good job, as guests, of integrating with and adapting to our host culture, and this is okay. When in Rome, do as the Romans do is a load of hooey.
The irony of the assimilationist attitudes among so many in Nunavut is rich. The Francos, and Anglos, and Filipinos, and Nigerians, and Pakistanis etc., are all racial and ethnic minorities in Nunavut and should be encouraged to protect and grow their cultures – no different than Ottawa or Montreal Inuit.
It is really that simple.
Isn’t that the point when immigrating to a new place, assimilate to the environment? Is it right to come to a place and push out the local culture? Inuit are already being pushed aside and dealing with subtle and not so subtle prejudice which immigrants pick up on. Canada has a lot of prejudice and racism to the point where outsiders start to view them in only negative ways. This is similar here to the story, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/indigenous-immigrants-stereotypes-human-trafficking-1.5171397 . Many Inuit women have uncomfortable experiences like this.
I digress I know, the concerns still lays on the local culture being pushed out or not taken more seriously. This doesn’t mean other cultures shouldn’t embrace their own (own it!) But not at the cost of losing the local culture/history/way of life.
Wait, I thought that we decided as a country that assimilation was bad? The whole mosaic versus melting pot thing.
By your assimilationist logic we should be celebrating the purpose, if not the methods, of residential schools.
So, homogeneity is the name of the game now?
I don’t think your comment is hateful, and it’s a real concern. As a southerner, I had more access to Inuit culture living in Ottawa than living in Iqaluit (theatre and dance, at least…). Besides, I think there is room for everybody. Nobody is being pushed out. Art multiplies space. It doesn’t divide it! Each community can bring something positive.
What is the “concern” specifically?
My comment was not clear. My concern is the fact that is hard to get your Inuit cultural fix in the capital of the territory. Maybe I am not aware of what is going on… It’s on me to find out I guess! I’ll work on that… Sorry for the confusion.
Agreed. It’s a strange feeling, even long term non Inuit who raised families here see the crazy changes. How are all these folks getting housing too before local Inuit/non-Inuit families too – it’s already hard as it is. They seem to get fast tracked in getting a roof.
I like the festival but it needs more local culture or history of this area too. Maybe finding training for young one’s interested in the arts. Plus it’ll keep the history alive. Getting elders involved as well.
Hateful? No. Slightly xenophobic, somewhat intolerant, and out of step with the direction of our country – absolutely.
Canada is a multicultural country. Pierre Elliott Trudeau made it his mission to NOT be like the USA, which is a melting pot and people are expected to lose their cultural ties after they immigrate. Just look at what has happened to Inuit and Natives in Alaska. Embrace our differences, its what makes Canada great 🙂