Construction underway on houses by students and for students
Pilot project brings 6 units to Rankin Inlet, giving young tradespeople hands-on experience
Nunavut is two years into its Nunavut 3000 housing program. Here, students work on one of three duplexes under construction in Rankin Inlet on Oct. 3 as part of their trades studies at Nunavut Arctic College. (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)
This story was updated on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, at 10 a.m. ET.
Foundations and some walls are up for a trio of three-bedroom duplexes being constructed for and by trades students in Rankin Inlet.
Sixteen Nunavut Arctic College students are framing, sanding and hammering on a construction site across from the hamlet’s Sanatuliqsarvik Nunavut Trades Training Centre.
The units will soon be watertight and are set to be completed by summer 2025 when the 16 students are expected to graduate.

Brandon Anawak is one of the 16 trades students in Rankin Inlet working 40 hours a week at a construction site. (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)
“Everything is going smoothly. And I am learning a lot,” said Brandon Anawak, one of the students.
This is part of a pilot project launched in July from a three-way partnership between Nunavut Arctic College, Nunavut Housing Corp. and Pewapun Construction signed on May 29.
With the partnership, Pewapun, a Manitoba-based First Nations company, provided $3 million for materials and construction support for the six units.
The project aims to build new student housing and give the trades students real on-site experience.
The college is “putting out workers every year that are ready to go,” said John Pearson, Nunavut Arctic College’s chair of construction trades.
“Ultimately, the end goal is to keep as much money in Nunavut for Inuit workers.”
The new houses were designed by students of the previous intake in March and are geared toward students with small families, Pearson said.
Those will be three-bedroom one-storey duplexes. Each unit will have two porches, a small study room and an open-space design.

Nunavut Arctic College’s chair of construction trades, John Pearson, oversees the construction process that will give Rankin Inlet college students hands-on experience going forward. (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)
Now, four of the alumni who worked on the design are employed by the college helping with the construction process, along with several construction experts from the Nunavut Housing Corp. and Pewapun Construction.
But the main work is done by the new students who started the program this September.
They are working on site around 40 hours a week, and if they work more they are paid overtime by the college.
They all received a toolbox and safety equipment worth around $1,500, along with a laptop. Students get to keep all of it after graduating.
“You’ve got to have tools today, no choice. You got to be trained, no choice. You have to have time on the job, no choice,” Pearson said, adding that by the end of this one-year program students will have all that.
Along with the hands-on experience, the students will have indoor courses like math, science, English and computer classes.

Students work on the foundation of one of the three duplexes in Rankin Inlet that are set to be completed by summer 2025. (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)
Pearson said the education the students are getting is good enough for them to work across Canada, although the college hopes they will choose to stay in Nunavut.
“I’m very proud,” Anawak said of being a part of the project.
“I’m excited and nervous about what it will bring me at the end. I know it’s going to be something good. It makes you want to go to school every day, and I’m showing up with the best attitude I can give.”
Correction: this story was updated to correct the spelling of Brandon Anawak’s name.
A major step in the right direction,
Learn a trade and get a good paying job.