GN aims to create 72 new beds for Nunavut elders by 2030
Government provides update on its elder strategy
Premier P.J. Akeeagok talks to reporters after a briefing on the government’s elder strategy on Tuesday. (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)
With the newly built 24-bed Rankin Inlet elder facility expected to open next month, work continues on similar facilities in Cambridge Bay and Iqaluit. Combined, they will create 72 more beds for seniors in the territory.
“I am pleased to say our commitment to supporting elders to age in dignity is one of our dreams which is coming to life,” Finance Minister Lorne Kusugak told the legislative assembly last week while delivering the territory’s budget for 2025-26.
The 24-bed Cambridge Bay facility is currently going through the “detailed design” stage. Construction is to start next year and it’s expected to be substantially complete by fall 2028, but no date has been set for it to open.
It will be similar to the $59.4-million Rankin Inlet facility, which was finished in January and will start operations in April.
As for the 48-bed elder home in Iqaluit, a location near the Arctic Winter Games arena has been confirmed and the building is expected to be substantially finished in late 2029 or early 2030 though no opening date has been released.
There is no cost estimate for either facility at this point because they are still going through design work, John Main, Nunavut’s health minister, said in a media briefing Tuesday.
The update comes with the release of a 32-page progress report on the Nunavut government’s 2024 Aging with Dignity strategy.
The strategy aims to address the needs of aging Nunavummiut and includes five goals, 15 objectives and 89 actions.
“It’s a file that’s very important to us,” Premier P.J. Akeeagok said in an interview after tabling the report in the assembly Wednesday.
Along with having elder facilities in all three regions, the government hopes to replace existing community health centres at a rate of three new centres every four or five years, the report said.
Currently, there are plans to replace health centres in Qikiqtarjuaq, where design work is being done and the building is to be substantially complete in winter 2028, and in Baker Lake which is approved for planning with no dates set yet.
As well, the government is continuing work on providing safe transportation and housing for elders as part of Nunavut’s goal to build 3,000 homes by 2030, the progress report says.
The transportation aspect involves providing a wheelchair-accessible bus with a driver in every community, as well as reduced rates for elders on all airlines serving Nunavut communities.
Also this year, the government is starting to develop an awareness campaign around elder abuse.
Some of the goals were identified as long-term with work to be done over the next 10 years.
Following through on those items will be the responsibility of future governments, with territorial elections set for October.
“We can’t commit for future governments,” Akeeagok said of the long-tern actions, adding that they are prioritizing work that can be continued through the term of the current government.
But the goal is for the future Nunavut leaders to also continue with the implementation of the strategy, he said.
No picture of an elder on this one?
I’m sure this will happen with all the speed and guile shown in the elder’s bus project.
PJ’s government is all talk and no do.
Bring back Joe savikataaq
“Also this year, the government is starting to develop an awareness campaign around elder abuse.”
LOL, used elders for the van photo, that is elder abuse right there.
“Awareness of elder abuse?” Do you mean some people today aren’t aware of its existence? How about locking up the abusers and being done with it?
As a Qallunaaq professional I am pleased to see my government blindly pouring funds into very expensive institutional care for small numbers of Inuit elders. When we spend huge sums like this and “accidentally” ignore the needs of 98% of the elder population, we generate the ongoing trauma that will keep me and my colleagues in the “helping professions” employed in high paying, high status jobs for generations to come.
Nunavut has been built to advance the careers of transient southern professionals. The more we can do to professionalize the basics of Inuit life, the more incapable we can make people feel in their own communities, the more we can justify relocating Inuit away from families into pods where they are institutionalized to met impeccable Qallunaaq standards , the more intergenerational trauma we can generate.
The more trauma we can generate, the more kids without grandparents and the more ways we can insert our “expertise” into the heart of community, the more jobs there will be for transient professionals in the future.
I especially like that we persuade Inuit politicians to carry out our goals and exhaust budgets on these projects leaving no funds for community driven initiatives. Brilliant! May the cycle continue!!!