Iqaluit greenhouse plan moving forward

Your May 26 article “Compost plans keep sprouting” said that “the multi-million dollar plans of the Iqaluit Greenhouse Society appear to be on hold.”

On the contrary, our work toward building a combined greenhouse and community centre is moving forward. Last spring, Iqaluit city council approved a lease for the greenhouse in the new sustainable Arctic subdivision, across from the NPC plant. We then secured the funding for a detailed design, needed in order to reach a more accurate cost estimate. Working with one of Canada’s leading greenhouse architects, we completed that design in December.

It hardly needs saying that raising the $8 to $10 million needed for a community greenhouse (or for anything in Iqaluit, for that matter) is a major undertaking.

So in parallel with our design work, we’ve been preparing for the major fundraising effort ahead. A good deal of this work focused on federal environmental programs. Unfortunately, many of those programs were cancelled by the new government, so we’ve turned our attention to the foundation and corporate sector until new federal programs are put in place.

While this fundraising work proceeds, we’re continuing our community awareness work. Although we’re still occasionally told that gardening isn’t an Arctic or Inuit pastime, more and more people, Inuit and Qallunaat, say they look forward to when the greenhouse is built, because they or their kids would really enjoy growing their plants, and they know it will be a healthy contribution to their community.

Is it taking a long time? Yes. Will it be worth it? You bet. If you want to find out more and help it happen, write to us at: iqaluitgreenhouse@yahoo.ca.

John Lamb
President, Iqaluit Greenhouse Society
Iqaluit