Kuujjuaraapik doubles space for visitors using a former workers’ camp

Kuujjuaraapik has nearly doubled its temporary-stay capacity by renovating an old Hydro-Québec work camp, turning it into 32 fully furnished bedrooms for visitors to rent.

The property has been renamed Ulluriaq Camp.

The long corridor, with a communal living room at the end, and rooms that will be available for rent at Ulluriaq Camp. This building formerly served as a camp for Hydro-Québec workers. (Photo by Cedric Gallant, special to Nunatsiaq News)

The community’s Sakkuq Landholding Corp. took on the project in October last year. General manager Laura Ekomiak says all renovations were completed in early March.

She said the landholding corporation is looking for a building manager, and once someone is hired the property will be ready for business.

“I am just excited that it is going to open,” she said in an interview in her office in Kuujjuaraapik.

Ekomiak said revenue generated by Ulluriaq Camp will be returned to the landholding corporation to cover construction costs. After that, the camp will generate revenue to be reinvested in the community.

The Hotel de la Cooperative de Kuujjuarapik, the local hotel that is owned and run by La Fédération des coopératives du Nouveau-Québec, the umbrella organization for Nunavik co-operatives, has 30 rooms available.

Ekomiak said the 32 new rooms at Ulluriaq can be rented to visiting construction workers or large team operations. That will ease demand at the already often fully booked hotel.

One of the camp’s eye-grabbing features is its long corridor, with 16 rooms on each side.

“Reminds me of the corridor in The Shining,” joked Ekomiak, referencing the Stephen King horror classic that Stanley Kubrick adapted to film in 1980.

Each room features a bed, table and dresser. Unlike other camps, there is a bathroom and shower in every room.

The communal kitchen is decked out with restaurant-quality stainless steel equipment, big enough to cook for an entire team. At the back is a living room, also communal, with some gym equipment and lounge space.

There are plans to expand the living room “eventually, but not now,” said Ekomiak.

The camp was initially built in 2023 to house Hydro-Québec workers who were upgrading facilities in the community — foundational work for a two-megawatt wind farm project, which is expected to be complete in 2027.

After the foundational work was completed, the camp became available for the landholding corporation. The building itself is about 60 metres in length.

Now, the wind farm project will require housing for about 30 workers.

Kuujjuaraapik’s landholding corporation hopes that renovating old infrastructure in this way will allow it to control costs on future projects.

Ekomiak said the corporation is looking at all local vacant buildings for possible projects, including the old co-op hotel, co-op building and courthouse.

After renovations, the buildings can “eventually become apartments,” she said.

It won’t be an easy task — some older buildings are condemned due to asbestos, requiring a lot of work to bring them back to life.

“We are looking into that right now,” she said.