More men turning to Cambridge Bay crisis shelter

CHARLOTTE PETRIE

CAMBRIDGE BAY – A growing number of men are seeking help from local crisis shelters, compromising an already fragile and underfunded service.

The community wellness centre in Cambridge Bay, generally a safe place for women and children victimized by abuse, is receiving more calls from men, said Pauline Plamondon, director of family services.

“Usually there’s only one or two calls from men during the year and we get them to bunk with someone in the community who is clean and sober and willing to have them for a couple days.

“But it’s getting to the point where we can’t do that anymore because the calls are coming in more frequently.”

The crisis shelter in Cambridge Bay houses up to two women and their children, a situation Plamondon considers insufficient considering the number of women and children in need of aid locally and in nearby communities.

Housing men on a regular basis would require a separate shelter, and that would mean acquiring another building in an already maxed-out community, Plamondon said.

Not to mention the extra funds it would take to run a second shelter. Crisis shelters are primarily funded by grants from the Government of Nunavut.

Last year, the hamlet of Cambridge Bay received $85,000 in funding from the GN toward the operation of its crisis shelter, according to Mayor Keith Peterson. The actual cost of keeping the shelter open was $160,000, he added.

Crisis shelters are not part of the GN operations and maintenance budget, Peterson explained, and therefore specific funding isn’t set aside each year to run the few that exist in Nunavut.

“Every year we manage to keep the shelter open. The first couple of years we’d get about $75,000, then go back in February to get supplementary funding,” he said.

But if funding for women and children in crisis is poor, similar funding for men’s services is non-existant.

“There are men in town who want counselling but they don’t like to get it from women counsellors,” Peterson said.

“We get funding to hire counsellors but what happens when we recruit for the positions is that it’s usually women who apply and have the qualifications. And of course, there is no facility for men. Yet there are a growing number of men who need places to stay.”

And underlying the lack of funding and the lack of services for men is the all-encompassing lack of housing.

“It’s one of those things in a small town,” Peterson said. “If a court orders you to stay away from the family, where do you go?”

Plamondon agrees with Peterson’s take on the heart of the issue, and adds another layer to an already complex and volatile reality.

“It’s the drinking and drugs,” Plamondon said frankly. “A lot of Inuit can’t tolerate alcohol or drugs. It’s foreign to our physical body.

“Most Inuit are in conflict about who they are. Are they an Inuit person or are they somebody from the western culture?”

To keep the Cambridge Bay shelter afloat next year it will take another $30,000 to $50,000 on top of the $85,000 it currently receives per year on average, Plamondon estimated.

As the cost of running the shelter increases year-to-year, the need for extra funding will also increase. If the money isn’t forthcoming, the shelter may be facing its own crisis and be forced to close its doors.