New name, same roots: Nunavut non-profit stays put while expanding nationwide

The name has changed but an Iqaluit-based organization that teaches science, technology, engineering, art and math skills will keep doing the same good work, says its founder.

“If anything, it means we are only going to grow,” Ryan Oliver, founder and CEO of Pinnguaq Association, said in an interview Thursday.

Pinnguaq has grown from hosting clubs teaching computer coding in Pangnirtung “into a national organization that really focuses on all spectrums of STEAM — so science, technology, engineering, arts and math across rural, remote and Indigenous communities across Canada,” Oliver said.

Pinnguaq, which means “play” in Inuktitut, is now known as Ampere.

Its staff in Iqaluit showed off the name change at the Nunavut Trade Show this week in Nunavut’s capital, where they handed out 3D-printed key chains with the new name.

The new name is an acronym reflecting the organization’s programming focus: Advocacy, mentorship, production, education, resources and employment.

Ampere is “going to better reflect who we are across the country,” Oliver said.

“The general idea is taking the model we built in Nunavut, which really focused on community-centered opportunities in STEAM and how we can level the playing field in technology for youth and adults, and now spread that across any rural, remote Indigenous community in Canada.”

An interior rendering of the proposed new Iqaluit Makerspace, which will be located on what’s currently an empty lot on the Road to Nowhere. (Image courtesy of Ryan Oliver).

The non-profit organization got its start more than 12 years ago in Pangnirtung.

After it was awarded $400,000 in the Arctic Inspiration Prize contest, it expanded in 2016 to Baker Lake, Chesterfield Inlet and Iqaluit before eventually building the Iqaluit Makerspace centre in September 2018.

A hallmark of Ampere’s work is makerspaces — facilities to learn and work together on computer programming, design and engineering projects while sharing knowledge, skills and technology.

Oliver said it has always been their goal to expand the organization’s mandate and build on its success to reach more rural Canadians.

The name is new but “the mandate has been expanding for the last five years,” he said.

“For the average person that has interacted with us in the last five years, nothing changes.”

After opening two makerspaces in Iqaluit and Cambridge Bay, the organization opened its first southern makerspace in Lindsay, Ont. in 2019. That was followed soon after by another one in nearby Curve Lake First Nation. It is continuing to expand with another for Bathurst, N.B.

Ampere also has partner programs in Kimmirut, Sanirajak and Gjoa Haven as part of the Katinnganiq Makerspace Network, which itself has plans for opening makerspaces in all 25 Nunavut hamlets.

In Iqaluit, the city’s planning and development committee voted July 16 to award Ampere a development permit for a new headquarters on a vacant lot near the Road to Nowhere.

Oliver said the cost for the new facility will be approximately $12 million.

The new space will be four times as large as the existing one, at 14,000 square feet, and the old building will be converted into four apartments for employees.

In addition to the makerspace, the facility will include room for two additional apartments for employees. Work to obtain funding for the new space is ongoing.

“Nunavut is where we started,” Oliver said, adding “to this day probably about 50 per cent of the work we do is still in territory and it will always be the most important thing to me, personally.”