Nunavut government plans new women’s shelter for Cambridge Bay

Nunavut is down one shelter for women and children faced with family violence, following the abrupt closure of the St. Michael’s Crisis Shelter in Cambridge Bay at the end of March.

Arijana Haramincic, the executive director of the Department of Family Services, told Nunatsiaq News that the closure was more of a “transition” to a new shelter that will be run by the Government of Nunavut.

The shelter’s closure follows the department’s decision to end its contribution agreement with the Municipality of Cambridge Bay for the shelter’s operation for the 2020-21 fiscal year.

This agreement had been in place for the shelter’s operations since its opening in 2010.

Haramincic said some concerns had surfaced about whether the shelter was open 24-7, as it was supposed to be, during the state of emergency declared on March 18 in Nunavut due to COVID-19.

“At one point, we were advised it was not,” Haramincic said, although she added that the municipality assured the department it was open.

The plan now is to renovate a vacant building, which used to house a group home for youth owned by the GN, to provide a new six-bedroom shelter that will also have some transitional space for youth, she said.

The new shelter would become the largest shelter outside Iqaluit, she said.

Some of the money recently announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for shelters and transitional housing for First Nations, Inuit and Métis may “possibly” help pay for the future shelter’s renovation and for a transitional housing project in Iqaluit.

The renovation of the former group home in Cambridge Bay could take some time, Haramincic said, adding that “we would never leave the community without services.”

Since the Cambridge Bay shelter closed, women in crisis have still been able to access emergency shelter, Haramincic said.

These include safe houses in Cambridge Bay, as well as shelters in Kugluktuk, Kugaaruk, Rankin Inlet and Iqaluit.

At the time of its closing, the Cambridge Bay shelter had clients who were given one day to relocate, said a GN employee who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Haramincic said she wasn’t aware of that, but she admitted that at the time around the shelter’s closure there was “almost a perfect storm with COVID-19” and the limitations of working from home.

Some of the information about the shelter’s transition to the GN and accessing services may have been misinterpreted or lacked proper messaging, she said.

In an April 14 letter sent to the mayor and council members of Cambridge Bay, which Nunatsiaq News obtained, Yvonne Niego, the deputy minister of the Family Services Department, thanked the municipality for the service that the shelter had supplied to women for 10 years.

Niego said the shelter had provided a critical service to women and children seeking 24-hour emergency protection from violence, as well as crisis, intervention and support services.

But she told them that in the 2020-21 fiscal year the Department of Family Services wanted to move the shelter into the GN-owned facility.

“This will allow us to expand the programs and services available to women and children across the Kitikmeot region,” she said.

Last month, Haramincic told Nunatsiaq News that her department had not seen “any significant increase” in family violence rates during the pandemic.

But some in Cambridge Bay said that the timing of the shelter’s closure during the pandemic forced many women to remain in overcrowded, and sometimes violent, homes.

None of the shelters in Nunavut have been at full capacity during the pandemic restrictions, Haramincic said.

But she said she is now “worried that women are more isolated, children are more isolated.”

To make it easier for individuals to get the help they need, the GN has set up a new toll-free helpline at 1-844-FWCHILD.

Comments to Family Services about the services they provide can be directed through 1-855-522-5201.

Social workers, justice outreach workers and the RCMP can all connect those in crisis with shelter services.

The Government of Nunavut also operates shelters in the following communities:

• Iqaluit, Qimavvik Shelter: (867) 979-4500
• Kugaaruk Family Violence Centre: (867) 769-6100
• Kugluktuk Women’s Crisis Centre: (867) 982-3210
• Rankin Inlet, Kataujaq Society Shelter: (867) 645-2214