Organizers use Feb. 11 to promote Nunavut 211 helpline

Today is National 211 Day.

Organizers are using the day to promote the national 211 phone line, which people can use to get information about how to gain access to a broad range of services.

Though it hasn’t been widely publicized, the 211 service has been available in Nunavut and the other two territories since last October.

Any Nunavut resident can now dial 2-1-1 to find information and get referrals to a wide variety of social services ranging from mental health to finding a job.

Because the 211 service is aimed at steering people in the right direction, the people who answer the phone for them are called “call navigators.”

“I’m very impressed with their knowledge and care and the way they answer the phone,” Sheila Levy of the Kamatsiaqtut Nunavut Helpline said in an interview.

Levy helped start Kamatsiaqtut in 1989 in response to the growing suicide crisis in the Baffin region.

She then spent many years volunteering for Kamatsiaqtut, which is now available 24-7 throughout Nunavut, Nunavik and across Canada via 1-800-265-3333.

The Nunavut 211 line, however, operates separately from Kamatsiaqtut and has a different focus, because it’s for people who want referrals to various social services.

But Levy said Kamatsiaqtut helped the Nunavut 211 service get started and lets them use one of their rooms.

“I truly support it and I think it really complements what we offer,” she said.

The first 211 service started in Toronto in 2002, and then spread to more cities and provinces.

It became available in Nunavut last October, with the help of COVID-19 response money from the federal government that flowed into United Way Centraide Canada, a coalition of charitable organizations.

For more information about Nunavut 211, you can go to its Facebook page.

For now, Nunavut 211 is available in English, but their staff are able to arrange Inuktitut interpretation.

211FactSheet National Nunavut by NunatsiaqNews