Sally Ann sets up shop in Iqaluit

DENISE RIDEOUT

The Salvation Army, known worldwide for its kindness to the down-and-out, wants to lend a helping hand to Iqaluit.

The group has officially set up shop in the capital city, marking the Salvation Army’s first foray into Nunavut.

In other cities, the Salvation Army takes on a host of tasks, from opening thrift shops for the needy to running homeless shelters and counselling drug and alcohol addicts. Oftentimes, they set up churches as well.

But what role they’ll play in Iqaluit will be up to Iqaluit residents.

“We didn’t come here with a set mandate,” said Joyce Jones, who with her husband Garry, are running the Iqaluit branch of the Salvation Army.

Instead, the Joneses will live in the community, get a sense of the social problems, and ask Iqalungmiut about what programs and services they want.

“We’re here to listen and to evaluate,” Garry said.

To get a better picture, Garry attended a public meeting two weeks ago that highlighted the need for a referral centre in the city.

“When there are meetings, we’ll go and listen. Then we’ll offer our services to help out,” Garry explained.

Over the next months, their role in Iqaluit will become clearer, they said.

“We want to see the needs and be useful to the community,” Joyce said, sitting in the freshly painted living room of the building, house 428, that the Salvation Army’s headquarters purchased for them.

The building will serve as the couple’s home and the Army’s office in Iqaluit.

Whether the Salvation Army will establish a church here is also up in the air.

It’s not something the Joneses will be working on anytime soon. But that doesn’t mean it won’t happen. “There’s no point in saying there won’t be a church set up. It might come in 10 years’ or in five years’ time,” Joyce said.

Bringing the Salvation Army to Nunavut has taken a lot longer than the Joneses expected.

About 10 years ago the Salvation Army’s Northwest Territories-Alberta branch discussed the idea of having a greater presence in the North.

When the Joneses heard the word ‘North’ they both jumped at the chance. “It was planted in our hearts to come to Iqaluit,” Joyce said.

Alan Hoeft, the executive director of the Salvation Army centre in Yellowknife, helped make that happen. The Yellowknife centre has a close connection with Nunavut, since many of its clients are Inuit.

In the last three years, Hoeft visted Iqaluit several times to rally support to bring the Salvation Army here. He, Garry, and two other Salvation Army members travelled to Iqaluit in March to see if there was a need to set up a branch.

The group met with the RCMP, the mayor and clergy from all of Iqaluit’s churches. The response was a welcoming one, Garry said.

“Everybody said ‘We’d like to have you, but make sure you stay. Don’t come for the short haul. Come and listen,’” he said.

And the Joneses are committed to the community. They’ve signed on for five years. Once they leave, the Salvation Army is expected to bring in new employees.

Before moving to Iqaluit this fall, the Joneses had worked in a host of cities. They spent six years in Yellowknife, working in the corrections field. In Edmonton, where they were for four years, the couple helped run a residential centre.