Scratching the surface

The town of Kimmirut shut down last Thursday. The streets were empty and the offices were bare. Just about everyone was at the community’s new Tasilik Arena, for a celebration to mark its opening.

Almost 18 years after the arena was identified as a priority, it is finally completed and ready for a rousing game of hockey.

Pitsiula Ikkidluak, the town’s recreation co-ordinator, was busy rushing around the heated lobby of the 85-metre rink and making sure festivities were running according to plan.

“It’s a tad smaller, about 10 to 20 feet smaller, than Iqaluit’s old arena,” he says. “We used Plexiglas for the boards, not like other communities where they might have the cage.”

Located a short drive from the centre of town, the million-dollar arena sports two heated change rooms, a canteen, washrooms and a natural ice surface. In the summer it can be used for music festivals, and even indoor soccer.

Construction began in June, with funding from the department of community government and transportation.

Today, community members sweep frost from the floor with oversized brooms. Children run back and forth, some hanging from railings, others trailing pink balloons with an image of the arena on them.

“You’re going to skate in there in a few years, Nathan,” one woman tells her young son as he stares out onto the ice.

Elders sit quietly in the bleachers, watching the action. Some stand, noses pressed to the plexiglas, watching the hockey game.

James Judea, 25, says the ice could be a little better, but he’s glad the arena is open and he thinks it will be good for the community.

“It’s another place to go,” he says. Judea plays hockey and says he and his friends couldn’t wait for the arena to open.

Kimmirut was one of the last communities in Nunavut to receive funding for an arena. With a population approaching 500 and a no drop-in centre (the only one in the area closed recently), the only recreational space for youth was in the Akavak Centre’s gymnasium.

Giving youth more options for spending their free time is seen by many as a way to keep them focused and engaged in healthy activities. After several years with no problems, two teens committed suicide in the community last spring.

Health and Social Services Minister Ed Picco was at the arena’s opening and even participated in a hockey game pitting MLAs against locals. (Team Kimmirut won handily.)

“Kimmirut has always had an excellent reputation for being a really close-knit community. Once recreational activities are carried out and planned, the facility will play a major part and give a sense of well being to the community. That’s an intangible you can’t put your finger on,” he says.

“It gives them a chance to get involved in team sports, not just for boys but for girls, too. It also gives pride to the community.”

Seventeen-year-old Cynthia Pitsulak says her life as a teen in Kimmirut is pretty good, but it can get boring. The new arena gives her and her friends somewhere else to go have fun.

“I love playing hockey,” she says, explaining she has played floor hockey in the gym for years. “If there was a hockey league here, I’d want to be captain.”