‘What they wanted to see’: Rankin Inlet elder facility to welcome 22 residents in April
Territorial leaders, elders mark construction completion of 24-bed elder facility in Rankin Inlet
Rankin Inlet elder Maryanne Tattuinee, 89, and Nunavut MP Lori Idlout tour one of the rooms of the newly built 24-bed Rankin Inlet elder facility on Jan. 14. (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)
Nunavut elders living in southern care facilities will soon come home.
“We won’t need to go to Ottawa to see our loved ones,” Rankin Inlet Mayor Harry Towtongie said in his remarks at a ceremony Tuesday commemorating completion of the community’s long-term-care facility.
It was attended by about 70 people, including territorial leaders and elders.
In April, 22 elders, most of whom currently reside at Embassy West Senior Living centre in Ottawa, will move to the newly completed 24-bed facility in Rankin Inlet, Health Minister John Main said in an interview.
The two remaining beds will be reserved for palliative care.
There are currently more than 70 elders who live in long-term-care facilities outside the territory, Main said.
Towtongie’s older brother and aunt are two of them, living at the Embassy West facility in Ottawa.
“It’s really hard not being able to see them more often,” he said.
Towtongie added that even though the Government of Nunavut gives financial support to Nunavummiut visiting their elders in the south, there are limitations for the number of visitors and it’s hard to travel all the way from the Kivalliq Region to Ottawa.

A sealskin ribbon-cutting ceremony commemorates the completion of construction of the 24-bed elder facility in Rankin Inlet. (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)
The Rankin Inlet project was first approved by the Government of Nunavut in 2019 as part of a goal to offer 156 extended-care beds to elders in the territory by 2030 — 24 beds in the Kivalliq, 24 beds in the Kitikmeot Region and 108 beds for Iqaluit.
The federal government contributed $25 million to the cost of the $59.4-million project.
The government is still planning construction of 24- and 48-bed facilities in Cambridge Bay and Iqaluit. The lots have been secured, but there is no timeline for the projects yet, Main said.
Tuesday’s celebration at the Rankin Inlet facility started with a prayer and lighting of the qulliq, followed by speeches by Towtongie, Main, Community and Government Services Minister David Joanasie, Minister of Finance Lorne Kusugak, Rankin Inlet North-Chesterfield Inlet MLA Alexander Sammurtok, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. president Jeremy Tunraluk and Kivalliq Inuit Association president Kono Tattuinee.
After that, the officials and elders went on a tour of the facility.
Tattuinee’s mother, 89-year-old elder Maryanne Tattuinee, was one of the visitors. He said that even though she might not get the chance to live at the centre, she was still baffled to see such a building in her home community.
The facility has two identical wings that boast single bedrooms with bathrooms. There are gathering areas, a hair salon, a ventilated room for carving, and a prayer hall. Most of the surfaces are made of antibacterial material.
A council of elders helped with the design of the building.
“You see what they wanted to see,” Main said.
“It’s mind-blowing,” Kono Tattuinee said several times during the tour.
The centre was originally set for completion in 2023, and was a response to government’s assessment that the “continuing-care system in Nunavut is beyond capacity and does not meet the needs of Nunavummiut,” according to the GN’s planning document.
It was pushed to 2024 because of payment issues between the project’s contractor and subcontractor.
Sakku Investments Corp. and Embassy West Senior Living received a $150-million 10-year contract to jointly oversee the facility. The contract will be worth $15 million per year.
The companies now have until April to kick off operations, including training of 40 to 50 full-time staff, said Stephen Jackson, home and continuing care director for the Department of Health.
Look… I really support this, a lot. I truly do.
But… $15 million per year to care for 22 Elders? When the contractor doesn’t even own the building? That’s $680,000 per year to care for each Elder, which again, does not include the $60 million cost of the building itself. When you factor in building useful life/depreciation, you’re now up to $750,000 per year per Elder.
And up to 50 full-time staff? That’s an average of over 10 staff on-the-job 24 hours per day year-round, even taking into account vacation time. Seems like a bit much. BC’s suggested nurse-to-patient ratio for palliative care (high level of care) is 1:3, which would be about 7 staff during the day, but I can’t imagine they’d need half that many during the night.
If you had 7 staff for 16 hours a day, and 3 staff covering 8 hours a day, that’s 136 hours a day, or 49,640 hours per year.
If you figure each staff is on a 1950 hour schedule, but has 20 vacation days and 11 stat holidays, then it’s really about 1700 hours per year.
49,640 hours required per year divided by 1700 hours per year per employee is 29.2 employees.
How do you get to 50?
So here’s my proposal… For every family with an Elder that needs Continuing Care, offer them $350,000 per year to take care of them in their own home. It could save $8,880,000 versus this facility of 22 Elders. Then use some of that money to hire 7 nurses in the community that are specifically for visiting those Elders on a regular and as-needed basis.
Can you take care of a dementia person or someone with Alzheimer’s ? If they gave the money to the families to take care of such elder. No one will help until the money is gone. Get ur head out of the snow.
I don’t know, but what I do know is that with all the money saved, we could potentially pay our teachers better, attract new ones, and train the next generations so we can deliver quality services locally, without constantly relying on importing workers and the associated costs from the south.
They’re going to train 40 to 50 full-time staff. Just like the boarding home in Iqaluit, there is no way they will ever need to hire southerners to work here. None.
I see your sarcasm 867.
The Iqaluit Boarding Home used to be locally managed with 100% Inuit staff
Now it is remotely managed with 100% fly in staff.
This model of “care” is so colonial and disrespectfully
I’d be amazed if the remotely managed Rankin facility doesn’t go the same way. Let’s wait and see.
Hire 22 nurses then, 1 dedicated nurse per Elder. Still adds up to less than the remaining $8,800,000.
I don’t think you can approach your concern with the help of a calculator. The contract to oversee the new facility possibly includes all HR functions as well. This would mean the hiring of Nurses, Continuing Care Assistants, Cooks, Custodian, Doctor (???), Drivers, Receptionists, etc. The maintenance of the building will remain within the responsibility of CGS (God help us).
If all the above would be true, just add the annual pay for fifty staff.
The only concern I have is the size of the building, or more specific the number of rooms. Just like the Nunavut 3000 project, we won’t have enough CCC rooms, or houses by the time the upcoming constructions are completed.
Your analysis is poorly thought out. You have made the assumption that those 50 people are only doing patient care. That 50 people also includes people to run the facility form caretakers, cooks, program people, etc. Open your eyes and not your mouth before complaining.
So you need an extra 20 staff to be caretakers, cooks, and program people for 22 people? You’re really totally ok saying that you need 50 people to take care of 22 people?
You Trolls and keyboard Warriors making these stupid dumb comments about this Elders facility should hang your heads in shame. The population is aging everywhere in Canada and it could be one or both of your parents in one of these facility’s. And then you would not be doing math but crying about this place , Shame , Shame
I hope for the best for this elders facility, I really do. But let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Staffing is extremely challenging in Nunavut. So no, I do not wish for my parent to be in this facility. If this facility in Rankin is staffed adequately and appropriately, most definitely I’d like my parents to be there.
What does adequately and appropriately mean to you?
Thinking Inside the Box asks some worthwhile questions. After expressing affection and support for those receiving care they prompt us to ask if this is a sustainable model and if there are other options that would involve family and keep people closer to home. What we see is less than 1% of the Elder population in institutional levels of care and more than 99% unimpacted by these expenditures.
Every model needs development and discussion, as does the option they present. It is worth asking what our options for Elder care are Nunavut wide and if this approach is sustainable for people across our communities.
What does the government envision for the 99% of elders who are not receiving this “care”?. Even with the new beds proposed, can we truly say that “Nunavut elders living in southern care facilities will soon come home?”. Some will, and that is good news, but it does not amount to a territorial wide sustainable approach to supporting and respecting elders to age in place.
The costs they point out for the numbers involved do lead us to ask if continuing this approach is a rational policy choice that sustains all Nunavut Elders, or if we showcasing our affection while turning a blind eye to the needs of many.
Thanks Anne.
I don’t consider myself a troll or keyboard warrior as Sam disparaged. But I do like to ask questions and try to think about the “best” way for governments to operate. As Sam also said, “[t]he population is aging everywhere in Canada”. Can we afford to pay over $750,000 to take care of each Elder?
Not only that, but these Elders’ facilities in Iqaluit, Rankin, and Cambridge are only going to “bring home” Elders from 3 communities. There’s still 22 communities which will not have their Elders taken care of in their home communities.
At a rate of $750,000 per Elder, to reach the stated goal of 156 extended care beds it will cost $117,000,000 per year, again serving only 3 communities. I feel like there’s a better way to do this, and when you consider the size of many communities and family connections in the territory, involving family could be the best way.
They’re spending $2.5 million per bed on the facility, and then $625,000 per year for care. What if they worked with NHC to provide Family Care Houses, which would be like a 3 or 4 bedroom house that had a separate bedroom, bathroom, and living area for the Elder. They could hire dedicated Elder care nurses/PSWs in each community to help care for the Elders during the days and provide respite care, and still provide each family with a significant stipend.
This seems to me like a good way to provide for aging in place, aging with dignity, and keeping families together.
As you suggest – the approach of supporting families and communities to assist elders to age in place in all Nunavut communities is well worth considering. These discussions will lead to better options. Don’t take the naysayers to heart, keep asking questions.
I agree, you are asking good questions that deserve to be asked, and to be answered.