With new youth centre in Kangiqsujuaq opening, there’s still work for Nunavik, director says

The Nunavik Youth Houses Association celebrated its 20th anniversary with the completion of a brand new youth centre in Kangiqsujuaq.

Nunavik Youth Houses Association director Tuniq Ningiuruvik says more funding and sponsors should come forward to help Nunavik create more youth houses. (Photo credit of Tuniq Ningiuruvik/Facebook)

Youth houses are “very important,” the association’s director general Tuniq Ningiuruvik said in an interview from his home in Quaqtaq.

The association was created by the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services to create youth houses and provide youth services across the region. 

“Youth don’t have a lot of places to go to. It is the arena and that’s about it,” Ningiuruvik said.

Youth houses are for children and teens between the ages of five and 19 who wish to do activities and hang out with friends, Ningiuruvik said.

Kangiqsujuaq hasn’t had a youth house since 2017 when a previous house, built in 2000, burned.

With $5.5 million from the Inuit Community Infrastructure Fund, the new youth centre promises a safe space for Nunavimmiut youth to do things such as on-the-land activities, games, outings, sports, and first-aid training.

“We have to think of the youth, especially in those smaller communities, who don’t have a lot going on and they tend to be doing things they should not be doing,” Ningiuruvik said.

He believes that these houses prevent vandalism, crime and drug abuse in the communities. 

The association intends to celebrate its 20th anniversary once the move into the Kangiqsujuaq house is complete and the new youth centre is up and running. That’s expected to take place by the end of the month.

There are 10 communities with active youth houses running in Nunavik. All of them have youth co-ordinators and staff who lead activities, he added.

The association’s goal is to train those younger employees to become community leaders themselves. The skills they acquire by organizing events and uniting the youth of their village help them become leaders.

“I want to see more youth becoming leaders,” Ningiuruvik said.

Four communities do not have active youth centres — Kuujjuaq, Kangiqsualujjuaq, Puvirnituq and Tasiujaq. 

Kuujjuaq is working on building a new youth centre, and a youth house association office is being built in Kangiqsualujjuaq, with construction to be completed by June, Ningiuruvik said.

Puvirnituq is also working on getting a new building, with construction expected to start this summer or next. 

Many of the youth houses also have aging infrastructure, including Salluit, Ivujivik, Quaqtaq, Tasiujaq and Kuujjuaraapik, with some of them being old nurse housing or churches from the 1970s. 

The Quaqtaq youth house is at risk of having water seep into it from the river.

“We were told we can use it until five years from now, we don’t have a lot of time,” Ningiuruvik said. 

Tasiujaq’s youth house closed due to asbestos, and Inukjuak’s has that problem as well, but remains open. 

The association is currently looking for more sponsors and funding to continue their efforts in building safe environments for Nunavik youth, Ningiuruvik said.