February 16, 2021
By reception_isuarsivik

The COVID-19 vaccination campaign is well on its way across Nunavik. The Isuarsivik Regional Recovery Centre is thus patiently and eagerly awaiting the regional and municipal decisions to reopen the construction season in Kuujjuaq this summer. The contractor, Les Constructions Pépin et Fortin Inc., who was awarded the contract for the construction of the main building in April 2020, was able to ship certain materials and equipment required for the construction of the new facility last summer. In fact, all our teams are ready and excited to finally begin the work as soon as the warmer season sets in. The beginning of the new facility’s construction in 2021 will allow the organization to move into the new facility in the fall 2022 and welcome its first guests in 2023.

The construction of a new recovery centre in Kuujjuaq is a fully funded $40.6M project. It will enable the organization to triple its hosting capacity and include new and much-needed services, such as a family healing program and services for pregnant women.

The construction of the main facility was set to start in the summer of 2020, but the municipality of Kuujjuaq decided to delay all major construction projects due to COVID. The postponement of Isuarsivik’s project impacted the construction cost of the main facility and remaining eight housing units to lodge staff.

The most recent estimate assessed the additional costs related to the postponement and increased sanitary measures at $1.6M over the original construction budget. Isuarsivik has secured half of this amount already thanks to additional contributions from regional and federal partners. Amongst them, Indigenous Services Canada confirmed an extra contribution of $500,000 to the $6M already allocated for the construction project.

We are awaiting responses from the Government of Quebec and Makivik Corporation in the coming weeks regarding requests we have made to obtain more funding.

We expect to confirm shortly the full amount needed to cover the cost increase linked to the one-year postponement of the construction project.

Categories: News