North’It is all about the elders and they’re the focus,’ said Nunavut’s Health Minister, after officials broke ground in Cambridge Bay last week for the new 24-bed facility slated to help elders age in place.Facility in Cambridge Bay will reflect Inuit culture, but Health Minister mum on its costCBC News · Posted: Sep 08, 2025 5:57 PM EDT | Last Updated: 8 hours ago’It is all about the elders and they’re the focus,’ said John Main, Nunavut’s Health Minister, seen here in 2024. (Government of Nunavut)Nunavut’s health minister said he expects a new long-term care facility in Cambridge Bay will be ready to welcome residents starting in fall 2028 if everything goes according to plan. Health Minister John Main was part of a group of people that travelled to Cambridge Bay Friday to participate in a groundbreaking ceremony for the new 24-bed facility intended to help elders age in place. The long-term care home will serve elders in need of care, families who can visit loved-ones, businesses with employment opportunities and students with learning opportunities, the government says.”It is all about the elders and they’re the focus and they’re the whole reason for the facility, but the facility will benefit Cambridge Bay and benefit the Kitikmeot in other ways as well,” Main said. Despite Friday’s ceremony breaking ground, Main said the project is still in the design phase, something that’s been ongoing since 2019. That will be followed by a tendering process and then construction. Officials held a groundbreaking ceremony in Cambridge Bay on Friday for a new 24-bed facility intended to help elders from the region age in place. The building’s design has not yet been finalized. (Government of Nunavut)”We’re anticipating that it’s going to result in a beautiful facility that will allow us to provide a higher level of care than we can currently in the region,” he said. After community consultations on what the facility should be like, Main said the focus is on reflecting Inuit culture. He said he hopes to have Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun spoken as much as possible and to have Inuit food and Inuit cultural activities on offer for residents. “Our intention is not just that it’ll be a cookie-cutter [design] like the facility in Ottawa or like a facility in Yellowknife. It’ll be grounded in Inuit culture,” Main said. Since the construction contract hasn’t yet been awarded, Main told CBC News it would be too soon to say how much the facility will cost. But, he said, the cost will be significant. “These are not simple facilities to build. It’s much similar to building a hospital in many ways, in terms of the mechanical needs, the ventilation needs, the specifications that have to be met to this type of facility — so they’re not cheap, but we believe it’s money well spent,” Main said. MLAs try to probe costsOn Monday, the first day of the Government of Nunavut’s last sitting before the election, two MLAs also tried to find out how much the new facility would cost.Iqaluit-Tasiluk MLA George Hickes asked for dollar estimates, but Main said all the information was in the government’s news release issued on Friday. The release did not put a price tag on the new facility, saying only that the federal government would be helping with funding.Arviat South MLA Joe Savikataaq took a different approach, asking for the percentages of how funding would be split.Again, Main refused to give any information.Savikataaq then accused the government of staging a “photo op” without securing the capital funds needed for construction, which Main disputed.”One person’s photo op is another person’s accessible and transparent government,” said Main. Savikataaq told reporters after the session that the practice of holding a public announcement or ceremony without the funds needed to secure the project’s future is uncommon.Main declined to speak to reporters immediately after Monday’s session. With files from Mah Noor Mubarik and TJ Dhir
New long-term care home in Kitikmeot to open by fall 2028, says Nunavut minister
