Inuvik's John Wayne Kiktorak Centre (JWKC) will receive half of what it did last year from the Government of the Northwest Territories' (GNWT) anti-poverty fund.
Samantha McKay/NNSL photo
Centre manager Joey Amos said the emergency warming shelter will receive $50,000 from the fund. Last year, the centre received $100,000.
"We applied for the funding last year, and they gave us $100,000," said Amos. "We didn't apply for a set amount this year. We gave them our budget of what we think it would cost for a year of operations, which is quite high, and we ended up getting $50,000."
Amos said this year's money will go towards the same things it did last year – paying staff and buying food and supplies, which are the centre's biggest costs.
He said the JWKC will be impacted by the reduced funding.
"Without that funding, we probably couldn't have continued running past March this year," he said.
The centre applied for one other source of funding, but has yet to hear if it will be awarded. He said he hopes the funding will make up for the reductions to the anti-poverty funding.
"I'm hoping that we'll get the funding so we'll be able to put people back to work and keep people off the streets," Amos said. "I really want to thank the community and the different levels of government for their support, but we just hope that it will be enough to provide our services."
As it stands, he thinks the centre will be able to open for the winter months, but until they hear back about the other funding, he can't say how early the centre will open in the fall or how late it will stay open in the spring.
Damien Healy is the spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Services, which awards the anti-poverty funding.
He said 43 projects in the territory shared the $1 million anti-poverty fund money.
"There's a committee that reviews all of the projects, and there's a limit to the funds that go around, so it was a direction from the committee on how they allocate the funding for all of the projects received," Healy said. "They have to weigh what comes in with the allotted money, so that's where the decision came for that."
The Inuvik Native Band (INB) was also awarded money from the anti-poverty fund.
Edward Wright, manager of the INB, said they received $7,000 from the fund, which is half of what they applied for.
"They appear to be spreading it out a lot more evenly, and everyone who applied is getting reductions," said Wright.
The INB will be working in partnership with Children First Society to supplement and engage the society's programming and provide culturally related support. The money will also go towards developing an outdoor space between the INB building and the society's building.
"We're going to try to create a bit of a garden, relaxation area for the children," said Wright.
He added that it is the first time the INB has applied for the anti-poverty funding.
The anti-poverty fund aims to support initiatives in the territory that reduce poverty.
Five other organizations in Inuvik receiving money from the fund are Ingamo Hall Friendship Centre, the Inuvik Youth Centre Society, the Gwich'in Tribal Council, the Inuvik Community Corporation and the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation.