We reached out to the current Executive Director of Ilisaqsivik Society to provide details on what Ilisaqsivik is and how it benefits the community. Please see the disclaimer at the end of this text.

The people of Clyde River saw deep and unanswered needs in our community. Needs for better health, for cultural connection, for skills development, for access to all of the things that allow a person to live a full life. Ilisaqsivik was created because we decided to start helping each other instead of waiting for help.

Ilisaqsivik grew from the ground up. Whatever our community’s need, we would work to fulfil it, and we would build each program in a way that works for the people. This has led us to create everything from a library to a school breakfast program, from Inuktitut-language counselling to a Heritage and Research Centre.

Ilisaqsivik is Inuit community-building, starting with each person. In helping each other, we are finding ourselves. We are reconciling the past with the present and with what’s ahead. Our communities will be places where Inuit can decide their path and travel it.

Today, Ilisaqsivik’s wide-ranging services defy convention and reach beyond Clyde River. Because, of course, our community’s needs are shared by many other Inuit communities.  We build partnerships, and programs that will increase access to wellbeing and personal potential across Nunavut.

 

*Disclaimer – All views presented above are the views of the author and not connected with anyone representing the Municipality of Clyde River.

Naujaaraaluit Hotel 

Naujaaraaluit is our new 8-suite hotel in Clyde River, and an ambitious example of our social-enterprise funding approach. The positive impacts of the hotel are three-fold: income from the hotel helps fund Ilisaqsivik’s programming, the hotel answers the community’s critical need to accommodate visiting workers, experts, program-participants, and guests, and the hotel’s operations create opportunities for skills training and employment of community-members. Naujaaraaluit is named after the cliff that rises over the bay in Clyde River.