IQALUIT — Two inmates enjoyed about 90 minutes of freedom on Iqaluit’s streets last week

MONTREAL — The mice seem to have abandoned the Inuit boarding home in Winnipeg, but the complaints live on.

Last year some mice were spotted at the boarding home.

According to its minority owner Tony Chang, exterminators have quashed the rodent problem there — at least for now.

“Basically there are mice in Winnipeg,” Chang said. “The mice didn’t come in when we took over.”

But even though the mice are gone, discussion about the boarding home resurfaced during the current session of the legislature.

“I hear there is a lot of dissatisfaction from the patients who still go down to Winnipeg, and it has deteriorated quite rapidly,” said Nanulik MLA James Arvaluk.

The facility, an older building in a decaying part of town, has been serving patients from the Kivalliq for more than 30 years.

In 1999, a joint venture company between Chang and Rankin Inlet businessman Lorne Kusugak, called the Kivalliq Development Corporation, received a service contract to run the boarding home.

They promised to make it a better place to stay, with more Inuit staff and more country foods.

Since then, Chang said management has made the boarding home a safer, more Inuit-friendly place. Last year residents ate more than 2,000 pounds each of caribou and char, and, according to Chang, a zero-tolerance policy on drugs and alcohol is strictly enforced.

Recently, however, his partner Kusugak sold his share to the Nunasi and Sakku development corporations, which now hold the majority ownership in the boarding home.

Chang insisted this changeover won’t alter the level of service.

What he and the new owners can’t do is make the building new.

“We can only clean so much,” Chang said. “It’s clean, it’s not dirty, but it looks as if it’s dirty.”

Chang said most of the complaints about the residence come from those who don’t like the strict no-booze or drugs policy.

“We moved the standard up, so the people expect more,” Chang said.

Chang said what’s really needed is a new facility, “the sooner the better.” In fact, a lot has already been bought for this purpose. All it will take now is a long-term government service contract.

Nunavut’s health minister Ed Picco also acknowledged concerns about the boarding home in the legislature.

“I think it’s fair to say that it is an older facility. We’ve had complaints, we’ve done our review of the facility there, we’ve actually done a review with the patients, we’ve talked to them, we’ve done a survey with them on the quality, of the control of the standards that are in place,” Picco said.

And the boarding home passed review.

Picco wouldn’t rule out support for a new boarding home, but he’s not in a hurry.

“You can’t rush these kinds of decisions,” Picco said.

The number of patients travelling to Winnipeg for medical treatment is expected to shrink after the proposed Rankin Inlet health centre is built — one of the financial arguments in favour of building the new regional facility.