Uquutaq Society's low-barrier shelter expansion slated to open in Iqaluit in July 2026
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A project to create more space for the unhoused of Iqaluit is set to open in July 2026.
Uquutaq Society's new low-barrier shelter, where clients don't need to be sober, will have three floors with 44 beds of emergency shelter, 13 transitional housing rooms, a warming centre, as well as a kitchen and dining room to feed clients.
With construction underway, the non-profit's interim executive director Laurel McCorriston says it's amazing to see the project come together.
"It's quite shocking to have it live in your imagination all this time and then to see it start to materialize," McCorriston said.
"I get goosebumps every time I go and see it."
The building is going up by the QuickStop and KFC and the exterior is set to be complete by the time the snow flies, with work continuing on the interior next summer.
The Uquutaq Society's current low-barrier shelter near the hospital offers 17 cots and programming from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., as opposed to the 24-hour service Uquutaq will offer at the new building.
The current shelter is owned by the Nunavut government and McCorriston said it's slated for demolition.
The project has been a long time in the making, since an expansion fell through in 2021 after the organization did not get enough funding from the territory. McCorriston says that as the city grows, the need for services in the capital is also growing.
"As people come in from smaller communities, they're looking for work, they're looking for housing, they're joining family. They come here for medical, they don't go back; they're discharged from the justice system and they stay here," she said.
"And so between the growth of the people who live here now, and immigration into Iqaluit, there's just going to be more and more need for this kind of service."
The need is already significant, she said, with the current shelter turning away about 50 people a month.
McCorriston says talking to people on the street in Iqaluit, she's hearing the city's homeless population say they're excited for the new shelter too.
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Each Private Placement Warrant entitles the holder to acquire one Common Share at a price of $0.95 for a period of twenty-four months from the date of issuance, subject to certain acceleration provisions. The acquiror acquired, indirectly through 1189115 B.C. LTD. 298,507 Units (comprised of 298,507 Common Shares and 149,253 Warrants) under the Private Placement. Article content Immediately prior to the Private Placement, the acquiror owned, directly and indirectly, and exercised control over 33,730,573 Common Shares and 493,108 Options, representing 43.9% of ZYUS's issued and outstanding Common Shares on an undiluted basis and 44.3% of ZYUS's issued and outstanding Common Shares on a partially diluted basis (assuming full exercise of all of the convertible securities held by the acquiror). 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Article content Since the completion of the acquisition of ZYUS Life Sciences Inc. by ZYUS in June 2023, the acquiror's securityholding percentage on a partially diluted basis has decreased from 50.5% to his securityholding percentage immediately prior to the Private Placement as a result of certain transactions and events, including the two following transactions which resulted in each case in a decrease in the acquiror's securityholding percentage by 2% or more since the prior event: (i) on July 31, 2024, the acquiror, disposed of 470,000 Common Shares held by 102042227 Saskatchewan Ltd. (' 102 Sask '), an entity controlled by the acquiror to in satisfaction of payments due in the aggregate amount of $432,400 (the ' July 2024 Event '); and (ii) on September 4, 2024,14,088 Warrants with an exercise price of $3.55 per Common Share previously issued to 102 Sask on March 4, 2022 expired unexercised (the ' September 2024 Event '). 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Immediately following the July 2024 Event, the acquiror's securityholding percentage has decreased by 1.7% on an undiluted basis from the acquiror's securityholding percentage as at June 13, 2023 as disclosed in the 2023 EWR and has decreased by 2.3% on a partially diluted basis from the acquior's securityholding percentage as at June 13, 2023 (which was 50.5%). Immediately prior to the September 2024 Event, the acquiror owned, directly and indirectly, and exercised control over 33,703,073 Common Shares, 292,933 Warrants and 493,108 Options, representing 45.3% of ZYUS's issued and outstanding Common Shares on an undiluted basis and 45.9% of ZYUS's issued and outstanding Common Shares on a partially diluted basis. 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The acquiror may, from time to time and at any time, acquire additional securities of ZYUS in the open market or otherwise, and may dispose of any or all of securities of ZYUS in the open market or otherwise at any time and from time to time, and to engage in similar transactions with respect to the securities of ZYUS, the whole depending on market conditions, the business and prospects of ZYUS and other relevant factors. Article content Article content Article content Article content Article content
