Iqaluit's shelter, home to many for the holidays

It may not be the first choice to stay during the holidays but for the clients who rely on the Uquutaqmen's shelter in Iqaluit, it's the only option.

The shelter is hosting a Christmas lunch on Dec. 25 for its clientele, sponsored in part by donations from the City of Iqaluit and a plane-load of food delivered by Viking Air Limited.

That delivery wasshared among the men's and women's shelters along with the Food Centre, which is hosting aturkey dinner on Christmas Eve.

"I have the pleasure of giving the food back to the community. To me it's like Christmas all year round," said Doug Cox, the executive director of the Uquutaq shelter.

At Christmaslike the rest of the year the shelteris full. It has 22 beds but often sleeps more, feeding up to 30 men for breakfast and dinner.

"For some of them it's not really a homeless shelter. This is their home. Their mail comes here, their phone calls come here. They have foot lockers, they live here," Cox said.

For the past two years since the death of his mother, it's been that way for Kakasik Robbie Mikkijak.

"I don't want to spend time with family right now because they have kids to feed so I'm staying at the shelter for now," he said.

When he's not spending his nights sleeping there,the 28-year-old stays at a friend's place or ends up sleeping in porches.

"When I was a kid I used to spend a lot of time with family for Christmas,"Mikkijak said. "It's not the same anymore."

But hedoesplanon visiting his family for Christmas dinner.

Temporary home

The shelter is home to a number of other long-term residents who have family in Iqaluit but they have no room to house them, said Cox.

As a result, they end up staying for prolonged periods of time while waiting for a place of their own.

"I think probably one of the advantages of people being in the same shelter so long together, they form their own kind of family amongst themselves," Cox said.

"It's not a bad place to be in. Everybody realizes that they shouldn't be ashamed to be homeless becausetechnically they're home when they're here." Especially atChristmas.