NU Healing: Empowering the Margin(alized)

Abstract

The correctional system in Nunavut ignores the systemic social dysfunction underlying criminality in the Territory that has been the result of several generations of social and cultural displacement. As a physical manifestation of antiquated ideals, correctional facilities perpetuate colonial policies of cultural assimilation while further exacerbating problems of mental health, substance abuse and violence. As a social, cultural and political act, architecture has the capacity to critique the status quo while imagining the social, cultural and political context of a future that would support the realization of a new architectural type. “NU Healing: Empowering the Margin(alized)” represents an alternative that challenges the colonial policies inherent in Nunavut’s correctional system and recognizes the transformative power of architecture to inspire enhanced social value and community infrastructure in a climate of cultural resilience.