UPDATED: Unhoused people displaced following fire at Labrador Inn

Approximately two dozen unhoused people displaced by a fire at the Labrador Inn in Happy Valley-Goose Bay have received emergency shelter at the Salvation Army, which local MHA Perry Trimper said has provided accommodations at their church.

“Everybody’s safe and comfortable,” said Trimper, adding he expects the situation to be resolved within a matter of days.

An interior fire at the Labrador Inn Wednesday morning forced emergency crews to evacuate the hotel and homeless shelter. At 10:35 a.m. Happy Valley-Goose Bay firefighters responded to a call at the Inn and arrived within four minutes. According to Fire Chief Brad Butler, the fire damaged a couple of bathrooms and the hotel’s kitchen area but not the residential area. “Nobody was injured; it was a quick knock-down by the fire department,” Butler said. “[The fire] was in behind walls. We had to rip walls and ceiling out,” he said, adding his firefighters “did a good job, and [the fire] didn’t extend too far.”

Butler said the building was evacuated as the firefighters spent an hour and a half battling the blaze, and that the building’s power was cut and had not yet been restored. Despite the rooms being unscathed, Butler estimated that more than 20 residents would need emergency shelter for at least one night. “They didn’t give me an exact number [of residents effected], but there was no one left in the building when we did the first sweep to make sure everyone was out.”

The fire chief wouldn’t speculate on the cause of the fire, noting that the RCMP and Fire Emergency Services are investigating.

The Labrador Inn has operated in Happy Valley-Goose Bay for decades. For most of it’s existence it operated as a typical hotel, but in recent years it has transitioned into a provincially-funded homeless shelter to alleviate demand on the local shelter. The Inn has been in the news several times over the years and has generated some controversy. In January of 2022 a young Innu woman, Frederica Benuen, froze to death just outside the building.

• Related: Listen to episode 8 of Lock & Key, The Independent’s limited series podcast. In Nunatsiavut Housing Crisis & the “Heart of Labrador,” Justin Brake spends a few nights at the Labrador Inn to meet folks staying there and learn more about the circumstances leading to homelessness in Labrador.

According to a 2023 CBC story, the province was paying huge sums to the Inn to provide shelter and meals to those in need. In 2022-23, the government spent $1.3 million in just nine months. It’s a temporary solution until the province can build a new integrated health, housing, treatment and supportive services hub. The controversial and much-debated facility will soon be ready to tender, Trimper said Wednesday. The $30-million facility will provide emergency and transitional housing to vulnerable people, along with much-needed supports.

“It will be a very expensive, well-designed, low-barrier welcoming shelter for those who are dealing with addictions and homelessness, [as well as] transitional housing for folks being released from incarceration.” Last November, Trimper told The Independent he hoped the facility would be built in 2025, but now says he expects it will be at least two years after the tender is awarded before the facility will be constructed and ready to open.

Editor’s Note: The story was updated on Jan. 22 at 10:23 p.m. NST to include information and comments from Lake Melville MHA Perry Trimper.