Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I wish to reflect on the 2023 evacuations and the lessons we need to learn about the importance of a harm reduction approach for the most vulnerable Members of our communities. I poach from an open letter that was sent in the aftermath of the Yellowknife evacuation from the board of the Yellowknife Women's Society which runs the women's shelter and transitional housing programs. The letter acknowledges that we may have sent people away from the threat of fires, but we sent them straight into the path of other harms. Many shelter users were flown out on their own and placed in hotel rooms scattered around Calgary or Edmonton with very limited health and wellness supports. Many were evicted from those hotels early on and wound up on the streets of southern cities and were denied a second chance for safe shelter.
By the end of August, in Calgary alone 58 people from the NWT had spent at least one night in a downtown shelter. Many experienced assaults, overdoses, and suffered various traumas. In contrast, some vulnerable groups such as seniors in longterm care, youth from Home Base Yellowknife, and transitional housing residents, were supported to evacuate all together to dedicated facilities, and here we see some important success stories.
At a camp north of Fort McMurray, women's society staff along with outreach nurses provided 24/7 wraparound supports to a group of 47 service users. And to quote from the letter, "some participants chose to come and go from the facility sometimes to use drugs or consume alcohol. Whatever their choice is, they were met with judgementfree support and able to return to the safe environment of the facility when they chose."
This is the kind of approach, Mr. Speaker, that we need to take to address the ongoing emergency that is homelessness in the North, which has gotten significantly worse since last year's displacements. We need to provide supportive living facilities that meet people wherever they're at and help stabilize their lives amidst addictions or other challenges that they're facing.
The women's society board of directors expressed to its participants and staff its, and I quote, "its deep and profound sorrow and regret for not being more prepared to weather this storm with you. We believe in accountability for our own actions. We take these organizational failures seriously and vow to do better. We make this apology in the hope that other community leaders will also humbly identify where they have fallen short so that we can all learn and improve from one another." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member. Members' statements. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
