Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This winter is closing in on us very quickly and I want to revisit the subject of the Yellowknife downtown day shelter. This is a very important service and the people who are homeless out there need somewhere safe and warm to go. It may come to the Minister as news, as well as many Members of this House, but the fact is the shelter is not just about Yellowknife. Only a third of the people using the downtown day shelter call themselves Yellowknifers, then about half of the other people that attend the shelter identify themselves as from other communities, while the remaining small percent is made up of people from Nunavut as well as other places and provinces across Canada. Rather than just referring to it as the Yellowknife day shelter, it should truthfully be referred to as a territorial day shelter in the downtown of Yellowknife.
As many already know, as the winter months are fast approaching, we have at least 16 different individuals that attend the shelter every day, and with the existence of the shelter it has been a much needed respite on many of the problems in downtown, so malls, businesses, public libraries and even the hospital’s emergency room has been very thankful for this shelter and why it exists.
The shelter’s three-year contract, as we all know, is about to run out at the end of this fiscal year, so a lot of people are asking, what next? All Yellowknifers are waiting to hear the lead from the Health Minister to talk about the future of the new downtown day shelter.
What does the Minister envision for phase two of this particular project? At the same time, not knowing the Minister’s plan, this community has a number of concerns about phase two and where it will take us, such as people want to know will the shelter get support financially from the Department of Health. Will it continue? Many others have suggested should we change the operator and make sure we have an open competition to ensure we bring in someone for change.
Everyone agrees, and I have spoken to, that phase two definitely needs daily programming. As we all know very well, we have a very credible society called the Tree of Peace that offers great programming only a few feet away. If this downtown day shelter is going to continue at the same location, the department must take a bit of courage and address some of the concerns raised by the residents who only live a few feet away from the shelter. I stand to be corrected, but the fact is I have heard that they have never had a knock on the door from the department to ask them how it has worked out for them.
The fact is the Department of Health needs to build a relationship, needs programming and needs to work with the riding and the residents of that area. I believe it is a service that needs to continue and definitely warrants attention from this government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
