Mr. Speaker, my questions will be directed to the Minister of Housing today. When I asked questions about the Joe Greenland Centre in our June session, the Minister indicated that work on renovating the long-term care wing into independent living units would be underway by now. Earlier in this session, the Minister indicated that a tender would be issued shortly.
Can the Minister tell this Assembly why the renovations to the Joe Greenland Centre have been delayed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. After reviewing the cost of renovations to the Joe Greenland Centre, we had to go back and look at whether it was feasible to do the renovations again on building it. It is over 35 years old. It has had two or three major renovations. We had to have a look at that and see if it would be easier to just construct a new facility.
After we reviewed the proposal, we realized there was a lot more work that had to be done to significantly upgrade the facility to bring it to meet current codes. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, it is good to hear that the NWT Housing Corporation is examining the cost-benefit analysis of new construction versus renovating the existing facility.
Can the Minister tell me whether the Housing Corporation plans to engage with the community of Aklavik on the location of a new facility and just what should be included in such a facility? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, after determination is made whether we should go new construction versus renovating the existing facility, of course, it goes without saying that we will be consulting with the community of Aklavik on possible location and what they might like to see in the facility. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It’s good to hear that the community will be consulted on any new facility.
The existing Joe Greenland Centre has a common area and a specialized bathing room that allows the Aklavik disabled seniors the opportunity to look after their personal hygiene in a safe manner, with assistance from the home care workers.
Can the Minister tell me whether a new facility would have the same features in this plan? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, if we do need to build a new facility, we’d have to look at some of the options related to space for Health and Social Services. Obviously, we would be having discussions with the Minister and his department. We need to realize that this type of space would add to the overall cost, and again we would have to have discussions with the Department of Health and Social Services.
This is a service that’s being utilized in the community right now. Of course, the community, I think, would like to see this particular part of it carry on. We would like to do what we can to have the community residents stay in the community as long as possible without having to leave. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister tell me when he would expect construction to commence on the replacement of the Joe Greenland Centre? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, we are just doing the preliminary work and we are reviewing our options right now. Our plan would be, and it should be, to have a decision made very shortly here on renovation versus new. If we decide to go new construction, then I think it would be in the best interest of the community that we begin construction possibly next summer. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
