Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In reply to my last question, I heard the Minister of Health and Social Services, in some manner or form it sounded like he blamed the people who attend the day shelter for the, I’ll say, tone and atmosphere.
Maybe the Minister can elaborate further as to the running of the day shelter. Is it blamed on the people who run it there or the people who manage it? Let’s get this on the record and get some clarity. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Nobody’s really to blame. I’m just saying that this service is needed, and in the facility and how well it runs is largely dependent upon on who’s using the service. Thank you.
To be clear, what role does the management play in the operation and running of a day shelter, if the Minister is blaming the problems on the clientele?
The role of the provider, as I laid out earlier, is to provide a warm place for the individuals to attend, and then they recommended a couple of additional things that they would like to do. Those things were like referrals, and training of staff and so on, and various aspects of the staff.
I’m not really sure where the Member is indicating that there has been blame issued to anybody on the running of the facility. It is what it is. How we provide a service is dependent upon our clientele.
Let’s summarize it this way: If we have deviant behaviour going on at the day shelter, wouldn’t you expect the management to provide a safe and controlled environment that allows people to be there in a warm place in winter that doesn’t have substance abuse of any kind or even violence? Wouldn’t that be sort of a management issue, not necessarily a client-driven issue?
Mr. Hawkins, that is really a fine line where we’re attacking the media; not the media but the people in management in those positions and they’re not here to protect themselves. They’re not here to say anything. But I’d like to redirect your question to the Minister. I’ll give you that opportunity. Thank you. Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate your guidance on that issue. The ultimate problem here is we have well-known deviant behaviour happening there. The Minister has even highlighted it in our discussions. Is the management responsible to provide a safe environment that is free of violence and substance abuse? Thank you.
I think the management’s responsibility is to provide a place for individuals to attend. I think they indicate that if there are other issues, other behaviours of the clientele that they’re looking for some training to deal with it, but I suppose that if you want to indicate that the responsibility of a warm, safe place for individuals to attend the day shelter, then I guess that would be the responsibility of the people operating the shelter.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Short, final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister has spoken about how the management has changed the contract there by changing services or even offering services. Maybe you could elaborate what they are doing outside of the original proposal that we have not agreed to. I am trying to understand what is happening there and I think the public deserves that. Thank you.
I think I indicated that they had requested some training in certain areas, and that they have requested that they be allowed to deal with some of the other organizations in the community in which they can refer their clientele. I think the original concept of its shelter was to provide a warm, safe place for individuals to go during the day. These are people that don’t have anywhere else to attend. But the opportunity of getting the people together, the provider thought that these things had been added and had requested that, and had not actually changed the agreement in any way or the contract in any way. Thank you.
