Debates of October 8, 2008 (day 39)
Question 451-16(2) Lack of Public Washrooms in Downtown Yellowknife
Mr. Speaker, the issue I raised today in my Member’s statement has a serious impact on the people who live and work in downtown Yellowknife. It causes many people great concern. The fact of the lack of public washrooms causes people to do natural things in unnatural places, if I may say. You know, that is not supporting dignity and humanity in the nicest of ways.
I know it’s far too easy to make jokes about this, and it is probably not uncommon to want to make jokes about something like this, but this is a serious issue. The people in the downtown riding want to move out of downtown. People don’t want to do business downtown, and it’s because of things like this.
My question will be to the Minister of Health and Social Services. Is she willing to look into this problem and see if it can be addressed by possibly finding some NGO or some service organization that will open up a facility so people who are homeless or who are in need can go to a public washroom without having to beg for a key or kick a door in to try to get into a facility when they need to use one?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Mr. Speaker, I’m sure this government is willing to work with any partners who may want to address any number of issues, but I think by any standards this is probably a municipal issue. I know they’re having discussions going on about some of the issues that the Member is bringing up, and I would be happy to discuss it with the municipal government and any other parties to see what options are available.
Mr. Speaker, that answer wasn’t quite what I was looking for, because I don’t believe it is a Municipal Affairs issue. Municipal issues are worries about property taxes, dogs and dumps. It wasn’t really designed to worry about the social issues around homelessness. The problem out of this situation is they’ve been picking up where the government has been failing miserably.
So I ask once again in maybe a slightly different way: would the Minister take leadership on this issue, show some initiative, get out there and say, “Look, maybe let’s see what we can do and contact some of our service organizations that may want to take this on as a task,” some type of joint partnership with the Department of Health and Social Services to attempt to bring back some humanity and dignity to the people who have lost it?
Mr. Speaker, all of the projects that we work on with respect to homelessness or housing issues or municipal downtown issues we do in partnership with the municipal governments. I have great faith in the ability and capacity of the City of Yellowknife to address these issues. I’m aware of lots of community groups that are working on that, so I’m happy to work with them. But I do believe that this is an issue that should be spearheaded by the municipal government and the community groups, and I think the leadership should be left there. If there are any proposals that the government should look at, I would be happy to entertain that, but to this date I’m not aware of any such proposal. I believe the municipal level government is working on that.
Mr. Speaker, social issues of this type and nature are the responsibility of the Government of the Northwest Territories, the responsibility of the Department of Health and Social Services. I’m not sure where she finds this in the mandate of the City of Yellowknife. I think what we are finding here is a situation where the City of Yellowknife is desperate because the Department of Health and Social Services has been ignoring these issues for so long. They have no other choice but to take on other issues that are outside their mandate.
So I ask again: would the Minister show some initiative by looking into contacting some of the social organizations, some of the NGOs that offer programs to people all day long? Would she make some reach out process to find out if they would be willing to take on a task like this? Again, maybe the government will help bring a bit of humanity back to people who are homeless. This is their opportunity, Mr. Speaker. Would the Minister do this?
Mr. Speaker, as the Member pointed out, this is not a new issue. It is a natural phenomenon, as the Member has stated. Municipal governments around the world take care of issues that the Member is raising. So I do believe that it is within the power and responsibility of the municipal government.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister might be correct if I lived in Toronto, because the City of Toronto is mandated with health issues; maybe in Calgary, maybe in Edmonton if we lived in that little imaginary answer, but not in the city of Yellowknife. The City of Yellowknife is not mandated to take care of health and social services issues.
If the minister is willing to look into this and if she is willing to talk to the mayor — I can’t make a commitment on behalf of the mayor — is she willing to also look for appropriate funding if she finds that the city wants to take this issue on? Because this is a serious downtown issue for both residents and business owners.
Mr. Speaker, I would think that any reasonable mind would agree with that. It is debatable whether this is a Health and Social Services issue and a territorial issue. I understand the concern. I understand this has been an issue for the downtown merchants in the city of Yellowknife as well as something that the municipal government has been working on with community groups. So I will once again commit to the Member — and I do not need him to make a commitment on behalf of the mayor — that I will call the mayor, and I will talk to him about what plans there are and see what we can do.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.