Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to revisit some of my questions with the Minister of Health and Social Services. The Minister mentioned, in the response to my last question, that basically in communities people can simply go to somebody and get treatment. I’d like to say to the Minister that homeless people are generally not proactive and they’re not generally recorded. They tend to operate on their own. So, without an advocate, I’d like to ask the Minister, how does he expect that a homeless person will take advantage of opportunities that do exist in a community?
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have travelled to a lot of communities throughout the Northwest Territories, and where there are issues around homelessness, I know the Housing Corp is very active in those communities as far ensuring people get housing. But also we’ve got government services officers who are aware of the different programs and services who could direct people. We also have, in many of the communities, community counsellors and social workers who can, when they recognize people that are in crisis, refer them to services that might be appropriate. There are people in the communities who are caring and compassionate and want to work with these individuals and will direct them to where they need to be.
Thanks to the Minister. I appreciate that. It is unfortunate that we don’t have a specific person looking out for homeless people in our communities. In Yellowknife, though, we do have a day shelter.
I’d like to ask the Minister, in terms of the Day Shelter, what programs are available at the Day Shelter right now that can assist clients to improve their mental health?
The Day Shelter has only been open for a couple months at this point and there are number of things happening there, including some significant renovations in the building. We have talked to the provider who has indicated that they’re hoping to provide some additional programs and services as well as links to the programs and services that exist. There is space in that building for health practitioners to go to the building and meet with people, as well as Housing staff to go and meet with people, as well as individuals from Justice or income support to go and meet with the people who are utilizing that facility. But right now there are no specific programs being delivered by the provider until the construction is completed.
To the Minister, in the meantime, while this construction is going on, is there an opportunity for people to get referred? There’s the suggestion that this will happen in the future, but right now how do people get referred to a program if they’re willing to go and if they need the help for their illness?
It’s my understanding that we actually do have individuals from the health authority as well as I believe there’s income support and Housing staff going in there, but I will get a confirmation of exactly who’s visiting that facility and how regularly to provide information to users of the Day Shelter.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thanks, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. The Minister mentioned some construction that’s going on, and I know that the City of Yellowknife has earmarked about $70,000 for capital costs to assist with the building.
I’d like to know from the Minister if there is an opportunity to take some of that money that’s earmarked for capital and for construction and put that into programs.
We appreciate the City of Yellowknife. They’re a fantastic partner on the delivery of the Day Shelter here in Yellowknife and we look forward to a continued positive relationship with them. The city is contributing some money, as are we, but at this time there are some significant infrastructure improvements that need to be made in that building so that it can meet the long-term needs, and taking that money away from the infrastructure and putting it to programs will actually adversely affect our ability to deliver those programs in the future. We need to get that construction done.
