Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my Member’s statement, I have two questions for the Minister of Housing. As the Minister recalls from his visits to the community of Aklavik, when we had the old Joe Greenland Centre we’d have a place set out in front, a small deck where elders usually sat, whether it was during the spring, summer, fall. With this new facility, a great facility, as I mentioned, but one thing, I’m not sure if it was due to our budget, but they didn’t build much of a deck on each side of the Joe Greenland Centre.
I’d like to ask the Minister, will the department build a deck on each side of the Joe Greenland Centre where elders can gather?
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The Minister of Housing, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is a great facility in Aklavik and I was glad to be part of the opening. We still have a bit of work to do in the front of the building. We have some landscaping and that to do. I think that’s going to be taken care of next summer, I believe. I’m not sure about the deck. I would have to check to see if there is an opportunity in the future to put a larger deck on there.
I thank the Minister. My next questions are on the new facility in Fort McPherson. I’d like to ask the Minister, how was the location of the elders home in Fort McPherson selected? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, we had some land that was available. I believe we did some consultation with the community. There were no issues raised at the time, so we determined the location of the new seniors centre.
My next question is: Why was the project on hold this summer for over a month? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I’ll have to follow up on that. I understand there may have been some issues there. I’m not quite sure what the issues were, but I will follow up and share with the Member some of the information that I receive. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I drove by the location, I noticed there hasn’t really been very much work done there. There are no supplies on the site that are ready to start building.
I’d like to ask the Minister, will the Minister direct his department to work with the elders in the community to select a location for the new elders facility? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The piles are already in. We did some consultation with the community. We didn’t get any feedback, so we determined that that would be the location.
As far as the number of piles go, again, I will ask for an update and find out where we’re at with that. But it will be awfully expensive now to change the location. They’d have to wait a little longer for their facility. But I will get all the information and share it with the Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
