Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of Health explain why the Department of Health is not renewing the current contractor and where they are not seeking any new contractors to keep the Trailcross Treatment Centre open? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question and the opportunity to talk about this issue.
The situation is that attendance at the Trailcross treatment facility has declined over the last several years. At the end of May, it was 12.5 percent. There is no waiting list. There are no outstanding applications. And the best practice now is not to treat youth and children in institutional settings but rather to create closer to home therapeutic foster homes for children who need and youth who need this kind of care. Thank you
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell us if there are any plans in place for what the old Trailcross building will be used for once the treatment centre is closed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for the question. What's happening now, given that this contract expires next Monday, is that the Department of Health and Social Services is reviewing the services and programming that was delivered at Trailcross to develop a plan to assist youth in other ways. Therapeutic foster homes is one that I just mentioned.
So there is an analysis going on of next steps for programming. And once those steps have been completed at the end of this calendar year, a decision will be made about whether Trailcross as a building is part of this or whether Trailcross will be surplused. Thank you
Mr. Speaker, would the Minister consider converting the old Trailcross building in Fort Smith into a new territorial aftercare facility for the people of the NWT? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this point I don't think there is a plan for Trailcross. This work that I described in my previous answer needs to take place first. I don't know anything about the age and the condition of the building and whether it needs repairs before it becomes whatever it's going to be next. So these are very much live questions, and I appreciate the Member's interest in creating an aftercare facility. I think that there's some potential that we could repurpose surplus buildings for those kind of reasons, but we don't have a firm plan at this time. Thank you
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Thebacha.
Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to have her department examine the possibility of converting the old Trailcross building into a territorial aftercare facility? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, once we have finished the programming review, we'll have a better idea of what we're going to do with the building. Thank you
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
