Community Arena to house sobering centre
Health minister says short-term space secured until fall
Kirsten Fenn
Northern News Services
Wednesday, June 7, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A sobering centre is expected to be temporarily located at the Yellowknife Community Arena in the near future, Yellowknifer has learned.
Last week in the legislative assembly, Health and Social Services Minister Glen Abernethy said the territorial government had secured a short-term location for the facility, a place where intoxicated people could go to sober up under supervision.
"We have come up with a temporary solution that will be beginning shortly," Abernethy said, adding the facility would be announced in co-operation with the city. "That will take us to the end of September."
Yellowknifer requested details from the city about when the sobering centre would open at the community arena but city spokesperson Nalini Naidoo did not provide a date.
"Once the parties have the information ready, it will be released," she said.
The Department of Health and Social Services did not respond to a request for comment about the facility being located at the arena.
The need for a sobering centre was outlined in the city's Homelessness Road Map Action Plan last fall.
The rationale is that a sobering centre would help alleviate pressure on RCMP, ambulances and shelters, which have seen an increase in intoxicated people using their services, according to the action plan.
The GNWT allocated $520,000 for the centre in its 2017-18 budget but it has been struggling to find space for the facility.
Abernethy said Friday it has been "one of the most frustrating files that I have worked on."
In February, the GNWT had already looked at 12 locations without luck and was thinking about exploring space outside downtown for the short-term.
The GNWT now wants to use the Yellowknife Day Care as a long-term location for the facility, according to Abernethy, although a "medium-term solution" is needed as that space isn't available immediately.
"The GNWT owns the building. That building does have to come down," he said. "We believe that is a prime location for a sobering centre day shelter in the downtown core but we will not be able to move onto that site for approximately two years."
Yellowknife Centre MLA Julie Green asked Abernethy in the legislative assembly for details about what staffing and services will be available at the sobering centre but he provided little information.
Green said it sounded like the minister had a plan underway but was waiting for an official agreement.
"If he asks us to keep it confidential for that reason we do," Green said.
"So the information that I can share publicly is the same information that was shared publicly in the (legislative assembly) last week."
Michael Yakabuski, league president at the Old Timers Hockey Association, said the community arena wouldn't work as a permanent home for the sobering centre but the rink won't be used by his group again until November.
According to the city's website, the community arena is open annually from October until the Easter weekend in April.
Shane Clark, coaching co-ordinator for the Yellowknife Speed Skating Club, said the ice is taken out of the arena at that time and his athletes won't be using the facility over the summer either.
"From a coaching perspective, the building's not being utilized for ice users during the summer," Clark said, explaining he didn't have concerns about a sobering centre being located there.
"Sport is one way to keep society healthy ... A sobering centre is another way to help people recover and return to a healthy lifestyle."
Steve Thompson, president of the Yellowknife minor hockey association, added his group uses the Multiplex during the summer and doesn't have access to the community arena again until November.
"If we're not having kids in there playing sports while that's going on then, I have no concerns," Thompson said.
