INUVIK - Mayor Denny Rodgers is calling on the territorial government for an alcohol and drug rehabilitation centre to replace the Arctic Tern Young Offender Facility.

Rodgers was in Yellowknife when he heard Inuvik's eight-year-old Arctic Tern Young Offender Facility is closing on March 31, 2011.

The Arctic Tern Young Offender Facility opened in Inuvik in 2002 and will be closed by the territorial government on March 31, 2011. Mayor Denny Rodgers wants the building transformed into an alcohol and drug rehabilitation centre. - Aaron Beswick/NNSL photo

He immediately set up a meeting with Justice Minister Jackson Lafferty.

"For years Inuvik has been lobbying for an alcohol and drug rehabilitation centre. We need one and we had one until the mid-1990s when it was shut down," said Rodgers.

In his meeting with Lafferty, Rodgers said he got a guarantee that the justice minister would raise the idea for a rehabilitation centre with health minister Sandy Lee and public works minister Michael McLeod.

"Any way we look at it, it's a $2 million hit to this community," said Rodgers. "Where was the communication on this? If you don't keep the leadership of a community involved when you make a big decision, you have to expect a reactionary response."

Six full-time positions at the Arctic Tern facility will first be moved to Yellowknife, then to Fort Smith once a new correctional facility is built (projected to open in 2014) to house both adult and youth female offenders. Three other full-time positions will be eliminated.

As well a half-time position (currently vacant), five relief positions and one term manager position will be eliminated as of March 31.

"Those folks are subject to government staff retention policy," said Colin Gordon, GNWT director of corrections, of the full-time positions being eliminated. "Our aim is to see if we can find them other work in Department of Justice or the GNWT. Those being transferred will have a choice about whether they want to go. Employees have a number of options - education leave opportunities, other jobs in government and if they don't choose one of those there is a monetary severance package."

The Arctic Tern facility opened in 2002 for female young offenders. In 2003 the Youth Criminal Justice Act came into force which directed courts to prefer community-based sanctions over jail time for young offenders. Arctic Tern was designed to house 14 young offenders, but the Department of Justice reports that its occupancy at any given time has declined from an average of five inmates in 2006 to less than one in 2010.

According to the department, the facility costs $5,500 per day to operate and hasn't housed an inmate since October.

"Women have different requirements than men do with programming - typically women are victims before they are offenders," said Gordon. "As numbers of female youth in custody have dropped, providing programming became difficult. We've had to find economies of scale to provide that programming."

The programming will be provided in a new structure, currently in the planning stages, housing all ages of female offenders in Fort Smith. Adult and young offenders won't be allowed to mingle, but Gordon said a combined facility will allow for more programming.

In the meantime, Rodgers said council will campaign for the Arctic Tern facility to be turned into a rehabilitation centre or to some other use.

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