TUKTOYAKTUK - There is confusion in Tuktoyaktuk concerning plans to open a new addictions centre in the Delta community.

Hamlet Mayor Merven Gruben said the plan, which had gained steam last May when the Tuktoyaktuk Community Corporation, Inuvialuit Regional Corporation and the hamlet were working to obtain funding and bring a building donated by the housing corporation up to code, has stalled. Gruben told News/North last Wednesday the community has been dealing with other priorities over the last year, which put work on the project on hold. Gruben didn't specify what other matters the hamlet has been dealing with.

"I don't really know where it stands," he said while travelling to Edmonton last Wednesday.

News/North contacted the hamlet office and the new senior administrative officer Tom Matus about the building and the centre, but Matus wasn't sure of its status and said he would look into it. Further calls on the issue were not returned by press time.

The creation of the centre began last year when the community received $100,000 for mental health and addictions programming from the Department of Health and Social Services and the donation of a building. Gruben told News/North last May it would take a few months to bring the building to code, adding he hoped it would be "by the summer or by the fall we should have it up and running."

However, when asked where plans for the addiction centre stood, John Russell, a representative with the Tuktoyaktuk Community Corporation, said he didn't know anything about an addictions centre.

Regarding a building donated by the housing corporation, he said, "So they donated a building, eh?"

Russell added Gruben and the hamlet should know more about the planned addictions centre than the corporation.

Franklin Carpenter, vice-president of programs and district operations for the territorial housing corporation, said it had decommissioned a building it owned and transferred it to the hamlet in 2009.

The hamlet had put in a request for a building to be used as a library, said Carpenter, however he's unsure what the building is being used for, if at all.

"At this point, I don't really know if it's being used," Carpenter said, adding while the building was decommissioned it still had use in it. "They may need some work like energy efficiency stuff."

Damien Healy, communications manager with the Department of Health, stated via e-mail that the department funded the IRC $100,000 each for 2009-2010 and 2010-2011. In 2009-2010, the IRC used this funding for community workshops on traditional parenting and life skills to support parents struggling with addictions.

It also led comprehensive community-based consultations to identify needs for mental health and addictions services in the Beaufort-Delta region in partnership with the Beaufort-Delta Health and Social Services Authority.

Healy added, in 2010-2011, the IRC was funded for the first year of its addictions aftercare pilot project in Tuktoyaktuk. Planning for the project was, in part, developed in consultation with the community.

For the third and final year of this available funding, the IRC has submitted a proposal for the second year of the pilot project, wrote Healy, adding a contribution agreement is being drafted for 2011-2012.

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