LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
Residents voiced frustration at a public meeting on April 8 over the decision by the territorial government to begin a planning study on a plot of land selected for the new health centre.

Robert C. McLeod, left, minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Glen Abernethy, minister of Health and Social Services, and Kevin Menicoche, MLA for Nahendeh, listen to Fort Simpson residents during a public meeting held at the rec complex on April 8. - Andrew Livingstone/NNSL photo

The frustration is seemingly justified as a health official who visited the village in late November said the department wouldn't move ahead with plans to build a health centre on the former Dehcho Hall site without community support.

Health and Social Services Minister Glen Abernethy was in the hot seat during a two-hour meeting at the recreation complex last week over what residents view as a decision made about their community without adequate public consultation.

Only suitable option

Fielding questions about how the site was chosen and why more consultation didn't happen, Abernethy said that it was the only site that met the department's criteria for building a hospital.

"It's the only suitable site," Abernethy said. "We need to have a site before we can begin a planning study."

However, at a public meeting in November, Perry Heath, director of infrastructure planning for the health department, told about 30 people at a public meeting that the territorial government wouldn't go ahead with the project on the old Dehcho Hall site if the community didn't want it.

"If there's no community support for it, we're not fools, we're not going to build a facility on a piece of property where there's strong community opposition for it," said Heath.

A site selection study by the department looked at four possible locations on the island. The new centre would be at least 1,015 square metres and it would be built to handle the needs of the community for the next 40 years.

Abernethy said a new facility needs access to the village water and sewage system, has to be centrally located, needs to be above the flood zone and needs a large lot.Two sites were ruled out because they required too much work to raise the ground and street levels above the flood zone and a third site didn't have enough space.

Dennis Nelner, who voiced concern at the November public meeting over the fact the site was originally reserved by the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to build a track facility for the community, said the fact the decision is seemingly already set in stone concerns him.

He said the reserve having been transferred from the education department to health without the public knowing raised concerns they weren't being consulted enough.

"It's a 50-year piece of infrastructure, once it's built, it's built," he said to a room of about 40 people. "We haven't been engaged at all about where the hospital can go. It's bureaucrats in Yellowknife signing a piece of paper."

A planning study on the old Dehcho Hall site - the building was torn down in 2010 - will hopefully be completed this fiscal year with construction beginning in the following years. However, Abernethy couldn't give a specific start date.

A number of people wondered why the old health centre location wasn't suitable, and a new building couldn't be built on that location. Abernethy said a building assessment was completed recently that determined the structure is outdated and a full re-build would be required.

"We do need a new building and it would be more expensive to tear down and build on the same site," he said.

Concerns about the desecration of graves on the former residential school site were also raised at the meeting. A number of graves remain on the site, and Abernethy said a review of the grounds by the Department of Public Works and Services has taken this issue into consideration. Nahendeh MLA Kevin Menicoche said once the planning study is complete, residents will get a better sense of where the building is going to be located on the property.

Abernethy, along with Robert C. McLeod, minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, were touring the region with Menicoche last week, travelling to Trout Lake, Fort Liard and Nahanni Butte to meet with councils, tour facilities and meet with the public to discuss issues affecting each community and the region as a whole.

On air ambulances

Fort Simpson Mayor Sean Whelly asked the minister why local companies aren't being retained to offer air ambulance services to communities. If weather prohibits the air ambulance service to leave Yellowknife, it delays medical support in communities and could potentially put lives at risk, he said.

"I think a more formal agreement to have standby pilots to make sure a plan is available for medical travel that may be urgent is necessary," said Whelly.

Abernethy said because of the medical travel policy, which has recently been overhauled, an airplane can only be considered an air ambulance if the appropriate medical staff are on board to handle patients in transit, and it's more than just a pilot and a plane being available.

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