Sobering centre expected to be ready by mid-July
NWT Disabilities Council awarded contract to deliver programming
Kirsten Fenn
Northern News Services
Friday, June 9, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The city's sobering centre is targeted to open July 17, according to Health and Social Services Minister Glen Abernethy.
Earlier this week, Yellowknifer reported the Yellowknife Community Arena has been secured as the temporary home for the centre, a safe place where intoxicated individuals will be able to sober up overnight.
The announcement is good news for the GNWT, which has been struggling for months to find space for the centre after looking unsuccessfully at 16 potential properties.
"It would be nice to be (opening sooner) obviously, but we have been having some difficulty securing a location," Abernethy said. "We have just signed our contract with the NWT Disabilities Council, so they need a bit of time to staff up."
The council will be responsible for delivering the programming at the centre, which will take up space on the empty ice pad at the arena, according to Abernethy.
While the fine details of the layout are still being worked out, he said there will be an area with beds for men and women which will be supervised by a nurse.
Facilities will be available 12 hours a day in the evening and overnight, and individuals will be released the next morning so they can go to shelters or access other services in town, Abernethy said.
Yellowknife Mayor Mark Heyck said the arena seemed like a good fit as it is centrally located with a washroom, kitchen facilities and ample space.
"We thought rather than wait any longer, let's put that on the table as an option," Heyck said.
Now that space is secured for the centre, the city plans to finalize its mobile outreach program in the next few weeks, which involves a vehicle to bring people to the sobering centre. Heyck said the Yellowknife Women's Society is expected to run the program.
People with medical training would staff the vehicle, which will travel around the city helping individuals who may be intoxicated and need support.
"We've been caught in a situation for the past several years where the only options to deal with a situation like that were either to call the RCMP or the city's ambulance services," Heyck said. "Neither of those are the appropriate response."
Heyck said city council allocated $100,000 in its 2017 budget for the mobile outreach program, and the city hopes to find federal funding to support the project as well.
The GNWT set aside $520,000 for the sobering centre in its 2017-18 budget.
Abernethy estimates the centre will cost $900,000 a year, adding the government is "finding the difference from within wherever possible."
While the community arena is a first step to getting the centre up and running, it is only a temporary solution. In mid-September, the rink will be filled with ice again.
The GNWT has pegged the Yellowknife Day Care as a permanent location for both a sobering centre and the day shelter, although it isn't expected to be ready for two years as the current building has problems.
"It's not usable on an ongoing basis, so it's got to come down," Abernethy said, adding the space will open up in November.
He said his department is looking at putting trailers on the site for the two facilities, which would have separate entrances.
"So between September and when we can have that property up and running, we have to find a location," Abernethy said. "We've got a couple in mind. One of them happens to be a GNWT asset."
The minister hopes to have that medium-term, downtown location set in stone by the time the arena opens for community activities in the fall.
"Once we have the sobering centre up and running for a year or more ... we're hoping to find a way to incorporate managed alcohol in there as well," he said. "But that's a-ways away."
