N.W.T. health authority to temporarily take over Yellowknife's sobering centre
CBC
The Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority will temporarily take over Yellowknife's day shelter and sobering centre after the organization that has been running the joint facility declined a six-month contract extension.
In a news release on Tuesday, the health authority said it will take control of the sobering centre on 50th Street when the contract with the NWT Disabilities Council ends on March 31.
The health authority says it plans to run the facility for six months while the government solicits bids for another operator.
There will be a significant change to the space when the health authority takes control on April 1: the day shelter will close and location will exist as an evening and overnight sobering centre only.
The site of the former visitors centre across from the Explorer Hotel will operate as the city's day shelter.
Early in the pandemic, the day shelter and sobering centre cut capacity, forcing the territory to scramble to find alternative places for people to go. On Tuesday, the health authority assured residents that under the new arrangement, "service levels will be maintained and monitored with the ability to expand capacity if required."
The disabilities council has been running the combined day shelter and sobering centre for the last three years.
In its own press release on Thursday, the council said it operated the day shelter and sobering centre "in various forms" for six years, and "stepped in when there was a risk of there being no day shelter in Yellowknife."
The organization said that "from early on" it was reaching out to the health authority to discuss plans for the facility's future.
The council said it told the health authority that there were "legal and employment obligations that needed to be considered" if its contract wasn't extended for another two years.
It also had to consider its "legal responsibilities under the Employment Standards Act and the logistics of securing services" for a six-month period.
Ultimately, the council said, the board of directors decided to end the contract on its expiry date of March 31.
The council said the decision was "a difficult one," as it means workers who "performed their duties with empathy, dedication and professionalism" will lose their jobs.
It remarked that during COVID-19, its staff showed up every day to work in one of the highest-risk settings.
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