YG has announced it will extend its contact with Connective for the operations of the Whitehorse Emergency Shelter.
In a March 10 press release, YG said the contract extension was temporary, and short-term. The contract was initially supposed to end on March 31, 2025: now, the end date is June 30, 2025. The non-profit organization has been operating the shelter since October of 2022.
The contract also includes operations at the Wood Street Housing First Units and Whitehorse Residential Services, according to the press release.
The release said that during the three-month extension, the long-term plans for the shelter will be refined by YG, Council of Yukon First Nations and Yukon First Nations governments as well as community partners.
“This short-term extension ensures the continued delivery of critical shelter and housing services for these and other vulnerable Yukoners as we determine long-term solutions for this critical service,” reads the release.
There is no word on what will happen after the temporary contract extension is up. When reached for comment, Yukon cabinet communications were not able to provide further details on the plans for the shelter after June 30.
The shelter was a point of discussion in the most recent Yukon Forum, a meeting between Yukon First Nations and territorial governments, which took place on March 7.
At a press conference held after the meeting, Yukon premier Ranj Pillai told reporters that the shelter was a significant part of the conversations that happened at the forum. He said the model at the shelter “has to improve.”
He also mentioned that the Yukon government’s plans to hold a summit on the matter with Council of Yukon First Nations and all Yukon First Nations governments in the spring.
The March 10 press release also refers to the planned summit with the purpose of identifying “how the model can change inside 405 Alexander to better meet client and community needs.”
The shelter was the centre of a coroner’s inquest last spring after the deaths of four Indigenous women. Then, in December of last year, there were two further deaths at the shelter: one of a man in his fifties and a 21-year-old woman.
The latter death occurred in a private long-term housing unit in one of the floors above the shelter that is not under the responsibility of Connective, Pillai told reporters on March 7. Pillai said the government is looking at making those units drug-free and alcohol-free.
The News received a statement on First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun letterhead on March 6, calling for YG to remove Connective from the operations of the shelter.
Annie Blake, the NDP MLA for Vuntut Gwitchin, also filed a motion in the Yukon legislature on March 10 asking the government to release the report for the Connective emergency shelter review that was voted for unanimously by assembly members in the 2024 spring sitting.
The March 10 press release said the shelter has housed between 39 to 52 people nightly since April of 2024, not including those staying in Housing First units on the second and third floors of the shelter.
YG also says there have been “operational improvements” at the shelter in recent months, listing “strengthened safety and oversight, including enhanced training, washroom checks, new harm reduction measures and staff security enhancements.”
—with files from Dana Hatherly
Contact Talar Stockton at talar.stockton@yukon-news.com
