After about two hours’ worth of discussing Yukoners’ feelings about continuing care and the Yukon government’s 150-bed facility planned for Whistle Bend, a cabinet minister spoke the words many have been waiting to hear.

“I agree with you when you say the location is not good,” Education Minister Doug Graham told the crowd gathered Wednesday evening at Hellaby Hall.

The former Health and Social Services minister’s admission took place at the Yukon NDP’s town hall meeting on continuing care.

Nearly 100 residents – including many seniors and politicians from the various parties – attended the meeting.

After a quick panel discussion, the microphone was handed to Yukoners to share their thoughts and personal stories involving continuing care.

“I don’t have any position … to support or refute a long-term facility in Whitehorse,” said panelist, Ken Quong, the president of the Yukon Medical Association.

“I will leave that to the politicians.”

Co-panelist Ranjit Sarin, the president of the Vimy Heritage House Society, echoed Quong’s thought on leaving it up to government to decide.

There were many concerned about the ailing or elderly being “shipped” from their communities to an institution or “warehouse” that would feel prison-like, with long corridors and lots of staff who wouldn’t be able to get to know their patients.

“I haven’t seen the plans, but I don’t think it’s 300 beds all in one room or a circle,” Quong said.

He added that the “300-bed” image people have in their minds is problematic.

“I don’t think it’s quite a fair way to characterize the facility, or any facility,” Quong said.

Graham told the meeting attendees that it was his fault that the 300-bed term is being used – in early announcements about the facility in 2014, Graham used the number 300.

It later caused confusion when Premier Darrell Pasloski referred to it as a 150-bed facility in his April 2 budget speech.

Graham explained that while 150 beds will be installed for sure, there will be infrastructure in place to support an additional 150 beds – but it won’t happen right away.

The facility has not been designed yet, he added. Those calling it an “institution” or “great big box” is a difficult thing to accept, he said.

A criticism of the facility heard time and time again – in the legislative assembly and on the streets – is that the construction of a 150-bed complex was planned and decided on without Yukoners’ input.

In a press release issued Tuesday, the government stated it is “continuing to engage with Yukon seniors about options for affordable and sustainable continuing care.”

The Department of Health and Social Services started holding meetings earlier this month with seniors to discuss the programming and physical plans for the Whistle Bend facility.

Health and Social Services Minister Mike Nixon said the initial reaction from the meetings has been positive – much unlike the reactions from Yukon seniors and other community residents last night.

While many preferred the option of supportive home care, the general concern was with the location and size of the Whistle Bend facility, not simply the building itself.

After hearing several people’s thoughts, Quong pointed out to Graham that if he were to take an issue home with him, it would be location.

The selection of Whistle Bend for the centre was due to its size and a pressing need to get the project moving, Pasloski told the Star in July.

This statement occurred in the wake of ATIP (Access to Information and Protection of Privacy) documents that had gone public earlier that week.

Whitehorse resident Tamara Goeppel made a request for information regarding the facility – she wanted to know why the downtown was not considered.

She received hordes of email exchanges and briefing notes among government officials and technical advisors that were sent throughout the location selection process for the facility.

In order of best location to worst, a report prepared by the property management division of the Department of Highways and Public Works put Porter Creek at the top, then Riverdale, followed by Copper Ridge and finally, Whistle Bend.

On April 9, senior management gave instructions to strike Porter Creek, Riverdale and Copper Ridge off of the possible locations list.

It’s unclear from the report as to why those three locations were eliminated from the list.

The report provides a summary of data which showed that Whistle Bend had potential for higher costs for building due to its silty soil, water table and potential for frost-heaving.

“Whistle Bend is a political decision. It has nothing to do with people who will be living there,” Goeppel said last night.

She has stuck to the thought of having the facility at a location at Fifth Avenue and Rogers Street – which would keep residents in a place they know well, and have memories in.

“Who here has a memory of Whistle Bend?” she asked the crowd. Her question was met with laughter.

Graham later pointed out that the city was also opposed to having the facility at Fifth and Rogers, adding there isn’t space to build downtown at all.

Other residents took issue with the location of Whistle Bend because of its distance to services such as the hospital.

In addition to this, people said that it lacks enough bus service and would be an extra step out of the way for people trying to visit, especially out-of-towners without vehicles.

Willy Shippey, the former director of Copper Ridge Place, took the microphone near the end of the meeting.

She said she was speaking up now that it would not cost her job, as she is retiring to Prince Edward Island soon.

“I don’t understand why we can’t talk about it…. I don’t know how we got here,” she said.

Quong asked Shippey a followup question: in her experience working in a care facility, would she build the facility?

Her answer was matter of fact.

“No. I would not build that facility.”

The last public hearing in regard to the Whistle Bend facility was held March 9, when city council was debating an essential zoning change for a piece of land near Keno Way that would enable the project to move forward.

Just five residents appeared at the public meeting.

Of the residents who spoke, several concerns were raised about the facility. Those included its size being too big, potential traffic problems and the facility not fitting into the “original vision” for Whistle Bend.

Days later, a Yukon Party press release quashed the former concern, stating, “By choosing Whistle Bend, the facility will be integrated into a growing subdivision and will complement the overall plan for the area.”

The rezoning was approved during the March 23 city council meeting, passing with a vote of 5-1.

Coun. Betty Irwin was the only one to vote against the motion.

Irwin said at the time it felt as though the government was pushing the city against the wall with the decision because of the urgency of finding much-needed beds for seniors on a growing waitlist for continuing care.

She had asked for more details about the project, including a list of other locations that had been considered before Whistle Bend was selected.

At last night’s meeting, questionnaires covering what types of services people currently receive and what services are priorities circulated the room.

The NDP hopes to prepare a summary of everything that was heard at the meeting, including people’s answers to the questionnaires.

The Council on Aging will be hosting an information session about the Whistle Bend facility in October.

According to the government’s statement this week, it will continue having meetings between officials and Yukon seniors until late October.

The facility is slated to be completed by 2018.