Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve said repeatedly on the record that I support on-the-land treatment programs because I believe that there’s certainly a need and a role for them. I even had a great discussion with an elder from the Sahtu, Ms. Besha Blondin, the other day and we talked greatly about the wonderful things that they do. One of the things of concern with them is the quality of on-the-land treatment programs when they come to treating heavy alcohol and drug addictions and that type of problem where, really, you need experts. I’d like to hear more from the Minister of Health and Social Services where things like on-the-land programs or even mobile treatment programs have been proven to work and what statistics can he provide that point to that direction where they’ve actually helped over the long haul. I believe there’s a place for them when it comes to spirituality and working with the community, but when it comes to hard drugs and hard alcohol problems. I’d like to hear how they will help solve our problems over addictions.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Based on recommendations from the Minister’s Forum on Addictions, we have been pursuing options for on-the-land programming as well as mobile treatment. The on-the-land program may not be the most appropriate locations for specific hard core or hard drug addictions, but we do have some facilities in the South that we are contracted where that might be more appropriate. We’re working with a number of different groups who have come forward with a bunch of different opportunities for on-the-land programming. Some of them are for more after-care follow-up, some of them are more preventative and some of them are more about giving families an opportunity to heal after people have returned from different facilities. There are a lot of different opportunities out there. We are pursuing each of these opportunities and we are following the direction that was outlined by the residents of the Northwest Territories and the Minister’s Forum on Addictions.
Is the Minister able to speak to actual results of these types of programs where they have worked and cite any examples, because as I understand it, Nunavut shut down their mobile treatment program because they didn’t think it worked or solved the problems they were striving for.
I would ask the Minister what success he can point to these two particular programs where they demonstrate they’re worth investing in and, again, solving alcohol and drug treatment problems.
In the Northwest Territories we want to make sure that our residents have options and choices, which is why we’ve gone with contracts in some southern facilities that provide some high quality programing. We are looking at on-the-land programming for, as I said, things like after-care or for prevention, support of families, and we are looking at a mobile option.
The Member is right; there was a pilot in Nunavut that didn’t work out around mobile treatment, but we are working with some of the southern institutions as well as there are institutions here in the Northwest Territories who have expressed an interest in exploring different models of a mobile treatment program. We are exploring those and we will have an evaluation framework put in place to make sure that we can assess them appropriately to make sure that they are providing positive results.
Now, I’m going to continue to speak in favour of doing business differently such as these things, but I would hope that the options and choices before us would be known as successful ones.
Would the Minister be able to point to where these have been seen as successful options so our Northerners are getting the best treatment for them available?
With respect to the on-the-land programming that we’re currently piloting with the different organizations through the Northwest Territories, each one is radically different, and each one has been designed by communities and Aboriginal governments with clinical partners to suit some specific needs they’re trying to address within their communities. Each one is different. We will have evaluation frameworks around each one. In many ways, each one of these approaches are unique to the Northwest Territories as well as anywhere else, so we are going to put evaluation frameworks in to make sure that we can get quality assessment on these different pilots so that as we move forward and consider future on-the-land programs we make that we’re supporting programs that work for the people of the Northwest Territories.
We heard clearly from the residents of the Northwest Territories that they are interested in these as an option in addition to facility-based as well as community-based programming.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Mr. Speaker, I would think Northerners would want to know, especially the Department of Health and Social Services, that we can point to that these programs have been successful in some form or matter in other jurisdictions through their implementation when trying to deal with alcohol and drugs. Is the Minister able to point to anywhere that these types of programs have been successful? Because I believe we need to provide options. I’m not against them. I just want to see that they’re working in the right, appropriate areas.
Is he able to point to any successful indicators whether they’re stats, through numbers, whatever the case may be? Provide the House some examples where they’ve helped alcohol and drug treatment.
We’re definitely breaking new ground in this area and we are working with our partners in the communities as well as across the Northwest Territories and they are working with clinical professionals who have provided more standard, typical type programming in other jurisdictions, as well, in the North. We are going to put a solid evaluation framework around this particular program to make sure that we can assess the on-the-land programs that are being delivered to make sure that as we move forward that any on-the-land program that we are supporting here in the Northwest Territories is providing positive benefits to the people of the Northwest Territories and to those individuals utilizing those services.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
