Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister of Health and Social Services indicate if this government is prepared to implement harm reduction programs such as managed alcohol programs? Has this issue been studied and would the department be prepared to implement them?
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Health and Social Services is developing a strategic framework for mental health and addictions recovery in the Northwest Territories, which is going to include, or rather will be built from that framework, an addictions recovery action plan. As part of that plan, we are focusing on a recovery-oriented system, which does include harm reduction.
So we are looking at what's being done in other jurisdictions by way of harm reduction, on how we might be able to implement some of those harm reduction initiatives here in the Northwest Territories. Recognizing that not all communities are the same, not all regions are the same, we may have to have a variety of programs, depending on what people are telling us they want and need to help them recover.
Thank you to the Minister for that response. So would the department then be in a position to look at the situation in Yellowknife, with the recent media reports supporting this kind of approach, and be willing to discuss developing a pilot with local government officials to start taking some action on this cost-effective action?
The answer is yes. The bottom line is we are working already with the City of Yellowknife, the Department of Justice, the NWT Housing Corporation, the RCMP, to come up with some ways to address some of the issues that we're experiencing in our downtown core and the demands those are putting both on our ambulance services here in Yellowknife but also on our emergency room.
A couple of things we're looking at is expanding our hours of service for our day shelters. We're looking at moving our day shelter to a more appropriate location. We're also looking at a sobering centre here in Yellowknife. Many people have been talking about a managed alcohol program. We feel that a managed alcohol program would be a nice fit within a sobering centre. Our first goal is to get a sobering centre in place, do the research on managed alcohol programs, and see if it will be a fit in the future. It is absolutely something we're open to, but we need to get the other work done, the sobering centre, the change in hours and the ridealong programs that the city is looking at implementing. There's a lot of work being done in this area, Mr. Speaker.
Again, thank you to the Minister for that. I'm pleased to hear there's a lot of work being done in this area. When can we expect it to be done?
Mr. Speaker, the city has already made a significant amount of progress on putting together the RIDE program. One of the challenges we face is, unfortunately, finding a location for the sobering centre, itself. We've also made a commitment to relocating the day shelter, which is also proving difficult. We have our staff currently out looking for appropriate locations in the community.
If we're able to get a location, and we're hoping to find one soon, we need a bit of time to do some retrofitting to make it suitable and we need a bit of time to do some staffing in order to get appropriate staff that can actually manage things. I don't have a deadline because, bottom line, it really depends on whether or not we're able to find a location. That is our challenge right now. When we find a location, we intend to move quickly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Could the Minister then commit to undertaking some study on the managed alcohol programs or harm reduction programs, such as INSITE in British Columbia and the successful managed alcohol program in Ottawa, and share those recommendations with Members of the Assembly? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, managed alcohol programs have existed in Canada for 20plus years. The first one started operating in Toronto in 1997. But all these programs, they differ a little bit in how they operate. Some of them operate as part of day programs; others operate as part of supportive housing or shelters; and some are non-residential dropin programs.
I have committed and I will commit again to the Member that part of the development of the Addictions Recovery Action Plan, building from our framework, the department will research all these established programs, identify emerging best practices for addictions treatment, which include this particular model, the managed alcohol program, and come with options for the delivery of a wide range of services for residents of the Northwest Territories as part of a recovery initiative.
I will say, Mr. Speaker, we've heard from residents across the Northwest Territories. What they want is options. No one program fits all. We need to come with more options. In the last Assembly, we moved from basically one option to a far wider range of options, and we're looking at expanding on those options again in order to meet the variety of needs of residents across the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Item 7, oral questions, Member for Nunakput.
