Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier, in my language, I spoke about how last week on February 21, 2018 marked eight years of sobriety for me, so I wanted to take the moment --
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Thank you, colleagues. I wanted to take the moment just to extend my appreciation and gratitude for the many professionals that have come across my path who weren't judgmental and were basically just professional and compassionate in believing in the service that they provide to the public. My heart is wholeheartedly felt to those people that go beyond the call of duty and provide a service to society in general. Mahsi to all of them.
My questions are to the Minister of Health and Social Services in terms of taking a step of sobering up. What kind of health does the department provide in terms of programming services for people who could be ready to help themselves to sober up and change their lives? Mahsi.
Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as a result of the mental health and addictions program that was held a number of years ago, what we heard clearly from the people across the Northwest Territories is that they want options, so we're trying to provide as many options and many alternatives for individuals to begin that healing journey as possible. At a community level in most of our communities, we have mental health and addictions counsellors or other counsellors who are available through NGOs and other partners. Thank goodness, they're out there. We have treatment facilities that are available to us in southern Canada that provide a wide-ranging program that could never be delivered in one facility. I think we need to be really proud of the fact that we're working with our Indigenous governments across the Northwest Territories for the delivery of on-the-land programming that is designed by the Aboriginal governments for their people. We also provide wellness dollars to every community in the Northwest Territories, who design their own wellness plans. Many of them are focusing on healing opportunities for the residents. We are working to provide as many options as we can. We always need to do more. We are coming forward with the new action plan. We are looking for some feedback from committee. I know the committee is putting something together for us, so we're looking forward to seeing that so that we can make more enhancements and improvements as we move forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Minister did state that there are ongoing initiatives in terms of working with Indigenous governments, and I'd like to commend the Minister for taking those steps to working with all of our communities in terms of placing, in all far reaches of the NWT, on-the-land programs and initiatives. My question is, understanding that the on-the-land programs, what was called for from previous assessments is that people wanted options, and that's one option, whether and how traditional beliefs of Dene are reflected on on-the-land programs? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, we heard clearly from many people across the Northwest Territories that on-the-land and traditional healing is incredibly important to them, and it is certainly, for many people, part of the process that they are going to go through as they proceed down their healing journey. There are a lot of questions about on-the-land healing programs. There really hasn't been an evaluation mechanism, but we have worked with our Indigenous partners here, in the Northwest Territories, to start the development of an evaluation framework so that we can see and try to assess some of the value.
Obviously, we hear many great and important things about the on-the-land programs that are out there. I will say that every one of the programs is different because they are designed by a regional Aboriginal government. We, as a government, don't tell people how to design these programs. I feel like we're the wrong people to tell the Indigenous governments how to design the programs because they are from the people, for the people. We do make our staff available if asked. We want to be partners. We want to help. We continue to work with our Aboriginal partners to make sure that they have the resources to do this important work.
One observation that I have is, back in the day, we had in every community alcohol and drug workers as they call them. My understanding, their approach was in addressing the root of the alcohol issues. They treated the whole issue of alcohol as a disease. Now, we have mental health workers who more likely take almost an approach that every person that deals with alcohol has some trauma in their background. Besides that, how has the philosophy of treating alcoholism changed over the years with the department?
Mr. Speaker, I think the whole treatment methodology around addictions has continued to evolve over the years. Many years ago, it was believed that basically the 12-step program was one of the best sources, but we're starting to hear a lot more that there are other new approaches, more scientific, more medical-based systems that we need to be exploring. We're hoping and intending to explore this as we move forward with the next addictions recovery action plan. A number of years ago, the Member was correct, we had addiction counsellors in the community. Before my time, and certainly before the Member's time, I do believe this changed, where we brought in mental health and addictions counsellors instead, recognizing that some of the individuals who were struggling with addictions may have had mental health issues. That doesn't suggest that everybody who has an addictions issue has a mental health issue, but we wanted to make sure, rather the system wanted to make sure, that we were providing a full range of services to individuals who were struggling, whether it was a mental health issue or an addiction issue, or in some cases both. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister stated that there's an effort that the department is undertaking, primarily that he's working on the developing of an action plan. Can the Minister highlight his immediate priority and seeing the success of the action plan and addressing alcohol issues in the NWT? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, I had an opportunity to travel with members of the standing committee as they toured different facilities in southern Canada. I think we had a lot of good discussion. I think we learned an awful lot from that experience. As far as setting a priority for the next action plan, I do want to be cautious. I don't want to pre-suppose what's going to be in that document. We still have some work to do. We still have feedback coming from committee. I think all that is going to be incredibly important to help us have an informed discussion and set our priorities moving forward. We do know that there is a need to explore other alternatives and to think outside of the traditional box, looking more at medical or scientific sort of responses to addiction, not just rely on things like the 12-step program. We've got to continue to explore harm reduction as an option for providing our residents with more and effective tools, but I don't want to pre-suppose exactly what this document is going to look like. I haven't received the committee's report yet, but I am looking forward to working together to put together a document that is going to meet the needs of residents going forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
