Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was very pleased, when I attended the opening of the Dene Wellness Centre on the K'atlodeeche First Nations Reserve in January, in the old building of the Nats’ejee K’eh Treatment Centre, with people being very familiar with it. The centre then was a treatment centre for the whole NWT. Now things have changed. The Minister of Health and Social Services stated its ongoing initiatives on land-based mobile addiction treatment and also aftercare for patients who are seeking to sober up in the NWT. My question is to the Minister of Health and Social Services.
The last agreement that the Dene Wellness Centre was operating on is from 2017. Then, the purpose and use of the wellness centre were being discussed. Now that the wellness centre is operating and serving its purpose, does the Minister see a need in terms of updating the contribution agreement that it has with KFN? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Mr. Speaker, with respect to the Nats'ejee K'eh facility, we have had a lot of discussion with KFN on that building. Currently the Department of Health and Social Services is covering the lease costs on that building for KFN, which equates to about $6,000 a month. The owner of the building is currently working with KFN to see about transferring actual ownership of that building over to them. I know that there are some issues that they still need to work on, on that.
With respect to the programming that KFN had intended and delivering those services, they talked about wellness programs and other types of things. We are happy to work with them on those programs, and we are happy to help utilize that facility on a case-by-case basis.
As far as the wellness money that they get, that is a set allocated amount based on population and other things that all Indigenous communities in the Northwest Territories get. That is federal money that flows through us to them, so we don't have the ability to increase those funds at this time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Minister, obviously, and his department are engaging with the K'atlodeeche First Nations. I am trying to determine the whole role of the Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre. What are the key steps that the Minister has undertaken to ensure that, eventually, the transfer of the building is given to the K'atlodeeche First Nations?
In the last government, we made a commitment to K'atlodeeche that we would work with them so that they could obtain ownership of that building. The building is not a Health and Social Services asset. Once the facility ceased being an addictions treatment centre, the ownership of that building was transferred back to infrastructure, and they are working closely with K'atlodeeche to work out the issues around turning that building over to them. In the last government, we committed to providing the O and M funds necessary to keep that building in operation -- not programs, but the building itself -- and we still live by that commitment.
Addictions, of course, is a big concern in the NWT. As people contemplate taking steps in terms of bettering their lives and getting away from the whole cycle of addiction abuse, you sometimes come across the fact that it is deep-rooted, and this government needs to be in a position of supporting communities and giving back control to communities.
My question is: have the K'atlodeeche asked GNWT Health and Social Services if they would work with the wellness centre on developing an NWT trauma treatment centre on the reserve?
We have been trying to work closely with K'atlodeeche. In 2015, we gave them $44,000 so that they could hold a roundtable to help come up with some ideas and plans for how that building would be utilized. The report that I saw from them was about turning it into more of a wellness centre to provide a wide range of programs and not be dedicated to just one type of program. At that time, we indicated that we would like to keep working with them. If there was some opportunity for us to deliver some workshops or other things, wellness programs, out of that facility on a one-off basis, we were hoping to have the opportunity to have those discussions with them so that we could do that.
As far as any other specific purpose that for building, our commitment to provide the O and M funds to keep that building operational were consistent with them continuing to run that building as a wellness centre, providing programs focused on healing and wellness, not necessarily on addictions, but it would be a great facility that we could certainly have some discussions on about using it for mobile treatment options in partnership with K'atlodeeche.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, just from my observations, this department and the GNWT and the community of K'atlodeeche First Nations are taking great, positive steps, and it was the sense of optimism back in the beginning of a new year, 2019, that the building was reopened.
My last question is to the Minister of Health and Social Services. What, in his mind, is the key critical next step to ensuring that the Dene Wellness Centre is fully supported by this government and fully operational? Mahsi.
There are many things, and I think we obviously need to keep working together on this, but I think one of the key things is working with K'atlodeeche to actually get ownership of the building figured out and solidified. There are some issues, I think, on both sides that we are trying to address. We want to make sure that the building is in good shape when it is turned over to them and that we understood the magnitude of O and M costs for keeping that building running. I think that is one thing that we need to continue to work with them to get on. From Health and Social Services, on the program side, we want to keep having a relationship with them and focus on the opportunities to do things like wellness programming and other things that we could partner on a one-off application-based kind of approach. I think there are lots of opportunities here. It is a great building. The community wants to do proactive things, and we would like to keep having that relationship with them. Thank you.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
