Masi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] I made a statement regarding a treatment centre, so I would like to ask Health and Social Services a question. [Translation ends] The Minister of the Health and Social Services department promised to consider [microphone turned off] ...treatment in the territory and followed by mental health and addiction recovery action plan. Mr. Speaker, the TRC's 94 recommendations, number 21, states that: we call upon federal government to provide sustainable funding for Aboriginal healing centres to address physical, mental, emotional, spiritual harms caused by residential schools, and to ensure the funding of healing centres in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the Minister of Health and Social Services. My first question is: in light of her department's promises that I've stated in my statement, when can Northerners expect an end to the ill-advised practice of sending Northerners to southern institutions for addictions recovery? Masi.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for Monfwi for that question. I'm unaware of a promise by the Department of Health and Social Services to revisit the question of southern-based in-facility addictions treatment. In fact, recently, in response to a call for proposals, six facilities in total, two new, were approved for southern-based addictions treatment. The reason it's in the South is because people can get in right away. They can choose the place they want to go. They can be in a co-ed or a gender-specific facility depending on their preference. They have access to a range of services, which we simply don't have in the Northwest Territories. I just want to be very clear that where we're focusing as a department is on aftercare on things like on-the-land healing and what supports we can put in place to help people hang on to their sobriety when they come back. Thank you.
Obviously, there is a bit of a challenge here to accept that six new southern institutions that we've continued to send our people for some sort of addictions treatment there. People leaving the North, again, funding and money leaving the North, we're talking about millions. We're not talking about ten thousand here and there. Millions, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to know what option is the Minister considering for the return to residential addictions treatment here in the Northwest Territories. Once we had that before, could we have that again in the Northwest Territories?
Thank you to the Member for Monfwi for that question. The departmental budget for addictions treatment this year is $2.3 million. There has been a decrease in the number of spaces available, which is why the department added two more facilities so that there is appropriate distancing during the pandemic. We know that 45 people have attended in-patient treatment in the first six months of this year. Fifteen of them have completed their program. We're going to be low on numbers this year, there are more typically around 200. The last treatment centre we had open in the NWT was Nats'ejee Keh on the K'atl'odeeche First Nation. It failed for the reason that other treatment centres had failed: a lack of suitable staff, the inability to be able to do intake at any time, and issues around confidentiality and people actually wanting to leave the North and all of their triggers for substance abuse and have a new start in the South. Thank you.
We have new, I guess, southern institutions that the department is planning to work with. At the same time, given the amount of time that individuals can apply to go to southern institutions there is a waitlist at Poundmaker's of up to six months. If we had that here in the Northwest Territories, utilizing our own people, our elders, our healers, on-the-land program, it would go a long way. The next question I have for the Minister is: since there is no option to consider Northwest Territories residential healing centres here in the Northwest Territories, to what extent has the Indigenous governments, Indigenous healers, Indigenous elders, been engaged or consulted in developing those options as called by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls for action numbers 21 and 20?
Thank you for the question, Member for Monfwi. The situation with facility-based treatment is to provide a range of options. Poundmaker’s is one of the six. Aventa, which is for women, is another; Edgewood in B.C.; Fresh Start, which is for men in Calgary; and an Indigenous Healing Centre called Renascent in Toronto and another called the Thorpe Healing Centre in Lloydminster. There are a lot of different choices there for people to make. This is a matter of public policy that affects all residents of the NWT. Also, more particularly for Indigenous organizations, there is on-the-land healing, which has a dedicated fund of $1.8 million and which is available to all Indigenous government organizations that make applications for it. That money is still available for this year. I really would encourage the Member to ensure that his IGO has applied for this money so that they can do their own on-the-land treatment. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
Masi, Mr. Speaker. The Minister talks about choices. We don't really have many choices here in the Northwest Territories. We have six southern institutions that we send our own people there. They come back. I've witnessed myself, in my region, one individual came back from treatment, ended up back on the street, and unfortunately, the individual passed away this past summer because there was no after-care program. This is a real issue, a real live issue, Mr. Speaker. The Minister talked about the on-the-land treatment program funding. What kind of funding is available compared to the southern institutions that we're spending millions? How much are we spending here in the Northwest Territories on-the-land program? Has that been also incremented over the years? That will be my final question, and I will come back to it as well, Mr. Speaker. Masi.
Thanks again to the Member for Monfwi. The budget for the on-the-land healing program is $1.8 million. The budget for the southern treatment is $2.3 million, so there is a difference there of $500,000. The on-the-land treatment program was last increased last year in the last main estimates. There is a robust amount of money available there. As I mentioned before, that fund has not been completely spent. On the contrary, only a couple of Indigenous government organizations have applied for it. I really encourage everyone who has connections with on-the-land healing to make applications to this fund so that this piece of after-care can be made available to all our residents. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions, Member for Frame Lake.
