Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Holy, we give an initiation to our new health Minister today. I had a couple of questions for the Minister after hearing my colleague from Monfwi's statement on addictions and addiction services. I have a quick preamble. I'll keep it brief. I heard that there is $1.8 million allocated for on-the-land funds available for healing. For me, I think it's important to have good metrics in place for aftercare and stuff, to make sure that we follow up with our people who are healing and make sure that they're doing well, and also to let us know if we're doing a good job and if our programs, our funds for programs, are successful. I don't expect a response too quickly to this, but I guess my first question is: can we have a breakdown of the $1.8 million so far this year, and where are they being used, and how much has been used so far this year? Marsi cho.
Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you to the Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh for that question. The total budget for on-the-land funding is $1.095 million and the mobile treatment after-care funding, and these are often pooled together, is $729,000, so the total is $1.8 million. Of that, $482,631 has been spent, and the two IGOs with agreements in place are the Dehcho First Nations and the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation. Each IGO is allocated the same amount. The on-the-land funding available to each IGO is $125,000, and the mobile treatment after-care funding is $66,350. I can make a copy of this page, and I can make it available to the Member so that he has that in front of him. Thank you.
I think it's important, and I had another question going back to after-care reporting. I'm just wondering if there are measures in place before people go out to treatment that there is a follow-up to say, maybe two months, three months, six months down the road, just checking on them to see if they are doing well and if their treatment has been successful or not and to do those kinds of increments.
Thank you for that question. I am very interested in that follow-up, as well, and it's my understanding that the department will start surveying people who go out to facility-based treatment and check in with them, whether they stay for the full time or they leave early, and to check in with them more than once when they come back, to find out whether they've been able to retain their sobriety.
I did have one final concern. I think maybe it's just a communication case; I'm not too sure. Maybe it could be an opportunity for the department. If all of this money is not being accessed throughout the year, I'm just wondering if that is something the department can look at. In, say, the past couple of years, have there been carry-overs for this fund, for the on-the-land fund?
Thank you very much. I don't have a ready answer to that. I know that it's only recently that this money has been increased to $1.8 million and, given the pandemic, I wonder if there will be a carry-over this year because, at this point, we've only spent about a third of it. I can, however, get you more specific information and provide that in a written response.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Marsi cho. Yes, thinking about it, I do have one final question. I will start with a beginning comment. There is the new announcement of sending our residents to Lloydminster and Toronto. Again, I feel like this is a missed opportunity. I really feel that we need to get more value out of our programs and where we are spending our money. Again, it pains me to see our funds go to the South, and I really feel this is an opportunity to bring them back. I know we can't address all the issues in terms of drug and alcohol addiction, because it is a problem, we all know that in this room, but if we could revisit not having our residents leave the territory and find more ways to keep the money in the North and not leak money, have this economic leakage, per se. I guess my final question is: is there still an appetite to do this within the department? Marsi cho.
Thank you to the Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. There is no current plan to establish a facility-based treatment option in the Northwest Territories. The last one was Nats'ejee K'eh. It cost as much to run Nats'ejee K'eh as it does to contract the six other places in the South, and so we feel that it's better value for money to have the facility-based treatment in the South, notwithstanding the fact that that money is not being spent in the North. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
