Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a return to oral question asked by the Member for Monfwi on October 20, 2020, regarding residential addictions treatment.
It is a priority in the mandate of the Government of the Northwest Territories to "increase the number and variety of culturally respectful, community-based mental health and addictions programs, including aftercare." I am committed to making this priority a reality.
The Member said that the previous Minister and the current deputy minister made a promise to look into creating a northern treatment center. I have reviewed Hansard for that day, and there was no promise made. The deputy minister did say that looking at a northern treatment center is "not off the table." That means there is space for Indigenous government leadership on next steps.
I want to turn now to providing some background on facility-based addictions treatment in the Northwest Territories. We have had four treatment centres over the last couple of decades. The last one to close was Nats'ejee K'eh in 2013. Since then, the department has contracted four facilities in Alberta and BC in order to expand the range of options available to Northerners and reduce wait times to get in. The cost of operating Nats'ejee K'eh when it closed in 2013 was about $2.1 million a year. The current fiscal year budget for out-of-territory addictions treatment is $2.1 million, with an anticipated spend this year of $2.3 million.
Nats'ejee K'eh was a 30-bed facility that offered 28-day, gender-specific programming. In the final three years of operations, Nats'ejee K'eh operated at an average of 38 percent capacity. In its final full year of operations, 133 people attended treatment. In contrast, over the past six years, since we started using southern facilities, an average of 228 people attend treatment each year. When factoring in utilization rates and the annual $2-million operating budget for Nats'ejee K'eh, it resulted in a bed rate of approximately $522 per day per client. In contrast, the department's current contracts for treatment range from $180 per day to $452 per day.
The Standing Committee on Social Development in the last Legislative Assembly toured the four treatment centres. I was a member of that committee. We discovered the details of programming offered, and we met Northerners who were in the programs. In this small sample, NWT residents were most concerned about aftercare and about having choices for treatment.
About 70 percent of Northerners complete their programs. Looking to the next step, they wanted to know where they would live when they came back to the northern communities they came from and what services were available to support their sobriety. Our report and recommendations focused on the need for housing and aftercare.
The department has started to bridge this gap in services. First, the department invested in community-based, on-the-land, mobile, family-based treatment and recovery. This pot of funding is now worth $1.8 million a year. I encourage Indigenous governments and organizations to apply for funding and create a program that is specific to the needs of their people. Funding is still available for this fiscal year. This program responds to the Mental Wellness and Addictions Recovery Action Plan that promises more community-based solutions for wellness and addiction recovery.
Second, the department has strengthened community counselling options. Under a new approach, there is no wait list for counselling. People can get an appointment the same day.
Third, the department is looking to work with communities to set up addictions peer support programs like Alcoholics Anonymous or Wellbriety to support people in maintaining their sobriety.
Fourth, there are telephone supports through the NWT Help Line and the Strongest Families Institute.
Fifth, there are several cell phone apps and online options that will soon be made available to assist people who want to find solutions in their own home. We are providing a range of options so that we can meet people's needs wherever they are.
We are also looking at prevention. Work has started on an alcohol strategy. The goal of the strategy is to create an all-of-government approach to addressing alcohol-related harm, such as reducing our high level of hospitalizations that occur primarily as a result of alcohol. There will be widespread public consultations over the next two years to hear from NWT residents about what needs to be in that alcohol strategy. We are taking steps to develop a model for managed alcohol to decrease the harms related to binge drinking. The lessons learned in controlled distribution of alcohol through the pandemic are informing this work. The department is working on a medical detox model that can be delivered in the NWT.
I recognize that addictions and recovery is an issue in almost every family and every community. It robs people of their health and potential. It is a disease that results in too many deaths. I want to change the story, and I know that the Member for Monfwi does, as well. I am convinced that the path forward is to provide NWT residents with a wide variety of supports, to meet them where they are in their healing journey and to assist them in continuing on. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
