Thank you. For that detail, I will let the ADM fill that information in.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the ADM.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the supp funding last year for the increase was a combination of the supp for the facility-based addictions treatment as well as some onetime funding for a third party funding agreement. Next year or in 20242025, the budget has been increased by $923,000 to address some of the forced growth in the facilitybased addictions treatment, so not all of it. So last year we got $1.8 million in supp for the addictions facilities. Our budget has increased by $900,000 in 20242025. We're hoping to make up the difference through those other arrangements that the Minister just spoke about. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Range Lake.
Thank you. And if the department is unable to make up that difference, would then a supp come forward, a supplementary appropriation come forward? Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, one of the things that I I guess, becoming in this role is that and I've been saying it on the floor of the House, is that we can't really forecast some areas in health and, you know, right now, there's been a bigger uptake in addictions program in the last fiscal year, and, you know, if we hope, you know, that this is the path that our residents are wanting to go, we will support them, and then we would have to go back for a supplementary appropriation or else to be able to try and fund that within. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Range Lake.
Do we know thank you, Mr. Chair. Do we know the cost per client based on the actuals, the 20222023 actuals of this program? Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
We don't have the actuals per cost. We have the contract base facility what the like, what they charge per person going to the five facilities that we have in the contract. And we also have the it's the flights and accommodations. So where they're coming from in the territory to the facility base, whether or not they need, you know, an escort to go with them to it ranges, so there's not one cost. Thank you.
Thank you. The Member of Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, I mean, if I think just about everyone committed to some sort of landbased treatment option, whether it's an ontheland program, an Indigenous cooperated wellness centre, but the priority is getting local options into regions and decrease our reliance on out of territory specialized facilities. I think a good place to start there is to look at cost and to see if there is like, what's realistic here, because we always resort to the same arguments where we can't do it efficiently or effectively in the Northwest Territories due to costs and limitations on specialized workers who can and doctors and psychiatrists and clinicians, etcetera. So could the Minister commit to creating or doing a calculation of what it costs per client to receive out of territory treatment services averaged across all regions, one; and then two, by region, or whatever's easiest. It's just if we have an actual number to work off of, then we could start having a responsible conversation. Because I think when, yes, these things are challenging challenges, but they're not insurmountable, and there's a very real need for treatment options, local treatment options, and I think we need to start by getting to grips with what the service actually costs the government and where there's potential savings. So can the Minister commit to providing an average cost per user of this service? Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Yes, Mr. Chair, that is something that we and the department has been doing lots of work in this area. And, you know, I hear what the Member is saying, and I agree that there right now as we stand, though, there aren't a lot of programs that are up and ready to access in the Northwest Territories and so what we're hoping is that within this government, and that's why it's in the business plan, that we can collaborate with those Indigenous governments that have programs. And we know that we're spending anywhere from $200 to $650 a day outside the territory on services for individuals. And depending on how long their program is, some programs, you know, are longer than others and then some have additional aftercare programs that they can stay on longer. So, yes, we can I'm not sure how quick we can come up with those numbers, but we can pull that stuff together. And I know that we have been because that's something that I know that I've also stressed is that if we do have addictionbased programs in the territory, how are we going to support them as well to have residents being able to access them. And so that something that we will be looking into. Thank you.
Thank you. Any other Members that want to provide questions to the Minister? I'm going to go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And kind of getting back to some conversations we were having last week, have been kind of similar to the Member for Range Lake jogging my memory. And I do remember we were talking about residential care and the comments that the Member from Yellowknife North making regarding that and the desire to see people see us working towards keeping people in the territory.
I just wanted to note that, you know, at a constituency meeting I had recently, I was talking to a few different members of the public who had come to the meeting to express their hope that something could be put in place, even just as simple as something like respite care or temporary care. So this is for families who are providing care, or they have someone in care. They're generally able to maintain this themselves for the most part, but obviously from time to time may not be able to. So is this something, at the very minimum, that the department would be able to consider and look at in order to reduce this, you know, significantly expensive item where we are sending people out of the territory. Are there ways that we can kind of better support people where they are so that we don't end up in situations where we have to send people out? Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I know that we do we do review, and as I mentioned the last time we do reviews on all of the clients that are out of territory and in each individual reviewing, if there is a possibility in bringing those individuals back. However, what the Member is also speaking to is, you know, respite. And in our longterm care, there are beds that are allocated as respite beds. And I know sometimes families get to the point where, you know, they're exhausted or, you know, they may be leaving for an emergency or having to leave town and, you know, have no other place. This is an area where with increasing the amounts of longterm care beds in our regions is going to help alleviate some of those areas for respite beds for those residents that are living in the Northwest Territories being supported by their families. And I think right now we have 17 respite beds in the Northwest Territories. And I believe that those respite beds are I think they're all full. And so, you know, I look forward to the like, the openings of our longterm cares. And we've heard in this House of the other longterm care facilities in our regional centres. And I know that that's one area that we're looking at. And, you know, so I'll just leave it at that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think that what was being desired and what was being spoken to in this case is hoping that, you know, care can be provided in such a way that people could be kept at home and not necessarily we're not necessarily talking about people who need to be in a bed or, you know, being provided medical care so to speak but sometimes just kind of some social support. I'm wondering if the Minister could kind of speak to that kind of care, keeping people at home, giving people support where they are, where they need it, so that they don't have to be in the hospital or sent south. Thanks.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we do in the previous section, we have home and community care as part of our that is where we would have supports for families. And I know that in a perfect world, we would have 24hour care in all our communities to be able to provide home support work, home care. And that's not the reality. We're slowly implementing it now. Up until a few years ago, it was only Monday to Friday, you know, and very seldom in the evenings. So we know that is something that we've heard loud and clear. And, I mean, myself as an MLA, I also raised those issues. And we're slowly and I think we just recently announced that there are some other areas outside that are getting more services into the evenings and on the weekends to support families. So Yellowknife has home care, and, you know, there's families there that need, you know, assistance. There is assessment that goes through for those families that you know, and if they're needing more services then, you know, the family can stress that. But, however, we have to you know, we have to provide services across the Northwest Territories, and so we have to try and make sure that we're putting those resources equitably across the territory. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's it for questions on this section. Thank you.
Thank you. Any further Members want to ask questions? Go to the Member from the Dehcho.
Thank you. And the question I have is how is the because there's a rising demand for treatment, addictions treatment. How is the department addressing the rising demand for alcohol addictions treatment program? Thank you.
Thank you. To the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we have this is the work that's been done on the access to out of territory treatment addictions are the request of some people in the territory. So we have to ensure that we have those facilities and we have contracts with those facilities. We have one Indigenous facility that we have a contract with right now. And I know that within the Northwest Territories, what we're trying to do is we're working with you know, providing funding for Indigenous governments to be able to and we've heard them loud and clear, that they want to be able to run ontheland programs. You know, they've strictly said that they are the best people to know their own people to provide those programs to helping get their you know, get residents in their each different ridings well and to be able to support them in their own way. And so we will continue to collaborate with those Indigenous governments to provide programming. And that's why we've created all the funding pots and we've amalgamated them and so that way they're a lot more flexible to the needs of the different regions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'm going to go back to the Member from the Dehcho.
Thank you. Is there support to assist communities to develop a communitybased treatment program? Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go back to the Minister.
If there's communities that are interested in, you know, accessing the dollars to provide programming in their communities, what I can do is I know that I I don't have it on hand, but what I can do to the Members is provide the information to the funds that we do have available and where they can who they have to contact to access those funds and then they can you know, they can, you know, assist the Indigenous government on their proposals on what they want to do. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go back to the Member from the Dehcho.
I think that would be very useful because I think a lot of times well, it's just my own perspective that there's the thought, but there's just not the know how to develop a plan and get everything in place to ensure that on the maybe year later they have a full program where people can go to and take part in a treatment program. And also look at maybe even staying there for an additional time period after they're finished the treatment program as part of aftercare and then integrate back into the community. I've even thought about using this type of a model for inmates that come out of jails to go into an ontheland program. It'll be it could be used for different things like that, so where they are worked with and then reintegrated back into town and hopefully into employment, housing and employment. So it's something that I've been thinking about, so. Yeah, so just having the support that they need to get the ball rolling in the communities and the support to the people that are going to apply for the funding and want to get going with the treatment program. Thank you.
Thank you. I take that more or less as a question. Is there any further questions? Thank you. I want to go to the Member from the Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This particular subject or issue of concern is has a great deal to do with myself and the Northwest Territories as a whole. I've seen, witnessed, a lot of clients going out to the southern regions to get treatment, and I applaud them, and I encourage them. Just yesterday coming back from the Mackenzie Delta, I saw one of my constituents on his way to Toronto and I wished him well, and I hope that, you know, he gets the counselling that he wants and deserves. But coming back from a southern institution and coming back into the community where you see all your friends and your families who are still practicing or using alcohol and/or drugs and you have to go back and interact with your families and friends because it's you need the support, and that support may not be there. So aftercare is very important in success of these clients because at the moment now, you see them, they don't have nowhere to go within the communities and the regions. They don't know where to go. They don't know who to talk to. I mean, just integrating back, right back into the community is a struggle. They don't have any friendship centres within the communities. They don't have any place where they can drop in to see, you know, like, I'm still trying get that message to somebody that in the community that cares. Tell them that, you know, I'm still trying but I also require assistance in aftercare.
So what I would like to know is, you know, is there some kind of program or some kind of funding available where communities who would like to see nothing better than the health of their residents be able to access funding where they can start up a program, not just when a client comes back but ongoing programs where past clients have went south for treatment and have fallen off but they want to get back into the program and try again. Because I always say never quit trying to quit. And I always tell people that, you know, it's no matter if you tried 20 times, just keep trying. And I've often encouraged people that. I use that as my own model too. I struggled. I still struggle. And myself, I'm fortunate that I have family that were very supportive, are very supportive. I have friends. And I get involved with the community, but some of these people are not very good at approaching people for help. So it'll be good if the department can have funds available for communities where they can have an ongoing aftercare program. It doesn't have to be an expensive program. It just has to be something there that a community member can initiate saying that, you know, that you just came back from treatment, if you need help give me a call. There's no services like that within my community. So it'll be good if the department can have funding available for someone, even if it's just an individual, you know, go play a baseball game, go play some cards during the night when times are getting tough, you know, provide some meals. Some of these people don't have homes.
So my question is there somewhere in here that communities can start communitybased programs for specifically aftercare? Because we have clients that are going, taking the initiative to go down south, but coming back to nothing. So that's my question to the Minister. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. In this section, there is the out of territory use facilities but in the previous section, there was the community wellness and addiction recovery fund that is that fund that's been amalgamated to incorporate all of the old there was two or three different pots of funding. So it streamlines the process so that access to communities can access it if it's for addictions, it's aftercare, it's mental wellness, they can access through that program. And I think Indigenous communities can access up to a certain like up to $200,000, I believe, per year. And regional governments have the opportunity to apply and access dollars on multilevel like, multiyear agreements. So there is funding there. And, you know, I've committed to sharing that information to Regular Members. And I've been stressing that throughout all my visits with Indigenous governments, is that we do have this fund. We hear continuously that communities want to have make their made in their own community kind of program. That's what this fund can do. So, again, I will make sure that information is shared with committee. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go back to the Member from Mackenzie Delta.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the Minister for the response. This is just really more of a comment. Having the success of these clients that return from the treatment centres is a responsibility of not only the client, him or herself, but also the families. The family requires counselling because they have to adapt to these changes that this individual is trying to make, and also the community. It affects everybody. It affects us all here as MLAs and as Ministers, the Premier, and everybody. It affects all of us. One person that is struggling with alcohol has an impact on all of departments. So me returning back to a community after session is completed that, you know, I'll have to make sure that the Indigenous governments are aware that there is funding available, that we have to take the initiative to start helping keep healing our people. And it's an ongoing process. It's not going to happen in one year. It's a lifelong process that we have to keep engaging in their welfare. So, you know, I'd just like to thank the department in doing their part too. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for your comments. Any further Members? I want to go to the Member from Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. With reference to addiction treatment facility, there's a major difference within the budget. From 20232024, there's reductions for this fiscal year. Can the Minister explain to us why there is a reduction within current the fiscal year or for the upcoming fiscal year 20242025? Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, that increase was the difference was that there was the supplementary funding because of the increased costs that the out of territory treatment facilities with the new agreements, and it also was the increased cost to the travel that it was increased numbers that we were getting for people that were going out for treatment. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Monfwi.
Okay, thank you. So it just goes to show that we really do have an addiction issue in the North, and especially with the drugs and alcohol. So it's just that there is the difference here is that there's reductions. I have an issue with that where, you know, why? Because we know that there is a major issue. You know, and why there's a reduction within the budget. I know that just like what my colleague said from Mackenzie Delta, in small communities, and in here too, we know of someone who is suffering with addictions. We even have family members who are suffering, you know, with addiction issues. And lately I've been hearing in my region is that a lot of people are seeking help. They want to go for help. They want to go deal with their addiction issues. So I know that there's the on the land base. So some of those will work for some people. And with the treatment facility, some it will work, it will work for some people. Because we don't have something to fall back on when they come back, like the transition centre or a program that's going to be, you know, helping these people. Some of them, they only last a day as soon as they come back. So we do need something in place. Because the government is spending a lot of money trying to send you know, to send the people out to get help that they need to deal with their addictions. But there's nothing. There's nothing in place for a lot of in the small communities, like there's nothing. It's going to be it's good that Yellowknife and there's Yellowknife and Inuvik. But from my region, there probably you know, there's nothing there for my communities or for my regions. And with things that's happening in Yellowknife, crime related to drugs, it's a lot of people are scared to go to Yellowknife to seek help. So with the transition centre that's being proposed in two communities, I just wanted to ask the Minister if they're looking at having the same program in other regions for next fiscal year. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. At this time right now, what we have in the budget for and in our business plan is to have these two programs, one in Yellowknife and one in Inuvik, as it is a partnership with an NGO and health, infrastructure, and housing. And so right now where we're at is getting these two up and running and hopefully to have that and, you know, and, I mean, if there's a way to be able to work with Indigenous governments and with other partners, if there's federal dollars that we can access that we could try to bring more of those facilities in the territory, you know, I fully support that type of work but right now where we are financially is this is where we can you know, what we can do right now. And like I said, any time I talk with Indigenous governments if there's you know, if there's a way that we can tap into some of these federal budgets that the announcements with mental health wellness and addictions and different pots of money that they have, if there's ways that we can work with communities to partner, you know, we're always looking for different ways to try and provide different services but right now what we have on the books is just for these two facilities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'm going to go back to the Member from Monfwi.
