Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I think it’s safe to say that the Minister doesn’t have a magic wand. This is not a problem with an easy solution and that’s why we highlight it and bring it up here again today. I believe that when we are identifying a problem, if we have any ideas about what some solutions might be, it might also be good to bring those up as well.
We have tried a lot of things. Let’s not say that our government has done nothing to address addictions because we certainly have tried a lot of things. Unfortunately, they have not addressed the problem to the degree that it certainly needs to be addressed.
As a result of the Minister’s Forum on Addictions that went around and did consultation, some health care officials came to Hay River, met with our local Metis government and I was fortunate enough to be invited to that meeting. In that meeting there was discussion of a new model that I have not known of ever being tried in the Northwest Territories before. That is sending professionals, not taking the people out of their communities, but sending professionals or a group of specialists into the community to work with the community to have people receive counselling and treatment in their own community, in their own space.
I would like to ask the Minister what is the status of that idea that was shared with us that night. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A mobile treatment was one of the recommendations of the Minister’s Forum. We think that mobile treatment is certainly a possibility. Mobile treatment has been tried in other jurisdictions. I believe that mobile treatment has also been tried in the Northwest Territories in the past. So far what we’ve done is we’ve recognized that mobile treatment is something that is possible. We are developing a program around what mobile treatment could look like. We’ve talked to Poundmaker’s Lodge, which is a healing lodge in Edmonton, and found out if they have had individuals involved in mobile treatment, to see if they could assist us in developing something for the NWT. Thank you.
I think it’s a good idea. I think if we could harness the efforts of the local people that are involved with people who are dealing with addictions, such as the RCMP, the local nurse, interagency groups in communities like Hay River, if we could involve those people in finding solutions and addressing the problem, not on a one-time basis where a team comes in, but where there could be continuing follow-up and continuing interaction with the community, so that they could monitor and people would have a place to reach out to if people needed counselling or needed an anchor or a sponsor or somebody to talk to about the situation as they progressed down that journey.
I’d like a little bit more detail when the Minister says mobile treatment and we’re all supposed to understand what that means. Could he add a little bit more detail to that as to what that might look like and if that might be something similar to what I’ve described? Thank you.
All indications that we’ve had for mobile treatment are actually what the Member is describing; they are professionals in a certain facility that design their program, their healing program, around going out to the communities rather than bringing people into a centre for residential treatment. They meet them in their own environment. One of the treatment options that we are looking at is where a team of three counsellors are going into a community and work with the community. That was targeted at addressing youth treatment. We found that to be a way where we can treat youth without sending youth out to facilities down South that specialize in treatment. Thank you.
I think the issue is of trust and building relationships. So if you did have these professionals that were providing this mobile treatment, I would like the Minister to confirm if there could be continuity, if there could be a long-range relationship developed with the community or the people who could be the helpers also in the community going forward, not just a one-time deal where some people you don’t know come into town, everybody is all excited, everybody jumps on board and says let’s do this. I want something that’s sustained, that is supported and that will see some results. Thank you.
Part of any treatment program, whether it be residential treatment, on-the-land treatment, mobile treatment, in order to have any treatment programs have success, we have to have an after-care program. That is one of the other recommendations that were made in the Minister’s Forum and also we recognized that just by talking to the community counsellors. An after-care program is very important and how we develop an after-care program, depending on the size of the community, will determine its success. Thank you.
So we’ve had this idea shared with us by the senior officials in the Minister’s department. The Minister has shared this mobile treatment idea with us here in the House today. It’s not a cheap solution. It’s going to take money. It’s going to take a lot of money to see this laid out and rolled out in an effective way.
Does the department have the financial resources to back up this idea of mobile treatment and how soon could we see it started? Thank you.
The department has been working on wellness plans. Right now, we are funding the communities to develop wellness plans to do some of this work. We’re also going to use some of the money that we were using in Nats’ejee K’eh to do some of this type of issue. I’m not sure we are going to have all the money to do all of the programs, but the idea, I guess the general idea would be that once the mobile treatment team has gone into a community, then the after-care program will come into play. We’re assuming further on down the road there could be a follow-up mobile treatment. That could be coupled with on the land, it could be coupled with treatment of youth. So the idea is it will continue to flow, so once mobile treatment is started in the community it will continue.
We know that the addictions are very high, especially in Aboriginal communities; therefore, we are trying to address that issue by sending mobile treatment people in. That’s once we’ve had an opportunity to evaluate a pilot of such so that we make sure we are doing the right thing. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
