Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my Member’s statement today about the Nats’ejee K’eh Treatment Centre in Hay River on the K’atlodeeche First Nation, I have some follow-up questions for Minister Beaulieu.
Treatment of addictions is a hugely important issue in our territory. We need to use our resources in the most effective way possible. With the closure of the Nats’ejee K’eh Treatment Centre, which I believe cost around $2.2 million to operate, the majority of that money was spent on goods and services and the employment of Northerners. If we are forfeiting that, I would like to have the Minister explain for us and for the public so that we are assured that what the alternative is in fact the best and most efficient opportunity for the actual people with addictions. We are losing something in the North with the loss of the treatment centre, so we want to be assured that the alternative is in the best interest of the clients. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The money will remain in the treatment of individuals within the Northwest Territories and some of it will be used to develop a youth program which is starting this week. This week we are meeting with the first opportunity to do a youth pilot program in the Deh Cho, so some of our staff are going to go over there. Some of that money is being used to treat individuals that are going out for southern treatment. We are looking at developing on-the-land programs. Again, some of that money is going to developing some on-the-land programs – in fact, we are piloting three of those programs this year – and some of it will go to mobile treatment. The majority of it, with the exception of the money that is needed to continue residential care for people in the South, will be spent in the North. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, that is very good to hear. That is a very good answer. In terms of the southern treatment residential placements that the Minister has referred to, maybe he could elaborate a little bit for us on the diversity of the location and the type of specialization that these facilities could offer clients. How accessible are these going to be? What kind of waiting times, or are these going to be readily accessible for our northern residents? Thank you.
The four residential treatment facilities that we contract with in the South, one is sort of a culture-based residential treatment that’s been in existence for many years, a very successful residential treatment facility, and that is in Edmonton. There are two in Calgary; one is a residential treatment facility for women and the other is a residential treatment facility that we thought had a lot of success. Another one is in Nanaimo, British Columbia, which is another treatment facility that we selected that we thought had good successes in the past.
The process of getting out to those treatment facilities has been streamlined considerably. Previously to get into Nats’ejee K’eh, you had to be going through counselling for approximately six weeks, then, after that, wait for the next intake. Most of these programs have weekly intakes and we’re trying to connect to the very next intake, once a person presents themselves as needing treatment. Thank you.
Thanks again to the Minister on that elaboration of what the other options are for residential treatment.
With the re-profiling of these monies that have gone traditionally into the treatment of addictions, what would be the process or the dialogue that would take place with respect to the actual facility of what was in Nats’ejee K’eh Treatment Centre? Is there a possibility still that that infrastructure can be utilized in, perhaps, specialized treatment, if not residential, some kind of a facility? What’s the process? Who’s going to be involved in that dialogue and is there a possibility that that infrastructure can be used again under the umbrella of treatment for addictions? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, it is certainly possible that that facility could remain with the department and be used for some form of residential treatment or support treatment overall across the territory. We are going to be having those discussions with the K’atlodeeche First Nations. It is on the reserve there, and that facility, at one point, was something that they had lobbied for, brought onto the reserve and initially was mostly a cultural treatment facility before it became a medical treatment facility. So there’s a possibility that we may run mobile treatments out of there. It’s also possible to train councillors in a facility such as that. All of those options are still open for ourselves and anybody else who’s going to be involved in building the future for treatment in the Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Interjection
That’s fine. There are only two women; it’s hard to keep us straight.
---Laughter
Mr. Speaker, thank you to the Minister for that response. I had mentioned in my Member’s statement that we were disappointed that the sort of affected… This is a territorial facility. I understood that probably if it was ever re-profiled, it would continue to be a territorial piece of infrastructure. We were disappointed when the MLAs for Hay River and the MLA for Deh Cho weren’t really part of that.
As these discussions proceed, and certainly with all due respect to the K’atlodeeche First Nation because it is on their land, is it possible that we could be included in that dialogue at some point to share our thoughts? And the Standing Committee on Social Programs as well? We would like to be a part of that. We found out after the fact of the closure. We would like to get in on the ground floor of the planning, if that facility is going to be reutilized. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, certainly that is possible. We would be pleased to consult with the Members that are affected; in fact, all Members, since it is a territorial facility. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
