Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, wanted to follow up with questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services on the Nats’ejee K’eh Treatment Centre.
Until the Nats’ejee K’eh Treatment Centre is reopened or another homegrown facility is established, can the Minister of Health commit to streamlining the process for entry into southern residential treatment programs? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly that was one of the earlier objectives when this facility, Nats’ejee K’eh, closed, that we attempt to streamline the process for any individuals who are wishing to go for treatment.
As I indicated earlier, we believe that once an individual presents themselves as needing treatment, we are trying to get into the very next facility of their choice on the very next intake. Thank you very much.
My question is to the Minister once again. There has been some discussion in terms of on-the-land programs and what it may mean. Perhaps the Minister could tell us the philosophy behind the on-the-land programs, especially the plans and the status of such an initiative. At what point would the Minister be able to explain to this House how an on-the-land program would work? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, on-the-land treatment is something that was called for by the communities. I do believe that the philosophy of the on-the-land treatment is to get people to go back out on the land for healing. A lot of the Aboriginal people who called for this felt very connected to the land, so we’re trying to develop a philosophy around that type of treatment.
Also, in order to gather more information and develop a program, we have hired an individual who will be specifically working on this project, on-the-land treatment, and we’re also piloting three on-the-land treatment programs that would be either coming in the spring or some time soon. We are working on piloting those programs, and we’re going to use the materials from that pilot in order to develop a larger, more comprehensive on-the-land program. Thank you.
I’d like to thank the Minister for providing that answer.
What would be some of the features in terms of developing an on-the-land program? Would it be a philosophy that’s based on the AA program? Would it be a philosophy that’s based on First Nations affinity to on the land in terms of the environment? Could the Minister explain? Mahsi.
Thank you. Certainly some of the discussions that we had early on in the development of on-the-land has been that people have called for an AA-based type of program, then starting that on the land and then using AA as an aftercare program. However, I’m not sure if that’s going to be something that will be encompassed out on the land at this point.
At this point, I think the majority of the on-the-land program will be based around the connection the First Nations people have with being out on the land, and using that, I think, as the basis for developing the program. I’m not sure we would have specific counsellors out there, but I do believe that is going to be all part of the program. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In terms of listening to the Minister indicating that there are three on-the-land programs that might be piloted, is there a timeline in terms of when we can expect those pilot on-the-land programs to commence? Mahsi.
I don’t have the specific dates on that with me, but I would be more than willing to provide that to the Members across the floor, on where the programs will be piloted and with whom the programs will be piloted by and when they will be piloted. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
