Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Sadly, as highlighted earlier today, our community has lost another youth and it’s attributed to drug use. The thing is, I continue, as many other Members here continue, to cite the issue of we need a detox centre here in Yellowknife, and if not here in Yellowknife, then somewhere in the Northwest Territories. The Minister doesn’t have to take my word for it, of course. There’s always Justice Vertes or the YK Chamber, the NWT coroner or perhaps even Stanton committee’s position on the need for these types of facilities.
My question directly to the Minister of Health and Social Services is: what is his department doing to establish a very specific style of treatment, which is a detox centre, targeted to attack and help beat the drug addictions that are associated with things like crystal meth, such as prescription abuse, as well as alcohol abuse? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This area has seen a considerable evolution over the last five or six years or so. There was initially a report done, called the State of Emergency, that decried the state of alcohol and drug services in the Northwest Territories, and there was tens of millions of dollars, and dozens of positions added, and significant restructuring done to improve the level of service. There was a subsequent follow-up report a number of years later called Staying the Course, which said that the path chosen was the right one, that they had to make some adjustments, but we have to keep going down the path that would lead to those final long-term improvements.
Since that time, things have continued to evolve. There have been other issues that have come to light, other concerns been brought, and now there is a subsequent review that’s currently being considered and a response being worked on that’s going to lay out what we think, as a government, as a department, as a way forward to deal with some of the broader issues that relate to mental health and addictions issues, including the Member’s concern about further intuitional development and bricks and mortar facilities. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, today I’m asking not just for bricks and mortar, because I think ultimately that is the long-term solution, but today I really need to hear the Minister commit to when will a plan be put forward to address this. I appreciate the review is looking back as to what was done, but I’m sorry to say that we have a number of experts, I would definitely define them as, who have all said the same thing, which is we need these types of resources available today rather than sitting and waiting.
I’m so passionate about this issue. It doesn’t just have to be here in Yellowknife. We could establish a detox centre anywhere in the Northwest Territories, because as far as I’m concerned, if we’re treating people, it doesn’t matter where it is, as long as we are.
Mr. Speaker, the last point I want to emphasize on this issue is the state at play at this very moment is if you have a child who has a crack problem, you have to be sent to one of the regular local programs and fail at that program before the Department of Health and Social Services will refer you to the appropriate targeted program in the South. Mr. Speaker, I believe we can establish this here anywhere in the North. I’m just happy to hear if we could get it done. Mr. Speaker, that’s my question to the Minister of Health and Social Services, is when can we bring a plan to the table that really focuses in on real results. Thank you.
Let me just set a quick context for the response. Yesterday I gave a fiscal update in this House that pointed to the extreme constraints that we, like just about every other government, are under in terms of managing our dollars and meeting our needs, and our ability to have new programs added on are minimal to none in the life of this government. We will have a plan in the life of this government that lays out what we recommend are steps to be taken in the coming years. With the addictions and mental health services, we will have a renewed strategic plan for Health and Social Services by the August Assembly that will lay out as a system how we intend to move forward, including that area, and that plan will be there. Everything we do, including things like this, midwifery services, the 101 other very good issues that we should be putting money to will be dependent on the resources we have available. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, undeniably, I’ll say that you could step out of this building and get away from the throes of what the impression of what the world really wants in this building to actually getting on the street to what the real citizens will tell you, and undoubtedly, I will tell you that they will say the Northwest Territories needs a detox centre.
Mr. Speaker, it’s true that some types of demons in the drug and alcohol areas that they may require specific programming, and perhaps on-the-land programs are more appropriate for those types of problems, but, Mr. Speaker, jails aren’t always the solution, and I think that’s the issue Justice Vertes was trying to say. As he highlighted clearly, he said if it was the solution, America would be the safest place in the world, which it isn’t, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, will these results, as highlighted by the Minister in his last answers, will they come with a commitment from this government to support them if it comes forward and says build a detox centre? Because we need to focus in on real results that deliver true results which are a priority of the citizens of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
If we walk outside the confines of this building we will also find that we need thousands of housing units, that we need babies to be born healthy, that we need parents that are actively engaged in the upbringing of their children, that we need employment. There are lots of issues.
This particular issue will be brought forward. There will be options laid out there and recommendations. It will be the job of the incoming 17th Assembly in the budget process for 2012-13 to decide how they want to move forward, what their priorities are, and what we can afford. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t have to explain to the Minister how paralyzing drug and alcohol problems are to people of the North, but the reality here is this government could make that commitment today and not hope that the new Assembly will take care of what rightly is the responsibility of the legislators of today, which is to deal with this particular problem.
The last thing I’ll say, Mr. Speaker, is forcing people to Stanton is not the appropriate place. Forcing people to jails is not the appropriate place. That’s why I’m here today asking the Minister if he will commit. If this report says that we should build a detox centre, as all the other experts have highlighted earlier said we need, will this government get behind that, stand behind that and make the appropriate investment that speaks to that need? Thank you.
That’s a lot of ifs with four months left and a clear decision by this Assembly that we’re not going to make any major commitments in the last few days of an Assembly. We will do the work. The budget is set for this year and we will lay that out. We’re doing transition planning.
The other thing we ought to keep in mind, Mr. Speaker, the Member keeps talking about a treatment centre. We can’t lose sight of the fact that we still don’t do enough on the prevention side. That if we just accept the fact that people are going to keep drinking and we’re just going to keep building facilities to try to fix them once they’re addicted, or put them in the hospital and give them dialysis and kidney transplants once they’re so sick that there’s no other alternative, then we will truly never have enough money. I can tell you that right now. I said that five years ago when I was Health Minister and I’ll tell you again today, we don’t have enough money to keep fixing things or people when they’re broken or damaged. We have to get onto the prevention, because we do not have the money. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
