Thank you. Can the Minister share any comprehensive evaluation or other data that takes into account by needs assessments, best practices of Indigenous treatment centres in other jurisdictions, and client uptakes and outcomes of the departments preferred service offering to back up her claim that treatment centres do not work in the NWT? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister for Health and Social Services.
Yes, thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, when I say treatment centres don't work, I'm talking about attendance at the treatment centres. Since we established the contracts with the southern treatment centres, the number of people going to treatment has increased significantly. And this is information that the Member asked for last week, which was sent to her today. She will notice that there is a dropoff in the years that COVID has been active but since 2014, 2015, a total of 1,446 people have been to treatment. Thank you.
Thank you. Will the department and health authorities consider that a change in their own approach may be necessary to make treatment facilities successful rather than assume treatment centres definitively will not work in NWT? Thank you.
Yes, thank you. We did a comprehensive addictions survey about a year and a half ago, and that collected a lot of valuable feedback about what people experienced in treatment and what they wanted for aftercare. One of the requests there was to have treatment closer to home, and that's something that we are having conversations with the Indigenous governments about. I want to note that when it was time to set the priorities for this Legislative Assembly, nobody asked for a treatment centre. Thank you.
With the contract between GNWT and Poundmaker's Lodge now terminated, replacing Poundmaker's with another suitable facility based on Indigenous treatment centre is an urgent matter. What is the department doing to fast track its process in securing new options, and what do those timelines look like? Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, the department has developed an RFP that will go out before the end of the year asking Indigenousfocused treatment centres to submit proposals for serving NWT residents. And our hope is that that contract will be in place for the new fiscal year, April 1st. And if the Member has any particular recommendations or contacts in Indigenous treatment circles that we should pursue, we would be happy to hear about them. Thank you.
Well, like I said before, she can work with Tlicho government on this approach.
In the spirit of wanting to provide a range of suitable options for NWT residents, will the Minister commit to learning more about client preferences and contracting a greater number of southern facilities that meet our needs for addiction treatment? Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, the six facilities, now five, that we contracted was the result of an RFP process. What we were looking for was variety in the possibilities that we could offer. And I believe those contracts were for three years, so they have about a year and a half to go. So this is a process that is renewed from time to time. And we can certainly test any options that the Member might want to bring to our attention at that time. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
