Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, these questions are for the Minister of health.
Mr. Speaker, every day when I'm back in Hay River in my home office, the issues that I deal with are or many are related to addictions. It's quickly destroying individuals, families, and it's only getting worse and we're seeing more people dying. So, Mr. Speaker, the 2022 Auditor General's Report states the importance of equal access to addiction and aftercare treatment. Can the Minister of health confirm what initiatives and progress has been made in this area when it comes to residents of the NWT? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the questions. So in the work plan attached to the response to the Auditor General's Report that was tabled in May of last year, we made a commitment to engage with Indigenous governments and communities to inform approaches. First of all, to define what is equitable and what do people want in more detail. So I've met with the NWT Council of Leaders to begin that discussion. And in the next year, according to the work plan, we will be establishing a territorial addictions working group with key stakeholders and to develop a work plan to implement activities that will reduce barriers and improve service delivery. So that is not a commitment to building a treatment centre.
A treatment centre, I want to strongly urge everyone who's listening, should be a priority in the next Assembly, or at least if not one treatment centre, which we have had trouble sustaining historically, then multiple regional approaches to treatment so that people can achieve treatment closer to home which is something we hear consistently that they want. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Colleagues, before we continue, I'd like to recognize Chief Danny Gaudet from Deline. Also former Chief Leonard Kenny, also from Deline. And also Joseph Kochon, president from Colville Lake. Welcome to the Chamber.
Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, an important component is northern culture is a northern culture treatment component for Indigenous persons is vital to success. And that cultural component must be based on the person's traditional culture and not that of another Indigenous person's culture.
Mr. Speaker, will the Minister confirm what southern treatment facilities under contract with the department provide the cultural component that best reflects Indigenous peoples northern culture? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm going to take the liberty of recognizing my constituent Stephanie Irlbacher Fox who is in the gallery today with the Indigenous leaders.
Mr. Speaker, we do not have a treatment facility that is based in Indigenous culture. We do have treatment centres that provide Indigenous content in their treatment. All of our centres are AA 12step-based facilities, which would be very familiar to people in the North.
I think the Member is aware that Poundmaker's withdrew from providing treatment last fall and that we have been on a journey to find a new treatment centre. We didn't receive any successful proposals in our last round but that doesn't mean we've given up on it. And I hope to be able to report progress on this in our next session. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Clause 21 of the TRC Call to Action states: We call upon the federal government to provide sustainable funding for existing and new Aboriginal healing centres to address the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual harms caused by residential schools and to ensure that the funding and healing centres in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories is a priority.
Mr. Speaker, has the Minister's department begun the process towards meeting objectives of this clause; more specifically, establishing a healing centre or treatment centre in the NWT? Thank you.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's my view that this recommendation to the federal government by the TRC should be pursued by the Indigenous governments. That's what's happening in Nunavut, and I would encourage the same thing to happen here. Instead of having us interpret what the Indigenous government organizations want for treatment from this TRC recommendation, I think it would be more effective if they took the lead and we worked with them. That's something we have talked about at the NWT Council of Leaders, and I look forward to progress on that in the coming year. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the North, we have access to those persons that can bring cultural suitability to treatment programs. What we are missing is a certified or licensed health component due to recruitment issues.
Mr. Speaker, is the Minister willing to consider establishing a treatment centre, whether in the NWT or in the south, that provides clients with treatment that reflects northern appropriate culture in addition to services provided by licensed health workers? Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know that the Member would like me to say yes, and he wants me to leave the past behind. But I think that when we're looking at spending tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer money, I think it's really important that we take away the issues from the previous treatment centres. Most importantly, that they were never more than they were never filled to capacity, that there were issues that related to staffing, that related to the programming, that kept people away. So the idea of committing tens of millions of dollars to do the same thing again simply doesn't make sense to me.
What we've heard consistently from Indigenous governments is they want a regional approach so that people in the Gwich'in settlement area can deal with a Gwich'in healing camp. Likewise, the Tlicho and so on. So I think that one treatment centre for the whole of the NWT is not something which I'm confident will work but I think there are other approaches that will, and I look forward to working on them. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
