There’s no question

that we have challenges here in the Northwest Territories with mental health and addictions. Addictions is rampant throughout the Northwest Territories, and in direct response to the Minister’s Forum on Mental Health and Addictions, we’re taking the actions that were directed by the people of the Northwest Territories, who said support on- the-land programming, get community counsellors in the communities and regions, make sure that we have a wide range of programs and options. Treatment facilities are but one, and in the Northwest Territories, treatment facilities have failed every time that we have tried to open one. They’ve failed because of staffing reasons, high cost, $420 per day compared to southern facilities at $155, safety issues that were clearly articulated, and underutilization.

These facilities in the South are run and successful because they can maintain a very, very large number of clients at any given time. Poundmaker’s can take between 80 and 100 people, which helps them bring in psychologists, psychiatrists and permanent staff who can really work with the clients. We don’t have that capacity. So I’m not going to commit to reopening Nats’ejee K’eh as a treatment facility. I will commit to working with the community to finding a use for that facility

that will benefit all people, something like a wellness centre, a training centre for mental health and addictions, or a home location for what will be our mobile treatment option at some point in the future, but not reopen it as a treatment facility again because we’ve failed and we’ll continue to fail. We don’t have the capacity. Let’s do something that’s actually for the benefit of our people rather than just result in another failure. Thank you.