Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Your Standing Committee on Social Development is pleased to provide its Report on Adult Residential Addictions Treatment Facilities Tour 2017 and recommended to the House.

Introduction

The Northwest Territories Department of Health and Social Services (HSS) contracts with four adult residential addictions treatment facilities: the Edgewood Treatment Centre in Nanaimo, British Columbia; Fresh Start Recovery and the Aventa Centre of Excellence for Woman With Addictions in Calgary, Alberta; and Poundmaker’s Lodge in St. Albert, Alberta.

From December 3 to December 8, 2017, the Standing Committee on Social Development visited these facilities. The committee also visited Guthrie House in Nanaimo, a residential treatment program in the provincial corrections system. Our goal was to study the residential services offered at each facility to better understand the options available to Northerners and to develop recommendations to enhance territorial addictions treatment.

The committee thanks the Minister of Health and Social Services and his staff for their assistance in coordinating these visits and for joining us in our tour. We also thank the staff of each facility and the residents who shared their experiences.

Although a person's addiction can affect their families and communities, both addiction and the decision to pursue treatment are also deeply personal. There is no one correct path to sobriety, and a person may also pursue treatment, whether counselling, peer support groups, or on-the-land programs at home, or residential programs, at any point in their healing journey. HSS is currently developing an action plan on addictions recovery, work that will also include an inter-departmental working group and public engagement. The committee intends its recommendations to form a critical part of this plan, and we thank the Minister for his willingness to collaborate.

Background

According to the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, alcohol is the most common drug used by Canadians. In 2015-2016 the Northwest Territories (NWT) had the second-highest per capita level of alcohol consumption in the country: roughly 12 litres per capita in sales per year. These figures excluded alcohol sold through bootlegging. In the same year, NWT residents were hospitalized due to alcohol consumption at a rate of 1,315 per 100,000. The lowest rate was just 172 per 100,000 in New Brunswick.

In the NWT, particular populations also face increased risk. According to a 2012 HSS report, residents of smaller NWT communities were more at risk to experience harm from drinking alcohol when compared to residents of regional centres and Yellowknife. Small community residents and Indigenous residents were also more at risk to experience harm from somebody else's drinking.

Illegal drug use is also a problem, and substance use and addictions negatively impact Northerners involved with the criminal justice system. In 2016, Vice Canada reported on the impacts of trauma and addictions on territorial crime, highlighting the ongoing impact of intergenerational trauma and the anecdotal reports of the RCMP officers identifying alcohol as a common factor in calls to the police. In the same year, the Chief Coroner reported that in the previous five years, an average of one person per year died as a result of fentanyl use, with 27 deaths overall linked to narcotics use. During the recent trial of the leader of a drug sales operation, the Crown prosecutor said the ringleader was selling between six and eight kilograms of cocaine each month in Yellowknife, as well as other drugs.

Together, alcohol and drugs are also closely linked to territorial mental health hospitalizations, making up 68 per cent of admissions and 49 per cent of system costs between 2008-2009 and 2010-2011. HSS reports that annually in the same period, an average of "429 NWT patients were hospitalized 615 times with one or more alcohol or drug related issues, resulting in 3,250 bed days at an estimated cost of $7.5 million to the territorial health system."

Against this backdrop, it is not surprising that Northerners urge the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) to improve addictions and mental health services, to decolonize healthcare and address needs for culturally relevant programming, and to integrate the developing field of trauma-informed care into territorial treatment models.

The committee hears these concerns. We make our report today to share our knowledge with the public and to make recommendations intended to improve communication, so that Northerners have the information they need on addictions treatment. We also seek to build upon the treatment options HSS has developed to date so that Northerners have access to the care they need.

At this time, Mr. Speaker, I would like to turn it over to the honourable Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Thank you.