Masi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we all know that addiction issues are a serious problem in the Northwest Territories. I am on the Standing Committee on Social Development. Last year, we tabled a report on adult residential addictions treatment facilities. What we found out will not come as a surprise. The NWT faces an uphill battle when it comes to dealing with addictions. For example, our research told us that, in 2015-2016, the NWT had the second-highest per-capita level of alcohol consumption in Canada, not counting bootlegging sales, and our residents were hospitalized due to alcohol consumption at a rate of 1,315 people per 100,000. On top of that, residents of our small communities were likely to experience harm from someone's drinking. News headlines regularly tell us that illegal drugs are coming to the NWT and harming vulnerable people.
Northerners have often called on their MLAs and on this government to offer addictions treatment options in the NWT. Currently, residents have the choice of four facilities in Alberta and BC.
Mr. Speaker, after standing empty for five years, the Dene Wellness Centre opened Wednesday, January 9, 2019, on the Hay River reserve. With room for 64 people overnight, the centre plans for wellness programming deeply rooted in Dene values and laws. Executive Director Heidi Yardley has worked across the North, and is a psychologist and therapist.
The centre will have ceremonial and traditional practices as an important component of healing. Two K'atlodeeche First Nation elders, Pat Martel and Raymond Sonfrere, will guide and help oversee the work of the centre.
Mr. Speaker, Yardley also has her staff sign a policy agreeing to follow the Dene laws: "We don't have a formal code of conduct because that's not the Dene way. We follow the Dene laws and the Dene values."
Yardley would also like to create a traditional-knowledge-holder position; however, it is dependent on funding.
Indigenous groups from across the NWT are involved in the centre, and an advisory council is being established, with invitations going out to groups from every treaty settlement region in the territory.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted