This is to Minister of Health and Social Services. According to the Office of the Auditor General Report, the Department of Health and Social Services does not do enough to provide residents with accessible, coordinated, and culturally safe addiction services. It is not clear from the department's work plan how it intends to address this situation in a meaningful way. Will the Minister commit to working with Indigenous governments to develop a process of consultation and engagement with communities and Indigenous governments outside its Indigenous advisory board? Thank you.
Question 1252-19(2): Addictions Treatment
In the Legislative Assembly on October 28th, 2022. See this topic in context.
Question 1252-19(2): Addictions Treatment
Oral Questions
Page 4902
Question 1252-19(2): Addictions Treatment
Oral Questions
Page 4902
Julie Green Yellowknife Centre
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, we have not yet heard back from the Standing Committee on the Office of the Auditor General's Report on addictions and aftercare treatment. So that report has not yet been tabled. But I will say, of course, we have accepted all the recommendations. The committee is considering a work plan attached to that. It does not, to the best of my knowledge, anticipate that we are going to disband the Indigenous Advisory Council, which now works with NTHSSA or that we would replace them with Indigenous governments. If I understand the question correctly, we are not planning restructuring; we're planning program responses. Thank you.
Question 1252-19(2): Addictions Treatment
Oral Questions
Page 4902
Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi
What funding and process mechanisms will be put in place to ensure community and client guidance translates into improvement on cultural safety? Thank you.
Question 1252-19(2): Addictions Treatment
Oral Questions
October 28th, 2022
Page 4903
Julie Green Yellowknife Centre
Yes, thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, the cultural safety division of the department, which is called community, culture and innovation has a mandate to help with all programs and services to ensure that they are culturally safe and antiracist. So that would be in place in any initiatives that are put in place. At this point, the asks are, I'm going to say, primarily process-oriented with a view to collecting better data so that we know and we have a better idea of what the outcomes are, and we're certainly committed to doing that work. We want to be able to show that what we're doing is working. Thank you.
Question 1252-19(2): Addictions Treatment
Oral Questions
Page 4903
Question 1252-19(2): Addictions Treatment
Oral Questions
Page 4903
Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi
Thank you, Madam Speaker. How will addiction recovery aftercare supports and services being developed by the Department of Health and Social Services engage with a leverage community-based resources such as elders or youth? Thank you.
Question 1252-19(2): Addictions Treatment
Oral Questions
Page 4903
Julie Green Yellowknife Centre
Yes, thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I have not directly consulted elders on any of these initiatives. As I say, they're not really new program initiatives. They're important things, but not necessarily the kind of things we would consult on, like disaggregating data. So we have regular meetings with the Indigenous governments through bilateral conversations and also through the NWT Council of Leaders. There are elders sometimes there. Certainly the Indigenous governments come with questions for health and questions about addictions, and we do our best to work with them and meet them where they're at, knowing that community-based solutions are usually the best solutions. Thank you.
Question 1252-19(2): Addictions Treatment
Oral Questions
Page 4903
Question 1252-19(2): Addictions Treatment
Oral Questions
Page 4903
Jane Weyallon Armstrong Monfwi
Will the Minister of Health and Social Services provide an update to explain her rationale for choosing not to restore contract relations with Poundmaker's Lodge despite the clear and immediate need for the facility-based addiction treatment services they provide NWT residents? Thank you.
Question 1252-19(2): Addictions Treatment
Oral Questions
Page 4903
Julie Green Yellowknife Centre
Yes, thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I'm not planning to provide any more information than I have already provided about the contract with Poundmaker's Lodge. It ends at the end of this month.
We have five other treatment options that residents can go to. There are three in Alberta, one in BC, and one in Ontario, as well as they can stay home and use the community counselling service, the community on-the- land programs, and so on. So while we are not going to continue with Poundmaker's, we do have those other options. And recognizing that we don't have a specific Indigenous option equivalent to Poundmaker's, we will be advertising for a service provider with a specialty in Indigenous healing, and that RFP is set to go out by the end of the year. Thank you.
Question 1252-19(2): Addictions Treatment
Oral Questions
Page 4903