RECOMMENDATIONS

Provide immediate supports to young men

Ease access to the On the Land Healing Fund

The On the Land Healing Fund helps Indigenous governments and organizations provide land-based addictions treatment, including aftercare programming.

However, the Auditor heard from some Indigenous groups that administrative requirements make accessing the fund difficult. In both 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, the department failed to distribute $500,000 to $600,000, almost one third of the fund's $1.8 million budget. Committee therefore recommends:

Recommendation 1

That the Department of Health and Social Services review and relax administrative requirements to access the On the Land Healing Fund, with a view to ensuring full uptake of budgeted funds in 2022-2023, and report on whether the funds were dispersed.

Increase support for men's wellness programs

More generally, the GNWT should ensure that all budgeted dollars that support men's wellness are spent each year. Effective programs should receive increased support. Committee therefore recommends:

Recommendation 2

That the Government of the Northwest Territories increase funding for grants and contribution programs that target men's wellness.

Sponsor a Men's Wellness Conference

In October 2022, the Meadow Lake Tribal Council in Saskatchewan hosted a men's wellness conference. The conference discussed the root causes of issues facing some Indigenous men and solutions for change. Over 200 men participated.

Media reporting of the conference includes testimonies that highlight numerous positive outcomes. Participants opened up, shared painful experiences, gained emotional understanding, used humour to balance heavy talks, and recognized that they were not alone. Organizers hoped the men would bring lessons and renewed hope back home, launching their own groups to support healing and change.

Committee wants to see a similar conference in the NWT and believes it could be organized within six months. Committee therefore recommends:

Recommendation 3

That the Department of Health and Social Services, in consultation with Indigenous governments, and by the spring 2023, sponsor a men's wellness conference. The conference should focus on hearing, learning, and sharing about the root causes of issues facing some men, such as racism, trauma, isolation, violence, and addictions.

Add a youth priority area to the work plan

The department's work plan is broken down into seven priority areas, corresponding to the Auditor's seven recommendations. Considering that suicide deaths occur disproportionately among young men, committee wants to see an eighth priority focused on people aged 29 years and under.

This new priority area should bring together relevant activities focused on young people from the rest of the work plan into one spot. Potential examples include:

• Equitable access to addictions services for youth in child and family services;
• Disaggregating data on young people; and
• Reviewing job descriptions to hire more Indigenous graduates as youth counsellors.

This youth priority area should also add two new commitments. The second commitment, on sports and recreation, requires the collaboration of the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs. The Minister of MACA has said that sport and recreation programming is important, especially to youth, for its health and social benefits, including mental wellness. Committee agrees, but is unclear whether MACA sees its role in mental health promotion in collaboration with other GNWT departments and agencies. Committee therefore recommends:

Recommendation 4

That the Department of Health and Social Services, in collaboration with the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, add an eighth priority to the Addictions Prevention and Recovery Work Plan focusing on people aged 29 and under. This priority area should include clear commitments and performance measures to:

• Increase access to and uptake in counselling and healing supports; and
• Increase youth participation in sports and recreation, including measures to improve access to facilities and programming.

Ensure healthcare services are culturally safe

Measure cultural safety effectively

The Auditor's definition of cultural safety was "an outcome where Indigenous people feel safe, respected, and free from racism and discrimination when accessing health and social services programs." Cultural safety is important to remove barriers to accessing services and make it more likely these services will meet Indigenous clients' needs.

A key challenge to ensuring cultural safety is effective measurement. Measurement is important because programs intended to boost diversity, equity, and inclusion, can have varying levels of effectiveness and must be assessed with evidence. But since cultural safety is an outcome inherent to the Indigenous client, departmental reviews of standards and policies is not enough to ensure cultural safety. Insight from Indigenous clients is required. Committee encourages the department to set a goal toward defining how culturally safe outcomes are measured. This work should be done in collaboration with the NTHSSA Leadership Council. Committee therefore recommends:

Recommendation 5

That the Department of Health and Social Services implement. An approach to measure whether users and non-users of the Government of the Northwest Territories addictions services find those services to be culturally safe and provide a timeline for implementation.

I will now turn the document over to the MLA for Kam Lake.