Further to the response provided to the Member for Monfwi on May 26, 2025, the following additional information is provided:
Indigenous employment data for the Community Counselling Program is as follows:
Beaufort-Delta, thirteen Indigenous employees.
Yellowknife, one Indigenous employee.
Sahtu, none.
Tlicho, none.
Fort Smith, none.
Dehcho, none.
Hay River, no data available.
The Mental Health and Addictions Program Renewal Project is an extensive community co-design initiative that created new Community Counsellor positions. The new positions use updated advertising, screening, interviewing and hiring policies to remove barriers to hiring local people with traditional knowledge and lived expertise.
In 2021, recruitment and retention challenges in the Beaufort Delta Region suggested a need to review the sustainability of the existing mental health staffing model with community feedback indicating a desire for Indigenous counsellors and healing practices and indicated that community consultation was key. In response, this project has been multi-phased including engagement with Regional Wellness Councils and the creation of a Regional
Working Group, including but not limited to Regional Wellness Council members, Elders and community leaders, community members. This project has considered the types of positions needed to meet community needs, placing value in knowledge of community culture and pre-existing relationships.
The new regional positions are expected to privilege Indigenous ways of healing as equally important as western counselling models; thereby addressing chronic counselling shortages in Indigenous communities. Indigenous staff have completed three trauma-informed training modules with the Thunderbird Institute. Revised positions will function within the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority Community Counselling Program for the purposes of standards, onboarding, supervision, training, and evaluation.
The Sahtu Region established a Working Group to follow a similar process modelled in the Beaufort Delta Region, and regional co-design is almost complete. Fort Smith is in the exploratory phase to establish a Working Group and Dehcho Region will follow.
While there are no Indigenous employes currently with the Community Counselling Program in the Tłı̨chǫ Community Services Agency, there are seven Indigenous Peer Support Workers and eight Indigenous Wellness Elders providing support within the system. The Tłı̨chǫ Community Services Agency actively partners with the Tłı̨chǫ Government to deliver the Mental Health and Wellness Strategy and collaborate on a range of Indigenous-led initiatives.
Prioritizing Indigenous employment continues through the GNWT Indigenous Employment Policy and the 2025-2028 NWT Health and Social Services System People Strategy, which will be released at the end of October.
