Debates of May 29, 2025 (day 62)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Premier's sessional statement highlighted facilities-addictions treatment and dedicated aftercare. So my questions today are for the Minister for Health and Social Services.

The Minister knows that I have had constituents who have required to go to facilities down south, and it's a very convoluted and complicated process and public-facing information is limited. So, Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell me what she is doing to improve pathfinding for addictions treatment in other territories for the people of the NWT? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the question and, you know, this is -- I received BFs on this. And so one of the things that I've asked my department to do is to look at the front-facing and, you know, when a lot of times when people are looking, you know, we tend to search online and so that was the first thing that, you know, we look at is how do we find what we service providers are offering. And it is very difficult on our website to find facility-based addiction treatment and how to access it. So that is one of the directions that I've given to the department. But what I would like to say is that every one of our communities has access to the community counselling program, and that would be the first step to doing that. And if you're living in a health centre -- a community with a health centre, then it would be the health centre that you contact.

I've asked the department to try and to be able to do this and make this information a lot more clear for people that are needing this service, you know, and I -- and I appreciate the questions because I think when we have somebody who is struggling through addictions or through this type, you know, they may struggle to just try to find the energy to find the services, and so we have to make it as easy as possible. So that is what I've given the direction to my department to look into. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you for the Minister for her compassion on this issue. One thing that I heard from my constituent specifically, who was dealing with this in December of last year, was the inability to secure a case manager in time for their family member to receive a path forward expediently to treatment. So can the Minister please tell me what the quickest way to connect with a case manager to make sure that people who are expediently seeking care, who don't want to relapse, can find that way to treatment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the things that we heard loud and clear from many users of the service is that there used to be a -- you needed a pre-approval just to be able to apply for this program. That has been removed. But what I would like to go back to is the expedient of the facility-based addiction program. There is a necessary -- you know, and I know that when people are ready to go, they might be ready today, there is a process still that can take -- you know, it can be up to -- once you have a caseworker, can take three to five weeks to get into a facility. The reason why that is that we have six facilities that we have contracts with, and those are the only contracts that we pay for. So we have six contracts outside of the territory. And there is an application process. There's an intake process. And so any community counsellor can be. In Yellowknife, Tree of Peace is an intake place. But what I would also like to share is this is not an immediate entrance into a facility. And I know when people are going through this, they're urgently wanting their family members to be put into somewhere. What we have gotten federal funding for is for detox beds. So if there is a need for detox, the process for that, though, would have to go through a practitioner and, you know, and we -- you know, so if you're in a community, you may be referred to the hospital once you're ready or you're, you know, preparing to go for intake. Some of our facilities actually have the detox so that would be something that the caseworker would work out. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister also speak to what availability and communication of that availability of aftercare is available to folks who are coming back from treatment. I know that with some of the resources that are coming on in line in Yellowknife, which are fantastic -- I'm so excited that we have that, those dedicated spaces, but what information can family members receive about making sure that their loved one is coming back and has a safe place to land? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, aftercare -- this is one of the concerns that we do have a gap in and so -- but what we do have the gap in is the living accommodations. For those who go out to facility-based addiction treatment, if they're going from homelessness then they're not coming back to a home, so we -- you know, we are working on a transitional housing after recovery program. We just recently announced that the one in Yellowknife will -- you know, and then the -- we have one kind of be coming online in Inuvik. But aftercare is just the support, so there are some of the facility-based addiction treatments that continue online in virtual aftercare once they leave. There's also our community counselling or the caseworker that they worked with that helped them send them out can also be the person that can connect them with the aftercare counselling that they may need in the community that they're returning to. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.