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K'ATLODEECHE/HAY RIVER RESERVE
Some of the territory's MLAs are baffled by the health department's decision to eliminate a contract with the NWT's only addictions treatment centre, essentially forcing the facility to close its doors by the end of September.

Alfred Moses, Inuvik Boot Lake MLA and chair of the standing committee on social programs, said he was surprised and disappointed by the minister's announcement, saying he believes Beaulieu's decision will only make things worse.

"He's literally taken our biggest resource out of the picture," he said.

The GNWT announced on July 11 it would not renew its contract with the Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre in Hay River Reserve. The government had been funding the 30-bed centre since it opened in 1993. While it funded the facility, Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre was previously run by K'atlodeeche First Nation and the Dehcho Health and Social Services Authority.

Moses said medical treatment is often required for people seeking help for alcohol or drug addiction and a facility with medical staff should be considered a priority in the territory.

"Especially when they're going through detox, they need that safe, secure environment where they can be monitored," he said.

Moses said he will continue to push for a treatment facility in Inuvik. Inuvik's Arctic Tern Young Offender Facility was shut down in 2011 and Moses said if the building is available, it would be ideal for a treatment centre.

Tom Beaulieu, minister of Health and Social Services, said the decision to end the contract was two-fold. First, the centre had ongoing issues, such as recruiting and keeping qualified staff, Beaulieu said.

Second, there was a report by the Minister's Forum on Addictions and Community Wellness, a 13-member group that travelled throughout the territory this past spring to hear from community members on ways to improve addictions treatment. The forum, which was created as part of the health department's mental health and addictions strategy, released its report last month.

"There were strong recommendations in the minister's forum that call for changes for how we deliver our addictions treatment programs," Beaulieu said.

The forum's report did not specifically call for the closing of the centre, but recommended changes to the application process to reduce paperwork and wait times, making it easier for individuals to enter a treatment facility.

The report also recommended staff at the Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre work with communities to develop a six-month after-care program for individuals returning to their home community, which would include an on-the-land component.

On-the-land programming and community involvement was at the top of the list of every community the forum visited, said Paul Andrew, the forum's chair.

"The recommendations that we had made is basically that the communities want to see changes in the way some of the treatments are delivered," he said. "They want to be more involved. The way they can be involved is to take the people out on the land."

Andrew said the decision to close the centre is unfortunate, but putting more resources into community support is important.

"Individuals who want to change their lifestyles, who want to change their lives have to make some tough decisions," he said. "Communities and governments have to make some of those tough decisions in order to tackle this."

Range Lake MLA Daryl Dolynny said those decisions should only have been made after discussion with members of the legislative assembly.

"As of (July 10), the minister approached the committee and very casually just indicated that the centre was going to be shutting down with no notice to us as members. There was no discussion," he said. "Under the guiding principles of consensus government, any significant announcements of this nature or changes or initiatives that are going to be released need to be vetted through the members and especially through committee structure. This did not occur."

Beaulieu said those needing residential treatment will still have the option to travel to Alberta and British Columbia.

"We are currently negotiating arrangements with residential treatment facilities in Alberta and B.C and that's for people where the counsellors determine the best treatment model for this individual is to go to a residential treatment facility," he said. "We would negotiate some sort of arrangement."

But Dolynny said he worries NWT residents could face lengthy waiting times when applying for a spot at a treatment centre outside of the territory. He also said those going through treatment would be removed from family, friends and their communities.

"We're closing the doors on addiction. The closing of doors at Nats'ejee K'eh really boggles my mind. Where are we going with this?"

About 17 people will lose their jobs as a result of the centre's closure, which Dolynny said is an affront to the territory's need for skilled workers.

"When you talk about a lack of skilled workers, here we have a pool of skilled workers we're basically putting out to pasture," he said. "They've got families, they've got mortgages, they've got lives as well. I'm very, very concerned."

Beaulieu said termination issues will be determined by the centre's staff and its union.

"That's between the board, their executive director and unionized staff," he said.

Beaulieu said the $2.2 million formerly provided annually to the Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre annually will now go toward alternate programming, such as mobile treatment and on-the-land programming, addressing treatment and addiction issues at the community or regional levels.

Dolynny said the minister committed to new programs starting up by the time the government's final contract with Nats'ejee K'eh ends on Sept. 30, but Dolynny said not enough is known about how new programming will be implemented.

"We don't know who the proponents are, we do not know who is offering these services," he said, adding a transition period is needed to ease the shift from old programming to the new.

"I doubt if we're going to have programs up and running in weeks when this program ceases to exist in September," he said.

Beaulieu said the mobile treatment component could be comprised of counsellors who visit regions or communities to provide treatment programs.

Andrew said mobile treatment has been effective in the past.

"It takes the expertise into the communities instead of taking the person seeking treatment to the expertise," said Andrew.

Partnering with existing programs, such as the Tl'oondih

Healing Camp south of Fort McPherson, is also being discussed, Beaulieu said.

Beaulieu said the building that housed the Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre could be used by the K'atlodeeche First Nation for its own treatment programming. It might also be used as a training facility to teach counsellors.

"There are various options right now we're looking at," he said.

In 1999, the government terminated a contract with the Northern Addiction Services program in Dettah. The 28-bed facility, which offered detoxification and residential treatment programs, closed its doors after a review found it was being underutilized.

"We're seeing a repetition. We have infrastructure, we don't use it effectively, we don't provide the proper programming," Dolynny said. "We tend to look at real slivers of success within addictions. We've got to look at it

from a multipronged component."

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