N.W.T. government, Hay River Dene spar over addictions centre funding

Shuttered since 2013, the Northwest Territories' only addiction treatment centre isn't likely to open its doors any time soon, as the Kátlódeeche First Nation and territorial government continue to spar over funding for its re-opening.

The territorial government pulled funding for the Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre, located on the Hay River Dene reserve, in 2013. Then-health minister Tom Beaulieu said the centre is not meeting the needs of people struggling with addictions, and that the government hopes to focus on other kinds of treatment.

The Kátlódeeche First Nation then developed plans to re-open the centre as a healing centre in 2014/2015. The First Nation's proposal included support for clients as they wait to be sent to a southern institution as well as supporting communities offering on the land addictions programs, according to a news release.

According to Glen Abernethy, the territory's current health minister, the government gave the First Nation $44,000 to plan ways to re-open the centre.

The First Nation asked for an additional $190,000 in its proposal, but the territorial government offered $20,000, which Chief Roy Fabian called a "real slap in the face" in a news release.

"They offered us $20,000 to do a job that would cost ten times that if meaningful programs are to be phased in with support from all regions," said Fabian. "The GNWT knows how much these initiatives cost."

Joachim Bonnetrouge, the chief of the nearby Deh Gah Gotie First Nation in Fort Providence, says that he supports the Kátlódeeche, saying he'd "really like to see the reason" the government is rejecting the idea.

"All the evidence and all the difficulties we're having in our communities is a result of no services, no programs... I'd like to see the reason."

Government: no plans to re-open

Abernethy says that government's reasons for not offering the full funding are twofold: the proposal from the Kátlódeeche was unclear, and that his government just doesn't have the money.

"We don't have the resources to cover the $190,000," he said. 

"We also need them to come forward with a clear and concise plan on how they want to utilize that facility, and we don't feel that was part of the proposal that was submitted."

Abernethy added that the territorial government has no plans to use the Nats'ejee K'eh facility as a treatment centre again, citing the unsuccessful program that ran there previously. He says the four southern treatment facilities currently used by the territory are doing a suitable job in meeting the needs of patients.

However, Fabian disagrees.

"We have gone from having Detox centres and four treatment centres, of which Nats'ejee Keh was considered one of the best in North America with a 43% success rate, to having no treatment available in the N.W.T. at all," he said in the release.

"I think residents of the N.W.T. should be asking questions, serious questions about sending our precious and limited resources south for services that we can do very well ourselves."