Up to 200 more people a year will get lifesaving addictions treatment in Alberta now that the province has poured $1.4 million into Poundmaker’s Lodge.
But that same investment has robbed a famous Indigenous addictions training centre of its home.
Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Jason Luan announced Wednesday that the province would invest $1.4 million a year going forward to create more treatment beds at Poundmaker’s Lodge Treatment Centres.
The announcement was part of the $140-million plan the province announced inSeptember to create some 4,000 new treatment spaces in four years to address opioid addictions, which claimed the lives of some 1,957 Albertans between 2016 and 2018.
Great need
Indigenous people are two to three times more likely to suffer from addictions and four times more likely to die from overdoses than the general public, Luan said, speaking at Poundmaker’s.
“We cannot continue to let Albertans suffer due to lack of service.”
This money will let Poundmaker’s open 28 new beds and fund seven existing ones at the Iskwew Healing Lodge – an addictions after-care centre that helps women transition back to daily life post-treatment.
“Every year, 200 more Albertans will have access to the lifesaving treatment programs you provide here,” Luan said.
The money will also upgrade five medically supported detox beds at Poundmaker’s, allowing the centre to offer detox services for the first time.
“Clients can go from detox directly to treatment without having any delay,” Luan said – delays that can often lead people back into suffering and addiction.
Poundmaker’s executive director Brad Cardinal said opioid and fentanyl addiction is at epidemic levels in the Indigenous community, and that there is a desperate need for more treatment beds in Alberta. The wait list to get into Poundmaker’s is currently six to eight months.
“The unfortunate and sad part is many (people) die before they can get into that treatment bed,” he said.
Cardinal said this investment would allow Poundmaker’s to offer the full spectrum of addictions service from detox, therapy, cultural support and after-care in one place.
Nechi evicted
The space for these additional beds will be created by evicting the Nechi Training Institute from the Poundmaker Nechi Centre (the formal name for the Poundmaker's Lodge building), which is owned by the province.
A renowned Indigenous training and health promotion centre that focuses on addictions issues, Nechi has had its offices at Poundmaker’s for 45 years.
In a letter sent to Nechi CEO Marilyn Buffalo from Tracy Hayden of Alberta Infrastructure (a copy of which was provided to the Gazette), the group was told that Alberta Health planned to expand program delivery at Poundmaker’s.
“The expansion of services will require the entirety of the Poundmaker Nechi Centre, including the space currently utilized by Nechi,” Hayden wrote. Infrastructure looked for replacement space “but nothing currently exists.”
The letter directs Nechi to vacate its space at the building by March 31, 2020, to make way for the expansion.
Speaking at the Assembly of First Nations Special Chiefs Assembly in Ottawa Dec. 3, Buffalo said it was “unthinkable” for the province to send this notice in this day and age without consulting with Nechi first.
“For us to get an eviction notice is a complete violation of treaty,” she said, specifically the “medicine chest” clause of Treaty 6, which covers health care, mental health services and addictions treatment.
St. Albert MLA Marie Renaud called the eviction notice an “incredibly disappointing” move, saying the province should not create addiction treatment beds by sacrificing a group that trains people to treat addictions.
“Tossing someone an eviction notice is not demonstrating a commitment to the principles of reconciliation,” she said.
“You consult people at the very least.”
Luan said it was a tough decision to evict Nechi, but Albertans had elected this government to be efficient and effective with resources.
“We are still in a crisis. People are dying on a daily basis.”
Indigenous relations minister Rick Wilson said the province would work with Nechi to find them a new home, adding Premier Jason Kenney explicitly told him to do so just prior to Wednesday’s announcement.
“‘Nechi’ means ‘friend,’ if I’m not mistaken,” he said, referring to its meaning in Cree, “and we can be their friend.”
Cardinal noted Poundmaker’s and Nechi were completely separate organizations and none of his current staff had received training from it.
