N.W.T. health department unveils plan to address shortcomings in addiction services

The N.W.T. Department of Health and Social Services says it was tough to find out, in an auditor general's report, that it's not doing enough to make addictions and recovery services culturally safe. 

"Because of all the effort that's been put into cultural safety it's hard to hear we haven't done enough, but it's fair," said Sara Chorostkowski, the director of mental wellness and addictions recovery for the department.

Earlier this year, a report from the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (OAG) gave the territory a poor grade on addiction and recovery services. The territory's health department responded to that report Thursday and presented a draft work plan that maps out how they want to address each of the seven recommendations made by the OAG by the end of 2024. 

The OAG report, tabled at the Legislative Assembly at the end of May, said the territory was not providing addictions and recovery services that meet the needs of residents — despite numerous commitments it had made to do so. 

One of its conclusions was people were not receiving equal care and programs were not culturally safe. It said services varied based on time and location, that people in most communities needed to travel to access detox services, and that there isn't aftercare to help people follow through on their recovery goals. 

"While some of it is shocking, it's not a surprise to me we're failing in this area," said Katrina Nokleby, the MLA for Great Slave and a member of the standing committee on government operations. 

Jo-Anne Cecchetto, the territory's deputy minister for health and social services, said the health department "welcomed" the OAG's report, which she said reaffirms and validates the work they've been doing. 

She said the territory has made a lot of "great strides" to make sure services are culturally safe — including mandatory training for all employees. But, she said, they need to make that training more specific to the various services the department provides. 

The OAG recommended the department of health remove barriers to culturally safe addictions services and to value Indigenous qualifications in hiring practices. 

The other recommendations were to provide equal access to addiction services, identify the needs of diverse subpopulations, make sure a standard approach to aftercare is in place before a person leaves for treatment and that it is facilitated when they return, and to co-ordinate services across the territory and gather data to monitor success. 

The work plan still needs to be approved by the Legislative Assembly. 

Cecchetto hopes by the end of 2024, the department can prove it's providing better addictions and recovery services to clients. 

"Our goal will be that we've achieved and met the expectations in that report," she said. "This is not a paper exercise. I want to be very clear about this. This audit and the recommendations, as I mentioned, we take this seriously."