N.W.T. wants to contract an Indigenous-led treatment facility, but none are bidding for the work

The N.W.T. government's search for an addiction treatment facility with Indigenous-led programing isn't going well. 

The territory's Health and Social Services Department was taking proposals from facilities it could work with early in the year, but the contract opportunity closed on Feb. 1 and none of the proposals met the territory's criteria. 

Two organizations posted bids for the contract: Glonan Support Services based in Alberta and EHN Canada which operates treatment centres in B.C., Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. 

Jeremy Bird, a spokesperson for the department, said neither proposal met the territory's criteria because they were not Indigenous facilities, and one of them was not accredited. 

"It is very disappointing that we didn't receive any successful bids from the RFP [request for proposals], and we recognize that this means a continued gap in the availability of an Indigenous option for N.W.T. residents seeking treatment," he wrote in an email. 

"We are diligently exploring options to address this gap and hope to have more to share shortly." 

The territory is looking to fill a gap in service after its contract with Poundmaker's Lodge in Alberta ended last fall. The Indigenous-run addictions treatment facility stopped working with the N.W.T., saying the territory lacks a "cultural understanding" of the work it does. 

There are five other treatment centres where N.W.T. residents can go for free addictions treatment in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario — but none are Indigenous-run. 

Jean Erasmus, a counselling therapist in Yellowknife, said the gap left by the unfilled contract is "huge" and means fewer people will get treatment for addictions to drugs and alcohol. 

"Counsellors are going to be working even harder to help people who are really struggling," said Erasmus, who runs Dene Wellness Warriors alongside Roy Erasmus. They provide counselling and wellness workshops, counsellor training, and are in the early stages of starting a trauma healing lodge — separate from a treatment centre — in K'atl'odeeche First Nation. 

Roy illustrated how frightening it can be for someone from an N.W.T. community to go to a non-Indigenous treatment centre. He said he remembers a young woman from a small community along the Mackenzie River who went to the same university he attended, needing to be walked from class to class by an older sister. 

"There were more people walking around in the hallways than there were in her community, and primarily non-Indigenous people, so she was scared," he explained, adding that the decision to go to a treatment centre is already difficult enough.

"There's definitely a gap that has to be filled. Our clients, when they ask for assistance … they're always wanting to go to an Indigenous treatment centre," he said.