Curley promises Nunavut treatment centres

Nunavut will start work this year on residential substance abuse and mental health treatment centres, filling a major hole in the territory’s health care system.

Health minister Tagak Curley confirmed Feb. 22 that around $1.6 million in startup funds will be included in the upcoming territorial budget for centres in Cambridge Bay and Iqaluit.

“Our people are hurting,” Curley told reporters. “It’s important to get something going.”

Calls for the government to establish treatment centres within Nunavut were a common theme during a recent public meeting of the task force reviewing the territory’s liquor laws.

“It’s a very complex kind of situation that people get into and therefore we need to have the kind of place where they can be treated,” Curley said.

Curley said the centres would likely be located in Cambridge Bay and Iqaluit, because there are existing facilities in those communities.

“We cannot afford build new [buildings] because the capital dollars are very difficult to find,” he said.

According to a GN-issued request for proposals, the centres will treat both adults and youth “who have significant mental health [problems] and/or addictions.”

Programming at the centres must contain an emphasis on “culturally specific activities, including Inuit values, teaching from elders, and land program elements.”

Nattilik MLA Jeannie Ugyuk, who pushed Curley in the legislature Feb. 22 to ensure the treatment centres include cultural programming and trips on the land, said her communities of Taloyoak and Gjoa Haven would be well-served by a treatment centre in Cambridge Bay.

But she said the government needs to consult with communities on as it comes up with programming for the treatment centres.

“I want to see these centres offer Nunavut-made programs,” Ugyuk said.

According to the request for proposals, programming will also include talk therapy, and stress abstinence from drugs or alcohol if possible and harm reduction if not.

The centres will also teach people life skills such as budgeting, resume writing and cooking.

And while the centres may be located in Cambridge Bay and Iqaluit, they’ll likely include teleconferencing or videoconferencing equipment so patients can stay in touch with family.

The last treatment centre to be located in Nunavut was the Inusiqsiuqvik treatment centre in Apex, which operated between 1991 and December 1998.

That centre fizzled because few clients used it, causing funding problems for the board that operated it.

The old Inusiqsiuqvik building now houses the Qimaavik women’s shelter.