N.W.T. government ends relationship with B.C. treatment facility

Avery Zingel · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 02, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

The N.W.T. authorities is nary longer contracting a B.C. installation to supply addictions and PTSD attraction to territorial residents, but past participants recognition the programme with their continued sobriety and healing.

Edgewood Health Network successful Nanaimo was "not successful" successful securing a renewed contract, spokesperson for the installation Mary Doyle said successful an email. In its ain response, the N.W.T. Health section said Edgewood did not use connected a petition for proposals successful August 2025.

Department spokesperson Andrew Wind said successful an email the authorities sent 105 residents to the installation successful the past year. He said clients of the Nanaimo programme with intake dates up to and including March 14 would inactive beryllium funded for the duration of their attraction and a twelvemonth after.

Neither the section nor Edgewood could corroborate however galore radical were waitlisted erstwhile the declaration lapsed connected March 31.

The extremity of the declaration could beryllium discouraging for patients who relapse and privation to instrumentality to a installation they are acquainted with, said Peyton Straker, who attended Edgewood and is progressive successful Nanaimo's betterment community.

Straker, who is primitively from the N.W.T., celebrated 12 months of sobriety successful May.

Past participants accidental programme helped, but had flaws

Straker said they recovered the attraction effectual — the programme they were successful lets clients permission the installation for Narcotics and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and interact with the betterment assemblage done enactment groups and rallies.

It wasn't perfect, though. Straker said there was country for improvement, particularly wherever Indigenous taste sensitivity was concerned, since smudging and beadwork supplies weren't allowed into the installation erstwhile they were there.

The installation applied "rigid" visitation policies that recognized atomic families, but turned distant visitors with different ties, they said.

Straker said they thrived successful the speechmaking and penning components of the program, but saw N.W.T. clients with low-literacy struggle. 

Straker observed that clients fluent successful Dene languages, but who could not work oregon constitute successful English, were not fixed accessibility accommodations to recognize speechmaking and penning assignments.

For those patients, "not having the quality to work oregon constitute truly interferes with your attraction plan, but cipher tells you that earlier you arrive," they said. 

Aftercare options to assistance radical enactment sober are also costly, and not subsidized contempt being a "key portion of what keeps radical clean," said Straker.

A privately-operated surviving abstraction that is simply a safe, substance-free spot to support your betterment tin outgo betwixt $1,600 and $3,500 and is not covered by the government, they said.

Staying cleanable post-treatment is critical, due to the fact that relapse aft attraction carries the highest fatality risk, they said.

"The fiscal strain makes it truthful that patients aren't really capable to travel the betterment suggestions that are fixed by the betterment attraction itself," they said. 

Straker said erstwhile they attended Edgewood, the programme outgo betwixt $40,000 and $50,000 for anyplace from 50 to 120 days of programming, which is paid by the territorial government.

The wellness section budgeted $3 cardinal for facility-based addictions attraction successful 2024/25, and contracts six antithetic facilities successful Alberta, Ontario and B.C.

Other ways to entree programs

Edgewood told CBC News that N.W.T. residents tin inactive entree its attraction programs done "other disposable backing channels" similar Jordan's Principle, leader benefits, oregon unions.

The Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission (WSCC) is different backing pathway. Edgewood offers a programme for archetypal responders seeking attraction for PTSD.

Seann May, a firefighter successful Yellowknife, said helium attended the programme past twelvemonth — astir 20 years aft helium responded to a 2005 occurrence wherever the gathering collapsed and killed 2 firefighters.

May turned to intoxicant to header with the feelings brought connected by that workplace fatality. May said astatine the worst points, his woman had packed her bags.

In 2019, helium was diagnosed with PTSD.

May said helium enactment successful a assertion to the WSCC in 2024, and got into attraction by going done counselling astatine the Tree of Peace Friendship Centre successful Yellowknife.

He said the declaration with Edgewood lapsing is simply a "big shame," due to the fact that its counselling for addictions was "phenomenal."

He said the sessions helium took done Edgewood gave him tools to modulate his emotions, helped him rebuild spot with his children and made him much focused astatine work.

May said erstwhile helium got in, helium "thought the world" of the program.

"I aftermath up blessed each day, alternatively than doing the greeting ritual, trying to portion java truthful I tin fell my breath," helium said. 

"I consciousness similar I tin instrumentality my time on."