Opening Statement before the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly Standing Committee on Government Operations

Addictions Prevention and Recovery Services in the Northwest Territories

(2022 Report of the Auditor General of Canada to the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly)

6 October 2022

Casey Thomas
Assistant Auditor General

Mr. Chair, thank you for this opportunity to discuss our report on addictions prevention and recovery services in the Northwest Territories, which was tabled in the Legislative Assembly on May 31st of this year. I want to acknowledge that we are gathered on the traditional unceded territory of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation. With me are my colleagues, Jo Ann Schwartz and Maria Pooley, who were responsible for the audit.

In this audit, we wanted to know whether the Department of Health and Social Services, the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority, the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority, and the Tłı̨chǫ Community Services Agency provided addictions services to meet the needs of Northwest Territories residents.

Addictions services are important because they have a far-reaching impact on the lives and well-being of individuals, families, and members of the broader community.

This importance is amplified in the Northwest Territories because the territory has a high rate of substance use.

We found that the department and the 3 health authorities had taken steps to address their long-standing commitments to improve addictions services. However, there is still much work to do to provide residents with accessible, coordinated, and culturally safe addictions services.

For example, the department and the 3 health authorities had committed to providing equitable access to addictions services for all residents across the territory. However, they still had not figured out how to achieve this outcome. As a result, services may not have been available to residents when they tried to access them.

We also found that the department and the 3 health authorities did not do enough to ensure that addictions services were culturally safe for Indigenous residents. Given the legacy of colonization, culturally safe services are critical to facilitating equitable access for these residents.

In addition, we found that aftercare services were limited. In the cases we looked at, many individuals who attended a treatment program in a facility did not get the aftercare services they needed to support their recovery goals once their treatment programs ended and they returned to their communities.

We also found that gaps remained in the coordination of addictions services, even though the department committed 20 years ago to better coordinating the health and social services system to improve access.

Coordination is important because various organizations provide addictions services and because individuals can enter the system at different points. The system needs to be well coordinated to help individuals move through it to get the services they need.

Lastly, we found that neither the department nor the 3 health authorities knew whether their addictions services were effective in helping residents achieve their desired outcomes. We found that residents’ outcomes were insufficiently measured and that data was not used to analyze trends to improve services.

The Department of Health and Social Services and the 3 health authorities have agreed with all of our recommendations and have prepared an action plan to address them. We have reviewed the draft action plan and feel it outlines initial steps to help address our recommendations.

Mr. Chair, this concludes my opening statement. We would be pleased to answer the committee’s questions. Thank you.