Construction has started on a new 75-bed addictions recovery community on the Blood Tribe. Representatives from the nation joined provincial politicians at the site just north of Cardston for a groundbreaking ceremony on July 19.
The facility will offer culturally focused treatment to both Indigenous and non-Indigenous Albertans without cost and is an investment of up to $30 million from the province. According to the province, it will help up to 300 people get recovery treatment each year once operational.
“It’s often been said it takes people to fix people, not systems — we need everyone’s support to change the direction of this opioid crisis, to change the status quo and to provide our community with some reason to believe that there is hope for a better future when we all work together,” said Charles Weasel Head, vice chair of the Blood Tribe Department of Health. “We all know how much this matters, it matters because our young people, our loved ones, are suffering and dying at an alarming rate. It matters because children are being left without families.”
The facility is one of four Indigenous-focused recovery communities planned in the province and one of 11 total new facilities.
“This crisis has reached every corner of our province and we cannot ignore the fact that Indigenous communities have been disproportionately affected and the devastating toll it’s taken on them is more and more evident,” said Dan Williams, minister of mental health and addictions. “Recovery communities are the response, recovery communities give people to the resources they need and the tool that they have and time to focus exclusive on recovering — unlike other conventional treatment centres, Albertans can stay up to a year in the supportive environment at no cost.”
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Recovery communities are also in the planning stages in Enoch Cree Nation, Tsuut’ina Nation and Siksika Nation.