Alberta partners with Tsuut’ina Nation on 75-bed recovery facility

The Alberta government signed a memorandum of understanding Wednesday at Tsuut’ina Nation and plans are in place for a memorandum to be signed Thursday with Siksika nation. Danina Falkenberg brings us more on the recovery community.

By Lauryn Heintz

Posted Jul 5, 2023 1:23 pm.

Last Updated Jul 5, 2023 7:04 pm.

A 75-bed recovery facility providing holistic addictions treatment for up to 300 people annually was announced at Tsuut’ina Nation Wednesday.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Minister of Mental Health and Addiction Dan Williams were on Treaty 6 territory to lay out the details for the first of 11 recovery communities the province has committed to, as well as to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the $30 million investment.

Tsuut’ina Nation Chief Roy Whitney says his nation “fully supports an active approach to drug rehabilitation” for members of the Nation and the region.

“The scourge of drugs in Alberta has tragically affected every community,” he said. “We will not give up on our citizens suffering from substance abuse issues — nor should any community. Let’s do everything in our power to turn their lives around.”

Jodi Two Guns, executive director with Tsuut’ina Nation and member of the Calgary Public Safety and Community Response Task Force, said she is grateful for the province in helping to support recovery in her nation.

“I feel confident that this is an important step towards truth and reconciliation, as we know addiction often stems from the intergenerational trauma caused by residential schools,” she said. “I am grateful to know that this new facility will allow us to heal on our lands with the support of our culture.”

The government says working side-by-side with First Nations is “vital to removing barriers to comprehensive, culturally appropriate services in Indigenous communities and an important part of strengthening recovery-oriented care across the province.”

WATCH: Record number of Albertans dying from drug poisoning

Premier Smith added that her government is “committed to walking together with Indigenous partners to increase land-based addiction treatment and healing across the province.”

Data reported for the first time by the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) Wednesday showed that between 2015 and 2012, the life expectancy dropped seven years for First Nations men and women living in Alberta due, in part, to drug poisoning deaths.

The outlet reports that the average life expectancy for a First Nations man in 2015 was 67, and Wednesday, it dropped to 60.

For First Nations women, it’s gone from 73 in 2015 to 66 years in 2021, according to APTN.

Alberta NDP Indigenous Relations Critic Brooks Arcand-Paul and Mental Health and Addictions Critic Janet Eremenko issued a statement in response to the startling numbers, calling the report “devastating.”

“It is time to acknowledge that the current approach to the drug poisoning crisis isn’t working, and it is failing the greatest in Indigenous communities,” they said.

“A reduction in life expectancy among Indigenous people of seven years is unacceptable in 2023. Premier Smith putting her head in the sand over evidence-based harm reduction strategies is not only deeply disappointing, it’s dangerous.”