The Municipality of Sioux Lookout is pressing the provincial government to help them build a 20-bed Detox facility and an Addictions Treatment Centre.
Economic Development Manager Vicki Blanchard made the request Monday to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs.
Blanchard says this is a necessary step with the recent closure of the Dryden Detox Centre and the Kenora Detox Centre being at full capacity.
She notes the closest location for treatment is now Elliot Lake.
“This is unconscionable considering of the 32 Northern First Nation communities that Sioux Lookout First Nation Health Authority and the Meno Ya Win Health Centre provide primary health care are located in the Sioux Lookout district.”
Blanchard adds “The continuity of care is broken, the system is broken, when such distances are put between the primary care team, the patient and the patient’s family.”
Matthew Hoppe is the Chief Executive Officer of the Independent First Nations Alliance and he stresses his organization is completely behind the project.
“Unacceptable and it’s not appropriate for remote First Nations (travel to Elliot Lake). So what we’re looking for is immediate support to have infrastructure brought to the community, to reside here.”
Blanchard stressed to government officials that they are the “Hub of the North” and have to service the entire region.
She notes they had over 90,000 overnight stays in Sioux Lookout last year and the airport records over 120,000 passengers and more than 30,000 movements annually.
Stats show Sioux Lookout had over 5,500 overnight in-custody lodgings in their OPP Detachment detention cells in 2018, roughly 4,200 of those stays are directly related to mental health and drug and alcohol addictions.
Blanchard says the health system currently has no capacity or facility to handle a Detox facility and Treatment Centre in Sioux Lookout.
A report indicates Emergency Department visits at the hospital continue to rise, over the past 10 years from 13,000 to approximately 24,000 in 2018.
She adds “Police have two choices, the street or custody. We need Detox to break this cycle and give people a chance in an appropriate system.
The municipality has been lobbying the government for a Detox facility since August, 2016 and a Treatment Centre since August, 2018.
Blanchard says they have the support of First Nations leaders from across the district, noting they are in the midst of developing a business feasibility study.
She hopes to have that completed this fall, noting it’s still too early to determine an exact cost.
