Sask. addiction treatment centre for Indigenous girls gets permanent home
A Saskatchewan treatment centre for Indigenous girls from across Canada has found a permanent home on Muskoday First Nation.
“The rate of addiction is so high right now, so the more facilities that we like this, the better,” said Muskoday Chief Ave Bear.
She says being able to have cultural programming combined with addiction treatment will help many young people lift themselves up from addiction.
“It gives hope that there’s more culturally sensitive programming for young ladies that attend,” said Bear.
Indigenous Services Canada provided the $6.1 million to build the 15-bed White Buffalo Treatment Centre. The centre, which began in 1996 on Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation, had been operating out of temporary buildings on Muskoday since 2018.
It’s one of 10 facilities located across Canada funded under the National Youth Solvent Abuse Program with residential and outreach services for girls.
“Currently we see marijuana, cigarettes, alcohol, meth, cocaine, those are the majority. There’s a lot of meth use right now,” said acting executive director Erin Gordon.
White Buffalo’s free treatment program is four months and open to girls between the ages of 12 and 17 who are experiencing substance use-related problems with drugs, alcohol and inhalants. They run three intakes per year. Clients can sign up themselves or be referred by an addiction counsellor or parent.
Since the pandemic, Gordon says most of their clients have been from Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan and they have one client from Labrador.
“We get a lot of messages from communities stressing the struggles that their youth are facing right now and a lot of it is the drug use, and the meth they need help for,” she said.
Gordon says clients participate in extensive individual casework and group counselling sessions, formal education, equine therapy, cultural teachings and ceremonies, and activities related to relaxation, recreation, and life-skills building.
The 16,600 square-foot treatment facility includes common areas, therapy rooms, a gymnasium and exercise room, a kitchen and dining area and an outdoor courtyard.
The centre has room for 15 clients but currently only takes 10 to maintain three clients to one staff member ratio.
Gordon says she hopes to take more clients in the future if funding permits as around 20 youth are typically on the waiting list.
“Having this permanent facility is going to be so beneficial to these young people that need it,” said Saskatoon Tribal Council Chief Mark Arcand.
He says he’s pleased to have the centre built in a rural area. Cultural programming aids in the recovery of First Nations youth battling addictions and other underlying issues that cause addictions, he said.
“It’s what every tribal council should have in their area to help all the young people and older people to actually get the help they need. We talk about residential schools and the effects of that for intergenerational trauma,” he said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.