Alberta government establishes deal with Ontario, Saskatchewan on recovery

The Alberta government’s recovery-oriented approach towards fighting addictions will be expanding across Canada. This is because the Alberta government has reached an agreement with the Ontario and Saskatchewan governments to take a shared approach to addressing the addictions crisis when it comes to recovery. “Today’s press conference announcement follows earlier this week where Alberta announced a $1.13 billion focus on mental health and addiction in the new health organization of Recovery Alberta and also the evidence-based policymaking evaluation organization of the Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence,” said Alberta Mental Health and Addictions Minister Dan Williams at a Thursday press conference. “Today, we are in the second day of the largest Recovery Capital Conference (RCC) in Canada’s history, where 2,000 Canadian and international participants have come to Alberta to share stories, to learn best practices and focus on the best way for us to move forward focusing on how to get recovery into our healthcare system, into our communities, and respond to the deadly disease of addiction.” At the RCC this year, Williams pointed out half of the participants were indigenous. The Alberta government has funded five recovery communities with indigenous communities. Four of these recovery communities are on reserves. Williams said the Alberta government “will continue moving forward in these partnerships and sharing best practices in what we learn from partners across other provinces, including my colleagues here today.” Ontario Mental Health and Addictions Associate Minister Michael Tibollo said his government has committed to building a recovery-oriented system of care to meet people where they are and ensure they receive the supports they need. “The investments the province has made to date are over $525 million in annual financing to support these as well as an additional $90 billion to build an addiction treatment recovery program,” said Tibollo.“And with that, we’ve opened 400 beds, 7,000 treatment spots.” Like Alberta, Tibollo said the Ontario government believes and supports addicts and wants to meet them where they are. He thanked Williams for inviting him to the RCC. Saskatchewan Mental Health and Addictions Minister Tim McLeod said it was an honour to establish this agreement with Alberta and Ontario. “In Saskatchewan, we introduced our action plan for mental health and addictions last October, and there’s three pillars to that plan,” said McLeod. “One is to expand capacity, adding more than double the existing treatment spaces across the province, across the entire continuum of care that individuals may need; the second pillar of that plan is to improve access to those spaces; and the third pillar of that plan is to transition our addictions treatment to a recovery-oriented system of care.” McLeod pointed out these topics were discussed at the RCC. Additionally, he said he was excited to work with Alberta and Ontario on fighting addictions. Williams followed up by saying he thinks it “is in the Canadian character to help those who are vulnerable.” “To me, growing up in Alberta is not different from any part of Canada,” he said. “There’s a sense of love of our neighbour, a sense of obligation of care for the dignity of every single Canadian, every single human.” He has spoken with people struggling with addictions. While they say their addictions will kill them if they continue, what gives them hope is recovery. Williams said at the RCC on Thursday he has come onboard the recovery movement and wants it to grow. READ MORE: Minister says Alberta government obligated to fight addictions“We have to act,” he said. “That is the moral and appropriate response.”

Alberta government establishes deal with Ontario, Saskatchewan on recovery

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