A small group of community leaders are in the process of developing the territory’s first detox centre.
Joey Amos, manager of the John Wayne Kiktorak Centre in Inuvik, is taking charge.
“Discussion with the addictions counsellors here is they try not to send folks out for treatment,” said Amos.
“They try to counsel them within the community and make sure that they’re serious about it. I’m grateful for that but at the same time we need a safe place for men and women to go if they want treatment.”
The lack of addiction treatment in the North causes patients to travel south, often to Edmonton, for assistance. Amos says that the one goal of the proposed detox centre is to make it accessible and affordable to the north.
“If somebody wants treatment within the Inuvik region and anywhere, I beleive that we’d be open to the discussions and say look we want to help our people,” Amos said. “We want to help the NWT find recovery so I’m not about to go and turn away somebody that needs help.”
The approximate cost to open the detox centre is $400,000.
