A proposed new building for the healing facility was denied because it would be built on farmland.
Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria and the author of
All Together Healthy (Douglas & McIntyre, 2018). Find him on Twitter or reach him at
. SHARES Premier John Horgan and Agriculture Minister Lana Popham both say they support the proposed new First Nations healing centre after the province’s land commission rejected its construction.
Photo via the BC Government.
The B.C. government is working with Carrier Sekani Family Services to find a path forward for a proposed treatment and healing facility for people with substance use issues after a decision by the Agricultural Land Commission set back the project.
Horgan responded that making sure communities have treatment capacity is a top priority, and the government wants to see the facility built. “I’m not aware the project has been stopped,” he said. “I am aware it has not yet begun.”
In a March 4 letter to three cabinet ministers Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Minister Murray Rankin; Agriculture, Food and Fisheries Minister Lana Popham; and Mental Health and Addictions Minister Sheila Malcolmson Cheslatta Carrier Chief Corrina Leween criticized the Agricultural Land Commission’s decision to reject plans to build the treatment centre and asked for urgent action.
“The decision fails to uphold your government’s commitments to address the opioid crisis on an urgent basis, to close the systemic gaps in medical and health services for First Nations people in the north, to implement the [Truth and Reconciliation Commission] Calls to Action, and to honour the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,”