A southern B.C. addictions recovery provider has been chosen as the operator of a long-awaited northwestern B.C. addictions withdrawal and treatment centre.
Red Road Recovery is already actively recruiting for employees to work in the Terrace area as part of its arrangement with a group of northwestern First Nations gathered together as the Northern First Nations Alliance.
Red Road operates three centres in southern B.C. of both private pay and publicly financed withdrawal services in Lumby, Salmon Arm and Sorrento.
Formed in 2000 at a meeting in Terrace, the Northern First Nations Alliance advocates on a number of fronts, including improved health care services, and counts the Haisla Nation, the Nisga’a Nation, the Gitanyow Band, the Kitselas First Nation, the Kitsumkalum First Nation and the Gitxaala Nation as its members.
It then became part of what the provincial government is calling the Northwest Working Group which also has the Northern Health Authority, the First Nations Health Authority and the provincial government as its members. The money needed for addiction treatment would come from the province.
The northwestern service will be Indigenous-led and have an Indigenous focus. However, the provincial health ministry indicated, "that while there will be a priority for Indigenous populations at the withdrawal management centre, the resources would be available to all."
Information through the First Nations Health Authority indicates that with toxic drug use alone, Indigenous people died at 6.7 times the rate of other British Columbians from January to December 2024.
Statistics provided by the provincial coroners service have listed Terrace and the Northwest as locations with among the highest numbers of drug overdose deaths per capita in the province.
In 2023, Terrace had the statistical equivalent of 98.7 deaths per 100,000 people.
A location for the service has yet to be released, but last September, leading up to the provincial election, Terrace mayor Sean Bujtas reported that in conversations with senior health officials, Terrace was listed as the site for a detox and recovery service.
Even before the dramatic increase in overdose deaths began, northwestern local governments and others advocated for a detox service in the region, saying that sending people elsewhere left them without family and other connections.
Placing a withdrawal centre in the Northwest continues a gradual expansion of treatment beds for both voluntary and involuntary care in B.C.
"We are grateful that the province also recognizes that our proposal includes a land-based healing and after-care facility to provide wrap-around services that is truly Indigenous-led," noted Northern First Nations Alliance chair Brenna Innes in an October 2023 press release laying the groundwork for the service.
Red Road's recruitment efforts include a program director, lead counsellor, team leader, counsellors, support workers, chefs, maintenance workers, administrative assistants, housekeepers, people to provide cultural program support, Elders and others offering spiritual guidance and yoga instructors.
The service's website emphasizes understanding the unique needs of those it takes in.
"Our individualized programs consist of an intensive 30-day program, a comprehensive 60-day program and an extensive 90-day program," its website states.
