By Bryan Eneas

Buffalo Narrows seeks to convert former correctional facility to treatment centre

Apr 26, 2018 | 5:00 PM

In response to outcries from the community, a village is looking for a creative solution to tackle social issues in Northern Saskatchewan.

Buffalo Narrows Mayor Bobby Woods said he, his council and community members want to find a positive answer to the drug problems their northern village faces. He said they’ve discussed the possibility of converting the former correctional facility in the village into an addictions treatment centre. The correctional facility was shut down following the 2016/17 provincial budget after opening its doors in 1980.

Woods said he and his fellow community members don’t want to see people with addictions problems ending up in prison anymore. The north is one big community where many people share relations, he said, and locking drug users up can have ripple effects.

“The people that are caught in the issue with drugs, they’re using heavily, and you know who it hurts the most? It’s the children and the people in our community,” Woods said. “We need to do something, and that’s what the people have said.”

The former correctional facility already has rooms, a kitchen, and offices, Woods noted, and it’s in a good location to serve the community of Buffalo Narrows as well as the entire North.

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“It really fits the needs that we talk about,” Woods said.

Currently, residents of Buffalo Narrows have to go to La Loche in order to seek treatment, and Woods said people who have attended the local treatment centre told him the programming was focused on alcohol rather than drugs. He also noted the centre in La Loche services people from all over Saskatchewan, which means northerners sometimes have to travel to Loon Lake, North Battleford or even Prince Albert to get similar treatment.

“We need a lot of support in many ways,” Woods said. “We also need to listen to other neighbouring communities in northern Saskatchewan so that they can support the project.”

The northern town of La Ronge is currently seeking to build their own mental health facility, but Woods said more is better when it comes to providing for the mental health and addictions treatment needs of northern residents.

“More than one facility is absolutely a necessity,” Woods said.

While the idea to convert the correctional facility has passed through council, Woods said the village still needs to sit down with the Saskatchewan Health Authority and Ministry of Health to discuss the next steps going forward.

In a statement sent to paNOW, representatives from the health authority said they were still waiting to hear from the village office about the plan to convert the corrections facility into an addictions treatment centre. A source in the ministry of health echoed the health authority’s statement, saying the village still had a long road to follow before their idea becomes a reality.

Bryan.Eneas@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @BryanEneas