FAMILIES FIND HELP AND HEALING IN NEW APPROACH TO ADDICTIONS

The new drug and alcohol treatment centre at Sagkeeng First Nation has
been open for only a year but already has a six-month waiting list.

Executive director Dina Bruyere said the centre would like to handle
more clients but doesn't have the funding.

The centre is housed in the same building as the Virginia Fontaine
Addictions Foundation. VFAF was at the heart of a multi-million dollar
scandal when it was discovered that, according to police, millions of
dollars in federal money was being used to buy condos, expensive cars
and exotic trips.

Paul Cochrane, a former assistant deputy minister for Health Canada,
admitted to pocketing $200,000 in bribes and was given a one-year jail
sentence last December.

Others who worked at the centre, which closed in late 2000, are still
before the courts.

Ottawa is also pursuing a $2.5 million civil suit against four people
who worked for the VFAF but it will likely be at least another year
before it goes to trial. In the meantime, Bruyere said the treatment
centre is working hard to make a fresh start.

"It's hard to get away from the reputation that Sagkeeng has received
as a result of the actions of a few individuals," Bruyere said.

Director came 'home' to help

Bruyere graduated from law school at the University of Manitoba in
2000 and worked as counsel for the Southern Chiefs
Organization.

She said the job at the treatment centre gave her an opportunity to
work on the reserve where she was born.

Sagkeeng is located 145 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg. The new
centre is under tight financial control with only a million dollar
budget and a staff of 18.

By comparison VFAF, which had 76 beds, received more than $60 million
in federal funding between 1994 and 2000.

Called the Sagkeeng Mino Pimatiziwin Family Treatment Centre, it
provides help for the entire family, not just the person with the
addiction. The program runs in seven-week cycles and has a cultural
component with weekly sweats and sharing circles.

A day care is available for children, and next month a teacher will be
on site.

Bruyere said the families at the treatment centre now are all from
Ontario.

She said most of the treatment centre's clients come from Ontario and
Manitoba.

Bruyere said only a few other treatment centres in Canada provide
programs for the entire family, which is one reason why the waiting
list is so long.

Bruyere said the centre will be asking the federal government for more
money for the next fiscal year so it can increase the number of
families it can treat at one time from four to six.