‘Our children are so important to us’: Youth treatment centre set to open in Snaw-naw-as territories

Located down a quiet street on the territory of the Snaw-naw-as First Nation with an ocean view, the new Orca Lelum Youth Wellness Centre — which offers youth addiction services — gives off a placid spa vibe.

Clean and inviting, in addition to the bedrooms which will house up to 20 Youth, the space features a media room, outdoor sauna, gymnasium and a large meeting room for group sessions or Elder teachings.

The treatment centre, set to open in June, will offer culturally relevant detox and treatment services to Indigenous Youth from 12 to 18 years old who struggle with substance use, drug addiction, mental health crises and trauma.

On April 9, the centre hosted an event to launch the facility, attended by Snaw-naw-as Chief Gordon Edwards, Premier David Eby, University of Victoria vice president Qwul’sih’yah’maht Robina Thomas, Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction Sheila Malcolmson and others.

Run as a branch of Kw’umut Lelum — an Indigenous agency which serves families and children in nine First Nations on “Vancouver Island” — the centre will provide 20 substance use treatment beds. Ten of the beds are reserved for short-term detox and stabilization and the other 10 are for those taking part in the centre’s 10-week residential wellness and healing program.

The design of the space is intentional, so that the kids who come there to “feel as though they’re worth it, and know they matter,” says Kw’umut Lelum executive director Bill Yoachim.

Until now, Youth struggling with addiction have been sent away from community to get treatment, “but we know that they do best close to their community, [and] also close to their culture,” said Thomas, who is also the board chairperson of Kw’umut Lelum.

The goal of the facility is to ensure “we can look at every Indigenous Youth that was ever a part of [it] and say, ‘we did everything we could to give you a long, healthy life,’” Thomas said, referencing a quote from former Snuneymuxw First Nation Chief Douglas White Kwul’a’sul’tun at the 2010 opening of the Kw’umut Lelum building in Snuneymuxw.

The centre’s flagship program is a 10-week residential wellness and trauma healing program that features land-based practices that incorporate ceremony, traditional medicines and ceremonial bathing and brushings, with a focus on identity and belonging as well as the development of life skills and emotional and physical health.

“Our children are so important to us, and I’m so grateful to see a facility designed strictly to help them out in their life, because that wasn’t available when I was a child,” said Snaw-naw-as First Nation member ‘Ćum’qwa:tun’ (Lawrence Mitchell), who sang at the event with his son Jaylen George.

“For almost 10 years of my life I was wandering the earth not knowing anything about myself, and because I didn’t know, I thought I could scrape the ‘Indian’ off my arms. I thought that’s what it was. But now seeing we have this state-of-the-art facility for our children, it touches me in a deep place.”

Toxic drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death among Youth aged 10 to 18 years old, according to the BC Coroners Service. The crisis also disproportionately affects Indigenous people, who are six times more likely to die than other “B.C.” residents from toxic drug poisoning, according to recent data from the First Nations Health Authority.

“Indigenous women [specifically] are almost 12 times more likely to die from toxic drug poisoning. And we know that so many of the issues that give rise to addictions challenges start when people are young,” added Jennifer Whiteside, B.C.’s minister of mental health and addictions.

Premier Eby said that this particular project — both the facility and the clients it will service — stemmed directly from the community.

“That is what we hope to do across the province, in terms of Indigenous health and wellness initiatives and addiction and mental health supports, is to empower nations to bring forward those proposals that will best serve them,” he said.

“We’ve been working with the First Nations Health Authority on ensuring that the treatment and responses to the toxic drug crisis in Indigenous communities and the treatment facilities and the supports that come forward are led by Indigenous people and are for Indigenous people.” 

The province is investing $7.1 million in initial funding for the Orca Lelum centre, in addition to $1 million from Island Health, as part of a $171 million provincial investment in Indigenous-led treatment, recovery and aftercare services.