TAYKWA TAGAMOU NATION - A new facility is dedicated to addressing the urgent mental health and addiction challenges facing a northern community.
On Sept. 29, Taykwa Tagamou Nation (TTN) celebrated the grand opening of the Veronica S. Archibald Healing and Cultural Learning Lodge, a facility aimed at addressing the community’s pressing mental health and addiction challenges.
“Our people are dying, our people are hurting, and they feel that they don't have a lot of options,” said Kayla Viau, Archibald’s granddaughter and TTN’s acting director of social services and its child well-being law lead.
“We want to give them this option. We want to give them an opportunity to reconnect with who they are, to the land, and with themselves.”
Situated on Wade Lake, the facility is located about 35 kilometres from Cochrane and features eight nearly complete rooms including six individual units and two family-sized rooms. There are plans to expand to 39 rooms in the future.
“Families who want to attend treatment and have their children present will have that opportunity,” Viau said.
This family-centred approach is crucial, as many families face the trauma of losing loved ones to addiction, Viau said.
“Kids are going into care because their parents are dying. Kids are going into care because parents are really struggling. We have an opioid epidemic. We're in a crisis,” she said.
Located on Archibald’s trapline, the lodge is intended to fill a critical gap in aftercare support in the region, particularly in light of the opioid crisis and the community’s struggles with addiction and mental health, she said.
“In the north, we don't have a lot of aftercare support, and it's a big gap that we observe,” Viau said.
“This offers a safe space for individuals to get away and to focus on what's important. And hopefully develop those connections for their lifelong healing and lifelong sobriety, if that's ultimately what they want to do.”
The lodge will offer a range of services, including traditional healing and counselling, tailored to meet the unique needs of individuals, Viau said.
“Aftercare is really just about being there when they need to get away for a week. They can come and stay out at the lodge so that they can just get on the land,” she said.
Offering youth and community programming is also a goal to ensure there’s continuity of the Cree culture, language and traditions, Viau said.
TTN's commitment to addressing mental health and addiction is part of a larger vision related to Bill C-92, which aims to enhance the jurisdiction of First Nations in matters concerning their children, youth and families, Viau said.
This initiative aims to address the urgent crisis of addictions and mental health in the community, focusing on family support and prevention, Viau said. The goal is to help families remain intact, reduce the fear of overdose and death, and prevent the need for children to be removed from their homes due to parental struggles with addiction.
“Our vision as a community is really to focus on that prevention piece, but in times that we're dealing with now, we have no choice but to find solutions for something that is already ravaging our communities,” she said.
The lodge was named in memory of Archibald, who was a residential school survivor and a high school Cree language teacher.
“I feel so privileged to have known her. She was so committed to carrying on our culture, making sure that youth felt heard, that they felt supported, that her language, our language, was respected and shared and learned,” Viau said.
The journey to establishing the facility has been long, spanning over four years of planning and discussions, with the original vision dating back seven years, Viau said.
“The ribbon cutting was very emotional for everyone,” she said. “Unfortunately, some of our membership has passed away as a result of overdose in the last couple years, and some very recently.”
While renovations are nearly complete, the lodge is not yet fully operational as key staffing is still being finalized. Viau hopes for full operation within the next six to eight weeks.
