Kids fighting drug addiction may soon have a new place to turn for help thanks to a deal between Poundmaker's Lodge and the Oblates.
Board members with Poundmaker's Lodge revealed last week their plans to create a new youth addictions treatment centre in St. Albert. The centre would be housed in a home owned by the Oblates of St. Mary Immaculate on Meadowview Drive. A second, similar facility is also in the works at Lac Ste. Anne.
They got final approval from the Vatican to lease the house on Friday, said Marty Landrie, executive director for Poundmaker's, and will sign the deal as soon as the lawyers finish with it. "We're very excited," he said. "It means we'll be able to provide a better opportunity for St. Albert and the aboriginal community to serve those people in need."
The centre is not a certainty yet, added Don Langford, chair of the board at Poundmaker's, as it may require the property to be rezoned. The board would meet over the coming weeks to finalize how the home would be used.
If built, the centre would continue the strong relationship the Oblates have historically had with the Cree and Métis, said board member Thelma Chalifoux, and would give St. Albert youth a chance to overcome drug and alcohol addictions. "It will be a feather in St. Albert's cap."
This old (Oblate) house
The house itself is a huge two-storey home the Oblates bought a few decades ago, said Diane Lamoureux, an archivist for the Oblates in Alberta. Priests-in-training lived there until the 1990s, followed by the provincial Oblate administration in 2003. Those administrators left in 2006; a caretaker has lived there ever since.
The Oblates don't have enough priests to fill the home but aren't interested in selling it right now, said Rob Meilleur, chief administrative officer for the Oblates in Lacombe Province, which covers most of Canada.
Chalifoux had asked him about using the home several years ago and did so again last fall. "We had one Oblate living out there caring for the property and it's a fairly big house, so we said hey, maybe it's a good time to make this happen," Meilleur said. That led to an agreement to rent the home to Poundmaker's.
Poundmaker's Lodge has a three-month waiting list for clients and no room for youths, said board chair Don Langford. There are treatment spots in Edmonton, but they're often in short supply. "The need is there," he said. "What do we do with these people if we can't help them?"
The proposed facility would give about six youths a chance to access addictions treatment while still being in the city, Langford said. The home will house either kids under 18 or young adults aged 18 to 24, many of which will likely come from St. Albert.
It's important to have the centre in town, Langford said, so clients can tap into the city's support network. "Sticking them out [in the bush] is not going to help them re-integrate into the community," he said. "We want to provide as normal an existence for people that come in as possible."
A place for healing
Patients would spend most of their day in treatment programs, Langford said, which would include supervised trips off-site. They would learn how to get natural highs from hobbies and exercise and how to strengthen themselves through spirituality. "It's a continuation of the work the Oblates have done."
Residents would be able to learn valuable trades inside the house and hike in the White Spruce Forest outside, Chalifoux said. "These children are going to be taught by forestry students from NAIT how to care for the trees," she hoped.
The Michif Institute will also set up shop in the home, said Chalifoux, the institute's patron. The museum plans to move its research branch, currently crammed into a small room at the top of the stairs in Juneau House, to the home for easier use, making room for more exhibits.
Poundmaker's will get the keys to the house in April, Landrie said, and hopes to open the treatment centre this summer.
It's exciting to have someone using the house and supporting the healing process, Meilleur said. "We think it's fabulous."
