Alberta
Premier Kenney announces Residential Recovery Centre, a critical addition in fight against opioid addictions
From the Province of Alberta
Building a recovery community in Red Deer
Alberta’s government is providing up to $5 million to build a recovery community in Red Deer, which will add 75 treatment beds in central Alberta.
As part of Alberta’s Recovery Plan, $25 million will support the construction of life-changing recovery communities, which will play a critical role in supporting the health, wellness and long-term recovery of Albertans.
“Today’s announcement is a big step towards supporting Albertans in their goal of recovery. We dedicated a portion of our Recovery Plan to ensure infrastructure was being dedicated to the vulnerable people in our communities. These recovery communities are a continuation of our efforts at creating 4,000 addiction treatment spaces in the province and building a full continuum of care for people struggling with addiction.”
Recovery communities, also known as therapeutic communities, are a form of long-term residential treatment for addiction, used in more than 65 countries around the world. Recovery is seen as a gradual, ongoing process of cognitive change through clinical and peer interventions. Program participants advance through the stages of treatment at their own pace, setting personal objectives and assuming greater responsibilities in the community along the way.
“I am excited to announce the first of five recovery communities will be in Red Deer. This is an important step in the expansion of our mental health and addiction recovery strategy. I want to thank the City of Red Deer for their tremendous partnership on this important project. Their commitment to the community and the people struggling with addiction has been second to none.”
Recovery Communities encourage participants to examine their personal behaviour to help them become more pro-social and positively engaged citizens – considered to be based on honesty, taking responsibility, hard work, and willingness to learn. The goal is for a participant to leave the program not only drug-free but also employed or in school or training.
Five recovery communities are being built across the Alberta. It is anticipated recovery communities will begin accepting participants in spring 2021.
“The City of Red Deer is proud to have worked closely with the Government of Alberta on this important initiative. Our friends, family, and neighbours suffering from addiction will have a place to go that’s close to home. We will continue to working with this government hand-in-hand as we build out further supports for the people of Red Deer.”
“I am pleased to hear that a recovery community is coming to Red Deer. This facility is poised to have a dramatic impact on those struggling with addiction in Red Deer and in central Alberta. I look forward to seeing the positive effects it has on its patients and the community as a whole.”
“Addiction is a challenge of human nature. Success in this complex matter must begin with the end in mind: supporting and loving our neighbors to become free from addictions. The announced therapeutic community for Red Deer is an innovative, game changing, service towards loving and supporting our neighbors seeking to become free from addictions, blessing families and communities throughout Central Alberta.”
This historic infrastructure investment complements government’s ongoing commitment to create 4,000 addiction and mental health treatment spaces in the province.
Alberta’s Recovery Plan is a bold, ambitious long-term strategy to build, diversify, and create tens of thousands of jobs now. By building schools, roads and other core infrastructure we are benefitting our communities. By diversifying our economy and attracting investment with Canada’s most competitive tax environment, we are putting Alberta on a path for a generation of growth. Alberta came together to save lives by flattening the curve and now we must do the same to save livelihoods, grow and thrive.
Quick facts
- Alberta’s Recovery Plan provides a total of $25 million to build five recovery communities across the province, adding 400 treatment beds – a 30 per cent increase to current capacity.
- Construction of these long-term residential treatment centres is part of the more than $10 billion infrastructure spending announced as part of Alberta’s Recovery Plan. This spending includes: $6.9 billion Budget 2020 capital spending, $980 million accelerated for Capital Maintenance and Renewal, $200 million for Strategic Transportation Infrastructure Program and water infrastructure projects, $600 million in strategic infrastructure projects, $500 million in municipal infrastructure and $1.5 billion for Keystone XL.
Calgary (CP) – Calgary police have identified a 15-year-old girl who was fatally shot this week as investigators try to determine whether she was the intended target or if it was a case of mistaken identity.
Officers responded to reports of a shooting in an alley in the Martindale neighbourhood early Tuesday morning.
They say the teenager was a passenger in a vehicle when she was shot and that the driver, who was not injured, immediately fled the scene before pulling over to call police.
Police say investigators have received several tips from the public.
They say evidence from the scene leads police to believe it was targeted, but investigators haven’t determined whether the occupants of the vehicle were the intended targets.
The girl has been identified as Sarah Alexis Jorquera of Calgary.
“This was a senseless act of violence that took the life of a young girl,” Staff Sgt. Martin Schiavetta of the homicide unit said in a statement Wednesday.
“At this point, we have more questions than answers and are working around the clock to hold those responsible accountable. Losing a 15-year-old is a tragic loss for our community, her school, her friends and, most importantly, her family.”
Police ask anyone with any information about the shooting to call investigators.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 29, 2023.
Ukrainian evacuees Dmytro Syrman, left, his wife, Anastasiia, centre, and their four-year-old daughter Varvara attend a news conference highlighting the need for temporary housing in Calgary on Wednesday, March 29, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
By Bill Graveland in Calgary
After six months under Russian occupation, Dmytro Syrman and his family decided to flee Ukraine for a safer life abroad and are now in Calgary.
The family lived in Dniprorudne, a mining city of 17,000 in southern Ukraine. Syrman worked as a human resources manager at an iron factory.
In August, Syrman, his wife, Anastasiia, and four-year-old daughter Varvara embarked on a six-day, 3,000-kilometre drive to Poland.
“On the 24 of February, when the Russian army attacked Ukraine and occupied our city in March 2022, we lost everything,” Syrman said Wednesday.
He said they began planning their escape when they realized Russian soldiers weren’t leaving their city.
“We started all of this because we were scared for Varvara,” he said. “When Russian bombs were falling near our city it was really scary.”
Their home is still under Russian occupation.
For the past year the family stayed in Poland, sent in their paperwork to come to Canada, and two weeks ago arrived in Calgary.
They’re now staying with a host family for a month while they look for long-term accommodation and to find jobs.
“We are here and starting a new life. We can’t believe about people who don’t know us and many helped us. We’re really shocked,” Syrman said.
The Syrmans were helped by Calgary’s Centre for Newcomers, which started a campaign to find 100 hosts for Ukrainian families or individuals for a month while they find housing of their own.
Kelly Ernst, chief program officer with the centre, said there has been a flood of Ukrainians trying to take advantage of a federal program that allows them to temporarily resettle in Canada.
The Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel program has been extended until July and Ernst said he expects people will continue to flee the war-torn country.
“We’re in a desperate, dire need at the moment for host homes to try to accommodate the evacuees coming from Ukraine. It’s reaching the proportions of being a crisis moment,” said Ernst.
He said people arriving elsewhere in Canada are migrating to Calgary because the rents are lower than in larger cities such as Toronto and Vancouver.
Ernst said approximately 450 people have been arriving in Calgary every week from Ukraine and his organization has helped people staying nights in the airport, off the street and at homeless shelters.
Natalia Shem, who is the manager of housing for the Ukrainian evacuees, said it’s difficult for the newcomers to find somewhere to live before arriving.
“It’s almost impossible to find long-term rent being outside of Canada and people who come here need one month of stay,” Shem said. “It’s an average time a family can find long-term rent, job and settle down here in Canada.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 29, 2023.
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