Alberta proposes new mental health and addiction agency as toxic drug deaths reach historic high

The Alberta government announced it will create a new provincial health agency responsible for mental health and addiction services.

The announcement comes a month after new data shows the province saw the highest number of toxic drug deaths in history last year.

More than 1,700 people died from toxic drugs between January and November last year, making it the worst year since the province’s substance use surveillance system was made publicly available in 2016. That is 24.07 per cent higher compared with the same time period in 2022, 28.46 per cent higher compared with the same time period in 2021 and 69.08 per cent higher compared with the same time period in 2020.

On Tuesday, Premier Danielle Smith announced that the United Conservative government will introduce new legislation this spring that will see the creation of Recovery Alberta, a new provincial health agency responsible for the delivery and oversight of mental health and addiction services. Currently, mental health and addiction care are being provided by Alberta Health Services.

Smith said if the legislation passes, the United Conservative government will aim to transition these services to Recovery Alberta by July 1 of this year. Those who are accessing care through AHS will be able to continue to use these services through Recovery Alberta and the government is working with AHS to ensure the transition is “as smooth as possible.”

“There is still so much more work to address mental health and addiction in Alberta … For too long, the planning and delivery of mental health services was fragmented throughout AHS and unfortunately, this lack of focus has led to systemic deficiencies in the system,” Smith told reporters on Tuesday.

“To effectively plan and deliver mental health and addiction services in Alberta, we need an organization dedicated specifically to that.”

Smith later added Recovery Alberta will be “government-funded.” According to Tuesday’s news release, the Alberta government will fund Recovery Alberta’s annual operating budget of $1.13 billion. This money is currently being used to support the delivery of mental health and addiction services at AHS.

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The Alberta government also announced it will be establishing the Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence (CORE), to build “recovery-oriented systems of care” by researching best practices, analyzing data and making “evidence-based recommendations. Kym Kauffman, former deputy minister of mental health and community wellness for Manitoba, will lead the agency’s creation as its new CEO.

“Despite all provinces across Canada facing an addictions crisis, there is no clear centre of recovery excellence that can advise on what works and does not work when it comes to mental health and addictions,” said Minister of Mental Health and Addiction Dan Williams on Tuesday. “It is important to have jurisdictions working together, growing in the same direction when it comes to creating healthy societies.”

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The government did not clarify if there was any consultation with front-line workers and AHS about the transition.

Kerry Bales, the current chief program officer for addiction and mental health and correctional health services within AHS, said there were no direct engagement from a staffing perspective when the consolidation of mental health and addiction services began last summer.

However, Bales said there will be town halls in the future to gather input from health-care workers.

“Since we’ve been doing the consolidation work that began in the summer, and even prior to that, it’s been an iterative piece of work where we’ve been engaging with our staff, our leadership and clinicians,” Bales said. “As always, we generally feel as though we’re never able to engage enough … There’s been a lot of work done leading into the consolidation this fall and the transition into Recovery Alberta this July.”

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