A new healing lodge to help First Nations people in southwestern Ontario deal with addiction problems is scheduled to open next spring at the Kettle & Stony Point First Nation on the southern shore of Lake Huron.
The lodge, with land-based activities operating alongside modern and traditional medical services, will replace a facility closed in 2016 at another First Nation in the area. Other efforts, including provision of materials to reduce dangers for drug users, have already started this fall, according to Kettle & Stony Point First Nation Chief Jason Henry.
The new lodge will enable those battling addiction to “reconnect with former knowledge that was taken away with residential schools and forced removal from our territories,” Henry tells Windspeaker.com. “We want to get people back in touch with hunting, fishing, basic land skills, and learning their culture and spirituality.”
Medical services are a vital part of the plan. “When you’re talking about interventions for opioid problems, you have to have that,” Henry explained. Permanent staff will be hired, with a focus on the medical side although social workers and “cultural staff” will be part of the mix.
Henry says chiefs from across the region have been working on securing funding and a new location for the healing lodge since it closed in 2016. The former lodge shut down after management conflicts ended its 18-year operation at the nearby Munsee-Delaware Nation, according to news reports at the time.
The new facility will be created in partnership with Atlohsa Healing Services of London, Ont., and will feature a mix of residential and day programs for First Nations people, on- or off-reserve. A possible location at the former Kettle Point Park is being considered.
Modular buildings will be erected at first for washrooms and a kitchen, with bricks and mortar possible in the future. However, Chief Henry emphasizes…