Alberta Addiction and Mental Health Minister Dan Williams jets off to Washington DC to attend a reception at the Mayflower Hotel Tuesday night.
The Alberta Government’s news release said the purpose of Williams’ trip is “to meet with elected officials, community leaders, lawmakers and practitioners to support the continued development of the Alberta Recovery Model.”
With the U.S. presidential campaign fully and officially under way, and a tight race at that if the polls are still to be believed, this is no time for anyone to have meaningful discussions with a provincial politician from a distant corner of Canada, if that was the plan.
If Williams’ scheduled meetings tomorrow with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration come off as advertised, one imagines they will be pretty perfunctory affairs that amount to a polite response to an insignificant distraction.
When he’s there, Williams may also want to keep in mind that, for the moment at least, the White House remains in the hands of a Democratic Party president. So he might want to steer clear of his views on reproductive rights.
The “Alberta Recovery Model,” of course, is the United Conservative Party (UCP)’s politically and ideologically driven abstinence-based, private-sector administered approach to the addiction crisis plaguing every jurisdiction in North America. It is controversial with many addiction recovery experts because it eschews harm-reduction measures that are known to save lives.
While the news release describes the so-called Alberta model as a “comprehensive and evidence-based approach to addressing mental health and addiction care,” it would be fair to say it is by definition not comprehensive and rejects evidence that contradicts the government’s political and ideological goals.
Williams and his staffers will then make their way to Hartford and Boston to talk with Connecticut and Massachusetts state officials “about their systems, which include using treatment orders for those who are a danger to themselves or others,” as the press release put it.
“Alberta’s government is looking to leverage best practices south of the border that can inform approaches to help those who are a danger to themselves and/or others as a result of their addiction or drug use,” the news release explained.
Williams, of course, will need to keep in mind that the Canadian and U.S. Constitutions are different and he may be unable to import aspects of American criminal law, a state responsibility in that country, although I suppose we’ll see about that when the UCP’s coercive treatment legislation is introduced in the fall. I mention this only because Premier Smith has shown some confusion on this point in the past.
Given the significant role of U.S. states in that country’s federal elections, state officials may have their eye on another ball as well.
Finally, Williams itinerary says he and his two staffers will visit the Harvard Research Recovery Institute, a serious and respected institution affiliated with the Massachusetts General Hospital, the third oldest hospital in the United States.
What the experts there make of Williams’ effort to pitch “opportunities for collaboration in recovery-oriented care” between Mass General and the UCP’s new “Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence” is interesting to speculate upon.
Since the new director of the Alberta Crown corporation has said the centre’s purpose is to “help the Government advance the Alberta Recovery Model,” to which harm reduction measures are ideologically off limits, it seems unlikely it will produce unbiased information of much interest to the Recovery Research Institute.
Williams is scheduled to return to Edmonton on Saturday.
Private company that runs ‘recovery community’ opens Edmonton office
ROSC Solutions Group Inc., the private company incorporated in Alberta in December 2022 and contracted by the Alberta Government to run the Lakeview Recovery Community west of Edmonton, has now opened an Edmonton office.
Both the company’s two directors are residents of British Columbia and 100 per cent of its shares are now held by a numbered B.C. corporation. That company, 1399346 B.C. Ltd., was incorporated in February 2023. Two of 1399346 B.C. Ltd.’s three directors are the same as the directors ROSC Solutions Group. All are residents of B.C.
ROSC Solutions Group has not responded to questions about the nature of its business relationship to the Recovery Training Institute of Alberta, which is also to be based on the Lakeview campus in the village of Gunn.
Support rabble today!
We’re so glad you stopped by! Thanks for consuming rabble content this year.
rabble.ca is 100% reader and donor funded, so as an avid reader of our content, we hope you will consider gifting rabble with a donation during our summer fundraiser today.
Whether it be a one-time donation or a small monthly contribution, your support is critical to keep rabble writers producing the work you’ve come to rely on as a part of a healthy media diet.
Become a rabble rouser — donate to rabble.ca today.
Nick Seebruch, editor
