Northwestern B.C.'s first dedicated addictions treatment centre is being located at a recently-purchased former vacation lodge and RV property just off Hwy 16 approximately 55 kilometres east of Terrace.
Listed in the past year for $2 million and sold at the end of May, Silver Springs Lodge and RV site contains a large main lodge building and RV sites along 1,000 feet of Skeena River frontage.
To be operated by a company called Red Road Recovery in conjunction with a coalition of Northwest First Nations gathered together as the Northern First Nations Alliance, the purchase is the result of years of lobbying for a treatment centre in the region.
Financing will come via the provincial government and the centre will be primarily for First Nations individuals but also open to other residents of the region.
Red Road Recovery is already actively recruiting the 25 people in Terrace and area that will need to maintain the property and work with the centre's 12 clients, said company executive officer and chief executive officer Scott Tremblett.
"We expect to be open by October," said Tremblett, who is one of three founders of Red Road.
Red Road is now in its fourth year of operation and has a facility of 14 beds in shared rooms in Sorrento, seven private rooms at a location in Salmon Arm and 25 beds at a ranch-style location in Lumby. Sorrento and Salmon Arm are in the Shuswap, while Lumby is in the north Okanagan.
The Silver Springs Lodge and RV property takes up approximately 96 acres. Its main building has 12 bedrooms and is more than 7,200 square feet in size.
Tremblett said the expansion of Red Road from southern B.C. to northwestern B.C. came after the provincial government suggested the Northern First Nations Alliance contact his company.
And he said the expansion to the Northwest is just the first of a series of moves for Red Road.
"We have a plan for B.C. and then Canada," Tremblett said.
Tremblett described the 90-day program offered by Red Road as a combination of Indigenous-centered healing with the traditional and more commonly known 12-step addictions program.
Red Road employees who have been to Terrace have noted the warm welcome they've received, Tremblett continued.
Formed in 2000 at a meeting in Terrace, the Northern First Nations Alliance advocates on a number of fronts, including improved health care services, and counts the Haisla Nation, the Nisga’a Nation, the Gitanyow Band, the Kitselas First Nation, the Kitsumkalum First Nation and the Gitxaala Nation as its members.
It then became part of what the provincial government is calling the Northwest Working Group which also has the Northern Health Authority, the First Nations Health Authority and the provincial government as its members.
Red Road's recruitment efforts include a program director, lead counsellor, team leader, counsellors, support workers, chefs, maintenance workers, administrative assistants, housekeepers, people to provide cultural program support, Elders and those offering spiritual guidance and yoga instructors.
