'A crisis in the system': Manitoba advocate sounding alarm over access to youth addictions services
Manitoba’s advocate for children and youth says there are glaring service gaps for young people struggling with addictions, and she is calling on the provincial government to develop a strategy specifically geared towards youth.
Sherry Gott said there is an ongoing addiction crisis affecting youth in Manitoba, and urgent work is needed to prevent more harm.
“Children, youth and young adults are increasingly struggling with addiction issues. Some are losing their lives,” Gott said at a news conference Tuesday.
Gott says in the 2018/2019 fiscal year, only three per cent of advocacy cases in Manitoba were related to addictions. In 2022/2023, that number jumped significantly to 22 per cent.
She says these cases were predominately female and Indigenous youth, which made up 80 per cent of cases overall.
Moreover, she says 56 youths died due to possible alcohol or drug-related incidents between 2018 and 2023.
Twenty-eight of those young people, Gott said, were in scope for review with the Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth (MACY). The ages of those who died ranged from 13 to 20. The average age was 17 years old.
“Analysis of child death reviews for adverse childhood experiences highlighted prevalent risks with household substance use, exposure to family violence and neglect emerging as top concerns,” she said.
Last fall, Gott’s team spoke with 39 youth from across Manitoba on how care and supports could be improved.
Many identified substance use as a way to cope with the pressures of life, be it mental health or family issues. Most said they wanted help but didn’t know where to go.
Others who were able to access support had issues with receiving care, including being too far away from their home communities, long wait lists and a shortage of beds.
Gott says her team also spoke with 263 clinical and non-clinical professionals, including those working in child welfare, justice and addictions.
More than 61 per cent of respondents did not believe the province can meet the individual needs of young people with addiction issues, and less than 10 per cent felt that existing services are equipped to deal with the crisis.
“In other words, 90 per cent of service providers feel they were failing young people with addictions. This is deeply concerning,” Gott says.
Calls for province to develop youth mental health, addictions strategy
This week, MACY hosted a roundtable discussion with experts, stakeholders and the provincial government to delve into these issues.
The goal is to develop an inter-system strategy. Their findings will be published in a special report later this year.
Gott is hopeful the provincial government will hear her concerns, and develop a specific youth mental health and addictions strategy. She also hopes the Kinew government will reverse cuts made over the last number of years, including the Behavioural Health Foundation’s youth treatment facilities in Winnipeg and Selkirk.
“I’m hoping that they see that there is a crisis in the system.”
CTV News Winnipeg has reached out to the province for comment and is awaiting a response.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Donald Trump says Canada becoming 51st U.S. state 'a great idea'
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is taking aim at Canada once more, saying it would be 'a great idea' to make it America's ‘51st state.'
After scamming their victims, some con artists go on to scam our courts with impunity
Convicts, including fraudsters, are skipping out on their court-ordered payments to their victims to the tune of tens of millions of dollars across the country, according to figures obtained by CTV W5.
Ryan Reynolds among new appointments to Order of Canada
Ryan Reynolds, Scott Oake and Maureen Ann Jennings are among the 88 new recipients of the Order of Canada.
The barriers and benefits as a global bank looks to branch out in Canada
It's not every day, or even every decade, that a big foreign bank decides to have a go at Canada's retail banking market. But Spain's Banco Santander is poised to be among the few that have tried as it nears the all-clear to expand in Canada.
NEW These seniors were hit by the affordability crisis in a different way. They're having to support their children and grandchildren
With the high cost of living increasingly a concern, some seniors are making sacrifices to help their adult children and grandchildren make ends meet. Here are some of their stories.
Canadian government announces new border security plan amid Donald Trump tariff threats
The federal government has laid out a five-pillared approach to boosting border security, though it doesn't include specifics about where and how the $1.3-billion funding package earmarked in the fall economic statement will be allocated.
5 family members found dead at Utah home and 17-year-old hospitalized with gunshot wound
Five family members including three children were found dead in a home in Utah on Tuesday, and another, age 17, was taken to a hospital with a gunshot wound, police said.
Verdicts are due in the historic French rape trial that turned Gisele Pelicot into a feminist hero
French judges plan to deliver hugely anticipated verdicts this week in a historic drugging-and-rape trial that has turned the victim, Gisele Pelicot, into a feminist hero.
Community members wrestle with grief in aftermath of Wisconsin school shooting
Community members in Wisconsin continued to wrestle with grief and called for change in the aftermath of a school shooting that killed a teacher and a student and wounded six others.