Re-Profiling Background

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The NNADAP Link

The National Native Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program (NNADAP) is the primary, Federal Government funding source for services designed to prevent and overcome alcohol and Drug abuse problems in the communities of Inuit and First Nations peoples in Canada.

Along with a network of youth solvent abuse centres (NYSAPs), NNADAP is a prevention and intervention system that extends across Canada.

Significant steps in the development of NNADAP

The National Native Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program (NNADAP) evolved from a pilot project entitled the National Native Alcohol Abuse program (NNAAP), which was approved in December 1974 and was implemented over a three-year period beginning in fiscal year 1975-76.

The original National Native Alcohol Abuse Program was run as a joint initiative between Department of Indian and Northern Development and Health and Welfare (now known as Health Canada).

As a successor to the less ambitious National Native Alcohol Abuse Program (NNAAP), NNADAP was designed to provide treatment, prevention, training and research services as a comprehensive federal strategy.

The purpose of the NNADAP program was "to support community designed and operated projects in the areas of alcohol abuse prevention, treatment and rehabilitation in order to arrest and reverse the present destructive physical, mental, social and economic trends."

The blueprint for today's NNADAP program is imbedded in the Cabinet discussion paper, which was submitted to Treasury Board in February 1982 and approved later that year on April 5. It was originally developed as a five-year $154 million program, and has gone through a life cycle which has seen a growth phase, a period of maturity, and more recently, a devolution of the program into community-based control.

The National Native Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program (NNADAP) is now in its fifteenth year of existence as the federal government's primary line of attack to combat alcohol and substance abuse in First Nations communities.

Rationale for Re-profiling the First Nations and Inuit Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services

While the NNADAP/NYSAP system has performed an essential and laudable service, a review process culminating in a report completed in 1998 clearly identified several gaps in the system. Deficiencies were found in the form of unmet needs for several client groups; in addition, prevailing prevention and intervention practices were evaluated as being outdated and the education and skill levels of a disproportionate number of service personnel was unacceptably low. There were also striking vacancies in the continuum of care, as conceptualized in several key NNADAP documents.

In a renewal framework completed in December 2000, First Nations and Inuit representatives established priorities in the substance abuse and addictions area, identifying a process for implementing the changes needed to upgrade the existing system. The renewal of the existing First Nations and Inuit substance abuse prevention and intervention system is mandated to NNAPF.

The first stage in the process of re-profiling First Nations and Inuit substance abuse and addictions services has been designed to ensure that the process of renewal is shaped directly by those working on the ground rather than being imposed from above.

Renewing the system from the ground up

Partnerships between stakeholders have been built-in, to insure that the Re-Profiling Program is driven from the ground up and supported at all levels:

  • The Regional Working Groups that comprise NNAPF and provide its Board with Directors, gain their authorities from Communities in their respective regions and from the Boards of Directors of treatment Centres within each region
  • First Nations and Inuit Organisation, as well as other stakeholder organizations, including First Nations and Inuit Health Branch of Health Canada (FNIHB) partner with NAAPF to renew the system from the ground up and to provide resources.
  • The Government of Canada, which as a Crown Trustee, is mandated to discharge historic, legal and normative obligations to First Nations and Inuit People, partners with NNAPF through Health Canada.

This underlines NNAPF's intention to recognize in a practical manner, the desire of First Nations and Inuit communities to determine the structure and function of health promotion organizations intended to serve them.

Meeting Regional and National Re-profiling Priorities

Re-Profiling Priorities will be implemented at two levels:

  1. The renewal needs of communities will be expressed regionally by stakeholders through NNAPF regional Working groups.
  2. A unified system of national scope operating according to goals implication all programming.

This national scope will include upgrading the program through the development of an efficient information gathering system and the establishment of standards for baseline personnel qualifications and program accreditation

NNAPF recognizes that the renewal process has already begun, with many programs across the country already taking initiatives. However, the System re-Profiling plan is expected to cover several years. There is neither the time nor the funding available to undertake all the re-profiling elements in a single year.

Based on consultations and deliberations, priorities have been set for system re-profiling. To provide financial support based on these priorities, and on eligibility criteria, NNAPF has developed a call for proposal, aimed at the existing service delivery network.