The urban on-the-land camp behind the Fieldhouse in Yellowknife has been successful since it's opened, according to the camp's organizers. Donald Prince, executive director of the Arctic Indigenous Wellness Foundation (AIWF) – the foundation in charge of running the camp – said that since it first opened in April of this year, people of all backgrounds have been attending.
"It's been going quite well, a lot of people have been coming out, a lot of agencies and different organizations, a lot of individuals have been coming out, a lot of families," said Prince.
Speaking at a forum in Yellowknife in May, Prince outlined that while the camp offers a number of services such as traditional counsellors, it also offers a number of simple solutions to problems that attendees wouldn't be able to find at other medical institutions.
"People just coming out just to hang out, some people want to talk to people about their problems," said Prince. "Whatever people might need, whether that's counseling services, or talking to people, or even just somewhere to hang out. You know, come out there to drink some tea, have something to eat, we usually make some fried bread and some caribou, things like that."
Prince outlines the fact that the camp is an easy way for individuals to get back to their roots in the bush without having to jump through hoops or cross red tape that they may be needed to get help at other places in the territories.
"As Aboriginal people we're originally bush people and we grew up in the bush and lived in the bush," Prince said. "We have no hoops, there's no hoops with us to jump through, if anybody wants to talk with somebody I'm around and William (Greenland) is around, we'll go talk, you don't have to fill out a 17-page form or something, you just talk."
The camp held its grand opening on April 23 after the foundation won a million-dollar prize to help get it started.
It has been built in a temporary location that will serve guests until the foundation can raise enough funds to build a permanent camp next to the new Stanton Territorial Hospital.
In the meantime, Prince points to one specific example to show that the camp's temporary location is already a success.
"There's one fellow that's been out there, this is the second week, he's been out their everyday, he spends the whole day out there and he's been sober for eight days now," said Prince.
Prince now hopes that these success stories can help the foundation raise necessary funds to start construction at the permanent location.
The foundation is hoping to raise $13-million for the wellness camp within the next two years, the operational costs for the camp's first five years. AWIF has already been given the land by the GNWT that it's permanent home will be built on.
The Truth and Reconciliation Council called for the federal government to provide sustainable funding for a wellness center in the NWT as one of its 94 calls to actions back in 2015.