NWT family must redo months of treatment after contract is cancelled

Members of an NWT family say they were pulled from an Alberta treatment centre with only two weeks of a six-month program left when the centre’s contract with the territorial government abruptly ended.

“We were supposed to finish the program in the last bit … then we would have got custody back of our children,” said John, who had been in the program with his family since January 14. To protect the identity of his children in foster care, Cabin Radio is not using John’s real name.

The Kistawaw Family Treatment Centre is located in Lethbridge. Its contract with the NWT’s Department of Health and Social Services, or HSS, was supposed to run for multiple years according to a spokesperson for the department.

The spokesperson said Kistawaw’s contract ended in June 2026, 14 months after it began. The circumstances in which that happened are disputed.

Since the start of the contract, valued at $3.5 million, HSS said eight NWT families attended Kistawaw, including 13 adults and 23 children.

The GNWT relies on out-of-territory specialized treatment and services because there are no family treatment programs in the territory. The territory says family treatment is used to address issues like substance abuse, domestic violence, parenting skills and relationships. It can sometimes be a condition of a court order.

Two families from the NWT were withdrawn from Kistawaw due to the contract ending, the GNWT said.

John said he was informed by social workers in mid-June that the GNWT had cancelled the contract – which Kistawaw disputes – and his family was being moved to a family treatment centre in Regina, Saskatchewan.

“That was to be implemented right away,” said John. “They wanted us to pull the kids out of school. One week left in school. I said no … what’s the point of taking them one week from school and then putting them in another?”

Eventually, John said, his lawyer arranged a deal whereby the family could move to Regina the day after the kids finished school.

Though John and his family only had two weeks left in the program in Lethbridge, they had to complete an extra three months at the program in Regina.

“Everything that we did … for our program in Lethbridge, they discounted it,” said John.

Following the decision to terminate the contract, HSS said it provided families with alternative options for family treatment after their discharge from Kistawaw, and that decisions regarding next steps for individual families were made through regional case teams in collaboration with families.

Allegations of racism, discrimination

HSS describes the Kistawaw program as a structured living environment where families in individual homes are helped by live-in workers. The program offers mental health, addictions and parenting support.

The decision to end the contract was mutual, the HSS spokesperson said. They said HSS ended the contract in part because staff believed program operators were unable to address “concerns brought up by participants” or offer the “more comprehensive mental health and substance use programming and therapeutic interventions” required by clients.

Akasi Appiah, owner of the Kistawaw Family Treatment Centre, has a different account of what happened. Appiah said she decided to cancel the centre’s contract with the GNWT after another client from the territory discriminated against her and used vulgar words toward her, including the n-word.

After the contract started in April 2025, Appiah said, things had been going well. A coordinator from HSS, who facilitated intake meetings and discussed issues that arose, met with Appiah biweekly. But Appiah said problems arose when that coordinator resigned and no further meetings took place after March 2026, despite her requests.

“I felt that I wasn’t being heard and I was doing everything right, but any time I called for a meeting and other things, they didn’t respond to me,” Appiah said.

“When I realized that my needs were not being met, I just decided to terminate the contract with them.”

The timings of meetings and details of the alleged incident could not be independently verified. HSS declined to comment, citing contract confidentiality and privacy, though the spokesperson stated the GNWT “does not tolerate racism or discrimination in any forms and is committed to treating all individuals with dignity and respect.”

Appiah said HSS told remaining families the territorial government had cancelled the contract – not Appiah – and the centre was getting shut down.

“They didn’t want to take the onus on them to let the clients know that it was their inefficiencies … that made me cancel the contract,” Appiah said. While she said the centre was not closing down, when Cabin Radio spoke with Appiah, Kistawaw had no clients.

During his time at Kistawaw, John said one of the other couples in the program called Kistawaw workers the n-word on a daily basis and “weren’t ready to be parents.” 

“They depended on their worker to do everything. To cook, to clean,” he said. “They started treating the workers, the family preservation workers, as actual slaves just because their skin colour is black. They were racist.”

John alleged the couple sold bikes provided by the program and took a PS5 games console and controllers when they left.

After the couple left the program, John said they messaged him about issues they experienced in the program, wanting to “go and raise shit” – in his words – with HSS.

Cabin Radio contacted the family in question but did not receive a response. Allegations regarding their conduct could not be independently verified.

John said he complained to Kistawaw staff on arrival that the program offered too little family bonding and counselling. Those issues were addressed and John was happy with the program after that, he said.

Sara, John’s wife, said their first month at Kistawaw included “ups and downs.” (Sara is also a pseudonym to protect the identities of their children.)

At the start of the program, Sara said, there was only one male counsellor and not enough programming for the kids.

After a couple months, Sara continued, “we started understanding … it wasn’t for the kids, but it was for us to work on ourselves.”

Sara wished remaining families from the NWT had been consulted about the contract ending.

“The workers should have talked to all the families that were from NWT and asked how it was going,” she said.

“These other families ruined it for everybody, and it was just awful.”

Issues ‘not raised’ with Kistawaw

Appiah said she received no complaints about the program before the contract ended.

“There wasn’t any point where [HSS] called me and said, ‘hey, you’re not doing this well. You’re not meeting cultural needs,’” she said.

“It’s a voluntary program. So when people come in, they can choose to leave at any time. But sometimes some of the clients … they want to leave, and they always want a reason to leave, right? Then they start making up stuff.”

At a June sitting of Territorial Court in Fort McPherson, a lawyer representing two clients who also attended Kistawaw alleged significant problems at the program, including limited traditional programming.

The lawyer said their clients – common law partners – would, like John and Sara, have to retake family treatment programming in Regina.

While HSS said it monitors out-of-territory programs – including internal audits, site visits and feedback from clients and social workers – John said his family went through more than four months of treatment without the GNWT checking in.

“They had not at that point sent anybody to come check on us or anything like that. Just left us on our own devices,” said John.

Appiah wondered why Kistawaw got the contract if “I didn’t meet the requirements.”

“I think [the GNWT] discriminated grossly against me, and they did not fulfill their part of the contract,” Appiah said. “In my opinion, they cost my business.”

Appiah did not respond to additional questions.

Can family treatment be provided in-territory?

Now the Kistawaw contract has ended, NWT residents are instead being sent to family treatment programs in Regina, Moose Jaw, Fort McMurray and Edmonton.

Kieron Testart, the MLA for Yellowknife’s Range Lake, said he had heard about Kistawaw from “people who have tried to get into it and have experienced difficulties with it, and I’ve also heard people who had positive experiences.”

“I do think that it was a very useful tool in our toolbox to address addictions and mental health in the Northwest Territories, with a very specialized service,” said Testart of Kistawaw, which Appiah said was only for First Nation members.

“When you have a unique program that’s really designed for our circumstances in the North, it’s very hard to replace,” the MLA added.

Testart wants more opportunities for healing and wellness in the Northwest Territories. He believes keeping people in the North for treatment would save millions of dollars, though the GNWT has in the past said centres based in the territory are liable to fail because they are hard to staff.

Patricia Jaeb, who is originally from Tsiigehtchic and has since married into a Tłı̨chǫ family, said she has been sober for six and a half years and is navigating her healing on-the-land and in community.

While she doesn’t have direct experience with Kistawaw, Jaeb said she has spoken to people who have been through the program.

“These family-based treatment facilities are making a pretty penny off the Northwest Territories, in my opinion,” Jaeb said.

She recalls her own experience of being 10 months clean and sober, out at MacKay Lake northeast of Yellowknife, “just feeling like I finally have a sense of belonging.”

“There are people in the NWT and resources here to create land-based healing,” said Jaeb.

“We as Indigenous people are our own PhDs. You know, we’ve had that lived experience. Why send us out of the territory to get retraumatized?”