Delays of service at the Willowview Recovery Centre located near Lumsden has already caused controversy for the provincial government. Now, the NDP Opposition has revealed that a private company was set to receive more than $1.5 million from the government to cover start-up costs.
On Friday, NDP MLA Betty Nippi Albright showcased government emails obtained through an FOI request. The documents showed that $1,556,800 was to be provided to cover start-up expenses for the centre.
The cost of treatment at Willowview was redacted in the emails.
“We are here to demand transparency and accountability from the Sask. Party government,” Nippi Albright told reporters at the event.
Initially, it was thought the facility could begin accepting patients a year ago, but unexpected renovations delayed the opening.
According to the Government of Saskatchewan, it renegotiated the $1.5 million start-up agreement with EHN Canada, the private company based out of B.C. that operates the centre.
“The amount was not paid as full inpatient services were not operational,” a statement from the province read.
Instead, the company was given $800,000 to cover start-up costs of a day program.
The statement did not say whether the balance of the $1.5 million would be paid out.
Nippi Albright reiterated that there are many details still unclear around the facility’s opening.
“What we don’t know is how many people have been treated,” she said. “We don’t know how much has been given to this organization to do what it said it was going to do, was treat sixty inpatients. It’s not fully operational.”
The Government of Saskatchewan has said the 60-bed addictions treatment facility began patient intake last month – but it did not elaborate on how many.
The province said up to 40 more will be accepted as renovations are completed.
The documents mark the latest development in Lakeview’s troubled opening. In January, former employees of the centre went public over the delays in providing service.
According to one whistleblower, by the time the centre began offering out-patient treatment in October of 2024, the facility’s waitlist had already reached 200.
