Bilateral Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of Yukon under the Emergency Treatment Fund
Backgrounder
December 2018
The opioid crisis is an ongoing public health issue affecting individuals, families and communities across Canada. As part of its efforts to address this crisis, the Government of Canada is working with all provinces and territories to increase access to treatment services for substance use disorders.
The bilateral agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of Yukon under the Emergency Treatment Fund (ETF) will be used to improve, integrate and increase services provided by Yukon Territory’s Opioid Treatment Service (OTS). This includes:
- enhancing access to wrap-around services, such as social work, psychiatry and mental health services;
- integrating the long-term prescribing of methadone as an alternative to opioids as part of a comprehensive treatment service (methadone maintenance treatment); and
- adding a full-time mental health nurse to the OTS team and enhancing opioid agonist program services.
Emergency Treatment Fund
Announced as part of the Budget 2018 funding to help address the opioid crisis, the Emergency Treatment Fund provides one-time emergency funding of $150 million for provinces and territories to improve access to evidence-based treatment services. This fund is cost-shared with provinces and territories and will bring the total investment in emergency treatment to approximately $300 million once bilateral agreements are signed with all provinces and territories.
The federal government has allocated funding based on the severity of the opioid crisis in the province or territory and the size of the population in the jurisdiction. This ensures that provinces and territories most impacted by the crisis have enough support, and that other jurisdictions are able to prepare for possible future impacts. Federal funding is matched by the province or territory beyond the first $250,000 and the jurisdiction has up to five years to match the initial investment of money from the federal government.
As part of each bilateral agreement, an action plan will be posted on the Canada.ca website. In addition, each province and territory will be asked to report at regular intervals to share the progress made to increase access to innovative and evidence-based treatment in their jurisdiction.
For more information on federal actions on the opioid crisis, please visit Canada.ca/Opioids.