Wisdom Council brings insight to Addictions & Mental Health

By Lethbridge Herald on December 10, 2025.

Alexandra Noad
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A new Mental Health and Addiction Wisdom Council will provide Indigenous advice, guidance and cultural insight to strengthen the province’s recovery-oriented care.

The council will serve as a space for collaborative dialogue between Indigenous partners and Alberta’s government, ensuring Indigenous voices, knowledge and lived experiences are meaningfully integrated into the province’s mental health and addiction strategies.

Richard Wilson, minister of mental health and addiction, says during his time as the minister for Indigenous relations, he saw the impact the opioid crisis was having on Indigenous communities and knew something needed to be done to help.

“I knew we really needed to get an Indigenous focus on what we’re doing here, to work with the communities and help them and let them help us because there’s a lot of wisdom out there and cultural ways that we can help a lot of people through their healing journey.”

The council met for the first time last week and Wilson says there wasn’t a dry eye in the room as everyone shared their experiences of how the opioid epidemic has affected them.

“Literally everybody in the room has either lived experiences or has somebody in treatment or they’ve lost somebody. Most of them have lost a family member, including myself.”

He added that while the opioid crisis is a province-wide epidemic, the solutions and help that addicts need are very different, which is why they have representatives from various First Nations.

“We’ve got a lot of different perspectives and I think by working with them all we can see what’s working in one community, might not necessarily work in another, so that’s why I wanted to get the voices from communities across the province.”

Through the Alberta Recovery Model, the government is working to increase access to mental health and addiction supports for those living in Indigenous communities. This includes a $180-million investment in capital grant funding to build five recovery communities in partnership with Enoch Cree Nation, Tsuut’ina Nation, Siksika Nation, Blood Tribe and the Metis Nation of Alberta.

The Council will provide a report to the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions with its recommendations by the end of March 2027.