Edmonton Drug Treatment & Community Restoration Court

The Department of Justice Canada approved the Edmonton DTC program Federal funding proposal on June 2, 2005. The program will receive four years of special funding. The proposal for Federal funding was submitted on January 17, 2005 in response to a call for DTC funding proposals issued by (then) the Honourable Irwin Cotler, Minister of Justice Canada, and them (then) Honourable Uijal Dosanjh, Minister of Health on December 3, 2004. The Edmonton Community Foundation agreed to be the recipient for the Federal monies. The Federal monies are matched by Provincial contributions in kind. A budget was submitted on January 17, 2005 in support of the Edmonton proposal. The budget represented the amount of the Federal DTC funding. The budget (i.e., the quantum of requested Federal contributions) was for $583,760. The Edmonton proposal was approved on June 2, 2005.

A Contribution Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Edmonton Community Foundation (replaced by the Edmonton John Howard Society) as recipient of Federal funds for the Edmonton DTC Program was executed in December 2005, with an effective date of August 1, 2005, so as to be able to capture expenses incurred in program development.

The DTC Funding Program is a Federal program administered jointly by the Departments of Justice and Health. These two agencies jointly administer the Canada Drug Strategy, a larger program of policy objectives, programs, and special funding initiatives, of which the DTC funding and development program is a part. The Canada Drug Strategy may be summarized using the following quoted statements:

Canada's Drug Strategy is a federally coordinated initiative to reduce the harm associated with the use of narcotics and controlled substances and the abuse of alcohol and prescription drugs. Working with the Department of Justice Canada, Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, the Solicitor General of Canada, other federal partners, and provincial and territorial governments, as well as addictions agencies, non-governmental organizations, such as the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, professional associations, law enforcement agencies, the private sector and community groups, Health Canada provides leadership and national coordination for the Strategy.

This Strategy addresses underlying factors associated with substance use and abuse. It includes education, prevention and health promotion initiatives as well as enhanced enforcement measures. The Strategy aims to have all Canadians live in a society increasingly free of the harms associated with substance abuse by reducing both the demand for, and supply of, drugs. The Government of Canada will invest $245 million over five years to this end.

 The Minister of Justice has approved a one year extension for drug courts federally funded under Canada’s Drug Strategy. This allows the federal government to review the evaluations of the drug court sites.  This provides the EDTCRC to continue to operate under the current funding arrangement until March 31, 2009. If the recent evaluation completed by Dr. Cam Wild of the University of Alberta is any indication, the EDTCRC should continue to receive funding in the future.