Most recommendations on how the Manitoba government can address lack of access to addiction services as well as backlogs in the courts are still waiting to be implemented, the province’s auditor general has found.

Tyson Shtykalo says in a 55-page review published Thursday that 25 of 57 recommendations (44 per cent) issued by his office in 2021 and 2023 have been implemented, but 31 remain works in progress according to the entities audited.

Twelve of 15 recommendations from a 2023 report that found Manitoba didn’t have enough capacity to treat people struggling with addictions were classified as works in progress as per the Department of Housing, Addictions and Homeless and Shared Health, the auditor general said.

These include setting up wait-time targets for addictions and treatment services, adopting an electronic record system, or determining which facilities are not meeting clients’ needs.

The original report found there were 750 confirmed substance-related deaths in the province during a three-year period starting in 2019. They peaked at 400 deaths in 2021.

Suspected substance-related deaths for the three years following 2021 totaled 1,556 people, according to data from Manitoba’s chief medical examiner.

Preliminary numbers for 2025 show there were 292 suspected deaths between January and September of that year, which is lower than during the same nine-month period for the past three years.

The three recommendations marked as resolved in relation to the addictions services report revolve around collecting data on demand for services, creating a centralized data collection process, and for Shared Health to co-ordinate learning opportunities with government-funded organizations delivering treatment.

Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith said in a statement Thursday evening the NDP takes the auditor general’s recommendations seriously, mentioning funding commitments for new treatment spaces among other initiatives.

Province addressing court delays: minister

In another development, six of seven recommendations from a different 2023 report that found staff shortages and old technology were causing delays in the provincial court system also were deemed works in progress.

Only a recommendation for the Justice Department to create a clear timeline and accountability checkpoints for its electronic filing system has been completely implemented, Thursday’s report said, adding the caveat that the actual project still isn’t done.

The remaining recommendations range from creating strategies to address staff shortages and improving IT services to ensuring there are more resources to safeguard judicial independence from the government.

Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said in a statement the government has taken significant steps to modernize the court system, and that it’s also added more Crown attorneys and support staff to reduce case loads.

Thursday’s report also found one of three recommendations on how to improve vaccine rollouts in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic had been implemented two years after they were issued by the auditor general.

The “limited-assurance” nature of the document means the auditor general only checks whether the resolved recommendations were indeed implemented, the report said, so the document doesn’t assess what work has gone toward toward any unimplemented recommendation.

Twenty of the recommendations marked as resolved were issued by the auditor general in 2021. They include preparing for animal disease emergencies, using tracking data to measure the efficiency of government vehicles, and a compensation program for people affected by artificial flooding at the Shellmouth Dam in western Manitoba.