Debates of February 16, 2012 (day 8)

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Item 16, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Item 17, motions. Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave notice of earlier today.

Thank you, colleagues. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS bullying includes a range of repeated, intentional or hurtful behaviours such as threats, name calling, physical abuse, physical violence, shunning, shunning and excluding, stealing or breaking of person’s things and coercing people to do things they do not want to do;

AND WHEREAS in recent years, the use of social media and other information and communication technologies to bullying, also known as cyber-bullying, has become increasingly problematic;

AND WHEREAS people who are subjected to bullying may experience a range of harmful consequences including a loss of self-esteem and confidence, feelings of being unsafe and scared, depression and physical injury;

AND WHEREAS the effects of bullying may continue to be felt long after the bullying ceases;

AND WHEREAS the Northwest Territories does not have a territory-wide public education initiative, policies or legislation to counter bullying;

AND WHEREAS the Members of this Legislative Assembly which denounce all bullying behaviour in our schools and in our society at large;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Sahtu, that this Legislative Assembly strongly recommends the Government of the Northwest Territories establish a territory-wide campaign to denounce bullying including cyber-bullying and to provide information and resources for schools, parents, victims and bystanders;

AND FURTHER, that the government review anti-bullying legislation measures being undertaken in other jurisdictions and bring forward a bill for consideration by this Assembly within 18 months;

AND FURTHERMORE, that the government provide a comprehensive response to this motion within 120 days.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank our colleagues for allowing us to stand here today. These are the first steps towards what I refer to as proper legislation. We have to start with the measures first. This is why the motion is on the floor today.

As indicated earlier with my Members here, the idea to create, and formulate and coordinate all the needed measures that go against all the inter-department boundaries that this motion will have to touch on, it takes a coordinated effort to get to the proper legislation in the future.

We need this government to denounce bullying. By this motion and by giving the parameters thereof, this gives our government the ability to move forward. You have to provide an aggressive campaign on TV, radio, Internet. You have to find every means possible to get this message out to all the citizens and especially the children of the Northwest Territories. This measure that we have before us today as a motion, I believe is a symbol. This is a starting point this government can use, and use for all, including our victims, but for all people and territories.

We have heard earlier today from our children out there through Our Voice, Our Choice. This is being student driven. We owe it to them to go forward and help them along their way.

This also helps us to look at the root causes of this behaviour. I think that is a very underlying issue that tends to be forgotten in the process as we prepare for legislation in the future. As indicated here by one of my Members, we have to talk about the postnatal, the preschool and early childhood development. These are critical areas that the measure of this motion will be balanced against.

Mr. Speaker, this can’t just be a yearly campaign. Our government owes it to the people to be something more than an annual event. This has to be something within the breadth of our existence as government and something we can be proud of. Everyone here were either children or are mothers and fathers. We can’t allow our children and our students to live in fear. We need to support them. It is our turn, Mr. Speaker. This motion I think is the first step that we can tip the scales and help these victims. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. To the motion. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I speak in support of this motion. I believe bullying has to stop and should be stamped out in the communities, and in our homes and also generally in society.

I would like to also thank my colleague and acknowledge the leadership of Mr. Daryl Dolynny for bringing this forward, plus to acknowledge the students that are involved in this project today and this initiative.

I think this is a start. Ultimately, we should be aspiring to ensure that bullying as a practice should not be condoned or tolerated. It should be stopped. We need government action. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. To the motion. The honourable Member for the Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the mover of this motion, for bringing this issue to the Legislature today, and also for Ms. Bisaro’s enthusiasm and support to get everybody here to talk about this issue.

It not only affects students in Yellowknife. It affects students right across the Northwest Territories, in homes and communities. Like I said, it not only affects students, it affects leaders, families and everybody.

I want to thank the Member for the motion here. In the motion it talks about some recommendations that this government could do to denounce bullying. Mr. Speaker, in my younger days in the ‘70s, I liked the rock band Quiet Riot. The band would say we’re not going to take this anymore. That is what we have to say about bullying in our communities. This government should have a good campaign. The Minister is really pumping me up here to talk about the bullying campaign and do it, and these communities that we represent have to stand up and say we’re not going to take it anymore. Bullying is not welcome in Ulukhaktok, Tsiigehtchic, Colville Lake, Tulita, Wrigley, Gameti, Smith and Hay River, or in Lutselk’e and Yellowknife. It is not welcome in the Northwest Territories. Take it outside the North. Start learning to respect the culture, the values and the people. We have to have a strong campaign that will be a sweeping change of attitudes of people in the North.

What the heck’s going on with cyber-bullying? That’s scary. People are looking to see what they can do about it.

I want to support this motion. I look for some bullying legislation from this government. We have to draft it. We will draft it. I understand Quebec has done that as a result of some pretty serious stuff that happened with bullying. That government has taken the lead to say enough is enough. We, as legislators, are legislating behaviours of people. We think that’s common sense for them, but it isn’t.

I want to say that we want to ask, through this motion, if the government can consider putting together a legislative proposal, maybe, or a discussion paper and say this is what we can do. This will deter any type of bullying in the North here.

I’m going to support this motion.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, as well, would like to thank Mr. Dolynny and Mr. Yakeleya for bringing this motion to the floor. I think we’ve had an excellent expression of varying views on bullying today. I think it’s created a very good awareness both in the House and outside of the House. I think the event of having the students here and our statements will be very educational to many people. I think we’ve also created maybe one or two budding radio and TV stars with the media activity that was happening upstairs before the House.

Society as a whole is impacted by bullying, even bullies themselves. Through their own actions and the inaction of others, people learn that antisocial behaviour and exerting control over others – whether it be verbal, physical, social, e-mail or so on – is acceptable and that it works. We all, everybody has a role to play in making that kind of behaviour unacceptable and that, in turn, will create safer communities.

Our schools are, as usual, ahead of the government. There are many programs happening in the various schools across the territory and in the education authorities. My own experience has been with Yellowknife Education District No. 1. That board has had a Safe Schools Policy since the early 1990s. I was a part of helping to develop that particular policy that is now pervasive through all of YK1 schools. Other boards, as well, I know are doing activities on bullying, but they are doing it in isolation. It’s not a concerted and coordinated effort across the territory. That’s what we need and that’s what this motion asks for. Our schools recognize the issue and the problem. I reiterate that we, as a government, have to do the same.

The negative effects of bullying are well known. They’re listed in the whereases of the motion. It has a huge impact on any individual who is bullied and it’s something that we have to take action to try and stop. A territory-wide campaign which is called for in the motion, to my mind, is a way to do that and to start to defeat the negative aspects of bullying.

I also agree very strongly that legislation is needed. In Alberta – I mentioned Alberta in my statement – we’re not Alberta but we are somewhat like Alberta. We are similar. In Alberta, 80 to 90 percent of their residents felt that family violence and bullying should be a priority or both of those should be priorities for their government. I suspect if we did a survey of NWT residents, we would come up with a very similar figure.

Alberta has started action and I feel very strongly that it is time for us to start action. This motion calls for a coordinated campaign of educational awareness. It also calls for legislation. I fully support both of those actions. I encourage all Members to support this particular motion, even those on the other side of the House.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First off I’d like to thank Mr. Dolynny for bringing this motion forward. I appreciate the initiative and certainly the enthusiasm from our new Member for Range Lake. He’s already starting to have a defining impact on the 17th Assembly. This is a clear example of his efforts. At the same time I’d like to recognize Mr. Yakeleya for supporting this, because it takes grassroots territorial support to bring an initiative like this forward.

Undoubtedly, anti-bullying, or I should say bullying efforts and countering them go from one tip of the territory to the next. It’s not just a large community issue; it’s also a small community issue. It’s a community issue. It’s everyone.

The statement made here by many of the Members in their Members’ statements should have brought forward the passion and concern that many of our constituents suffer from. It’s hard to deny that when somebody’s being bullied about, you cannot see or in many cases you probably can’t erase the irreparable impact that’s had on their lives and how it’s changed them.

The fact is that in my Member’s statement I tried to highlight Mildred Hall, which is a school in the downtown. I consider what an amazing little school it is. It’s certainly the little school that could and it’s certainly the little school that can. It’s a school that uses a lot of their efforts to focus in on what’s the best they can do for their children. Those students there every day preach responsibility, respect and a safe environment. I think that’s something that’s very impressive. The students, you can feel it resonate how they respect each other, they respect authority, they respect their friends, they respect who they are themselves. Out of that builds self-esteem, as I talked about earlier today.

Just on the self-esteem note, as I said in my Member’s statement and even in my dialogue with some folks in Mildred Hall, they talked about identifying that sometimes it’s a self-esteem issue with the bully, that they actually have to narrow it down to say how do we stop this particular problem. They say, well, wait a minute, the bully not only is the problem per se, but the bully has a problem themselves. When they drill down, sometimes they find that that’s the person that needs the support and that’s how they’re reacting. If they want to help break the cycle, they’re spending that type of time and effort to make sure they get to know these folks and understand the problem from the full gamut, not just what brought us to the last part, but all the way back and say how can we make a difference. I want to applaud Mildred Hall. I want to applaud YK1. I want to applaud YK1’s partners with YCS and the RCMP, who send their community liaison officer over there to work with them.

Sometimes they’re not as simple as just talking to a student. Sometimes they’re not as simple as talking to a parent. These are troubling problems. I’d be surprised if one of us here has not been touched in the sense of a tragedy that’s happened out of a bullying effort. I’m not talking about someone who’s been ashamed by the colour of their clothes or the colour of their skin or even the language they speak.

I can speak and remember growing up in Akaitcho Hall, in particular – and I thank Mrs. Groenewegen, I’ll say, for sharing that personal story – I remember someone who, quite frankly… We would not speak the word “gay” in our time in the ‘80s at Akaitcho. There was a young man there and he was gay. He hid from everyone because they bullied him there. It was horrible. He came from a well-to-do family. The fact is, no one stood up for him, and years back, from this point I should say, as I look back years ago and I think what a shame that no one stood up for him. It’s one of those horrible stories. I wish we could end with it all worked out fine. But he disappeared; he didn’t come back the following year. The next time we heard about him we heard that he threw himself down a garbage disposal in some apartment building unit because he just couldn’t take it anymore. That story just always reminds me about… It bothers me now just talking about it. It always reminds me that the bully isn’t just the person doing the punches and the words. The bully isn’t the person doing all those hateful things. Sometimes the crowd, by doing nothing, becomes part of the problem. I’m sorry I brought that up, Mr. Speaker. It’s statements like this that we think about it.

This motion today, I often call them creative suggestions, but I certainly hope it resonates with this particular government. As I said earlier, I want to thank Mr. Dolynny for bringing this forward, and I’m convinced that if this government doesn’t act, I suspect that in somewhere between six and 12 months Mr. Dolynny will be working out his own private member’s bill to bring forward this initiative.

This initiative here supports our school systems. Let us not forget that. Right now many of our good school systems do have supporting policies that work very hard to work with the students and parents in the community. I can tell you they need support of good legislation that helps them when they need to do their job. This is more than just a motion today. This is telling our schools, and teachers, and administration in those districts that we care and we support them.

If it isn’t evident by now, I’ll be voting in favour of this particular motion because I feel that it is very important. As a parent, I’ll tell you that nothing is sadder than when your kid comes home and talks about being bullied. I’ll tell you, this motion means a lot to many of us in many different ways and I’ve shared them today.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I can honestly say that I’m very honoured to be standing in this House today, discussing an issue and a matter that’s important to a lot of people in the Northwest Territories; right across Canada, for that matter. This is something that we’re talking about and that legislation is on the floor now. I do hope that we get support from all Members today on something that affects everybody: our friends, our family, our youth, our kids. I feel very strongly about this, that this legislation should be put into place and that we start discouraging the actions of bullies everywhere.

Bullies, as some of the Members have said previous, have issues as well. They have problems that we have to address through this legislation and some of the work that we do. What is the reason? What are the underlying causes that make people bully? Address those issues. It could be home life. It could be community life. We need to help those people out as well. The victim is the victim, but we also have to help some of the people who are put in positions where they are bullies.

It’s kind of unfortunate that we’re bringing the legislation forward now. I feel very sorry for the people that have been hurt because of bullying and because actions from adults and people in society not taking action and standing up for people in our community. That’s something that we should be doing.

Earlier in my Member’s statement I said we all have a voice. Let’s speak up and talk about this. Let’s make sure things happen so that people in our communities don’t have to hurt anymore.

I’m very honoured to be here today so that we can make this move forward and take action. I hope it doesn’t come down to a private member’s bill, because it shouldn’t. We should take action on this and move on it. I’m very honoured to be standing up in front of the group here and in front of the people of the Northwest Territories in support of this motion.

I’d also like to recognize some of the schools. We had a grade school here today, a class come in and kick-start this off. Because one school did it, hopefully we can start bringing that awareness, that campaign into all schools across the Northwest Territories. It doesn’t have to end at schools. It should go into the workplace. It should go into the work areas and protect the people that work with the bullies in the workplace as well.

I am in support of this motion and I hope that all Members today do support this motion, because like I said, it affects everybody. It affects our families, our youth, our friends, our leaders. Even our leaders. Our leaders get bullied into making decisions when that shouldn’t be the case.

Today when we pass the motion, I hope we do get unanimous consent from everybody.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of the timely action NWT-wide with anti-bullying measures. I want to begin by thanking my colleagues Mr. Dolynny and Mr. Yakeleya for their good work putting an excellent motion together. I’d also like to thank Ms. Bisaro for excellent work in coordinating our work to profile this issue in the House today.

I appreciate all the comments in our Members’ statements and here in support of the motion from my colleagues. I think they were very informed, passionate and often experiential. So people are going right out there. I think this is a straightforward indication that we want to move forward quickly and well on this issue. It’s probably no surprise that I particularly would like to see the territory-wide campaign include a focus on the prevention opportunities we have to avoid the development of bullying.

With that, I will leave it at that and look forward to rising again in support of this motion. Mahsi.

To the motion. Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Members for bringing this motion forward on the floor. As you know, bullying is a destructive and shameful thing and we cannot tolerate it anymore.

As I stated in this House today, that at ECE we are exploring with other jurisdictions in North America their stance on bullying legislation. We are very serious about anti-bullying in our schools, in our communities, in our homes. Together, with the support of parents and community leaders, I’m confident that we can ensure that our students are safe from this type of behaviour. I’m very glad that this motion is on the floor today and commit to working with the Members to treat this issue very seriously until it is completely eradicated from our society.

This is a recommendation to our government. Since it is a recommendation to our government, the Cabinet will be abstaining from the vote. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. We’ll let Mr. Dolynny have final comments to the motion.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank my colleagues here today in support of this motion who spoke. I’d like to take a moment to thank the Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro, for coordinating a concerted effort with our students out there at N.J. Macpherson, and I appreciate her doing so. I’d also like to thank the seconder of this motion, my esteemed colleague from the Sahtu. As a new Member, I’m getting to know and learn his genre of music. We’ve gone from country to R and B and now to hard rock. We are not going to take this anymore. I’m looking forward to what he is going to choose for rap soon.

Ideally, what we’ve brought forward here is, really, the framework for measures for a proper campaign. As I mentioned, it is to preserve our culture. I think this is a clear message that we want to denounce bullying everywhere, and I think it’s time that this government needs to put that best foot forward.

In time we’re hoping that this will cause legislative behaviour changes. With that, we can do a lot more investigation in terms of some of the root causes of bullying out there, as mentioned by some of the other Members as well. I think those are critical factors. Both of those, between finding the root causes and finding legislative behaviour, are two ships that have to sail on the same ocean. We’ve got to make sure we don’t lose fact and focus of that fight.

We’ve heard from the Minister across the floor, they may be abstaining from voting, but I’m hoping that 120 days from now, if we don’t hear anything forward, I can tell you, and I assure you, that it doesn’t matter which Member from this side of the House, there will be a private member’s bill coming forward. I can assure you of that, whether it’s me or one of them.

To summarize, I’m hoping a change of heart. I’m hoping for all Members within this Assembly to vote with your heart and to vote for the victims of bullying out there, because they are there and they’re looking towards us for our guidance and our wisdom. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. To the motion.

Question.

Question has been called.

---Carried

The motion is carried. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to deal with Motion 4-17(2), which I gave notice of yesterday. Mahsi.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS enhancing addictions treatment programs has been identified as one of the Believing in People and Building on the Strengths of Northerners priorities of the 17th Legislative Assembly;

AND WHEREAS Northwest Territories rates of substance abuse are among the highest in Canada and clearly related to and aggravated by equally high rates of major negative social indicators, and that police report substance abuse as a factor in more than 90 percent of complaints;

AND WHEREAS an innovative addictions treatment approach was piloted in Old Crow, Yukon, in 2004-2005 with a 50 percent rehabilitation success rate over the succeeding 12 months;

AND WHEREAS the program is based upon preparation of participants in the community before they depart for a program at a treatment facility, and providing community-based follow-up programs after formal treatment is completed;

AND WHEREAS the effectiveness of formal treatment has been shown to improve as a result of the mutual support enjoyed by grouped participants preparing for and returning from treatment together, in contrast to the current approach of individual treatment without the availability of peer support;

AND WHEREAS this program approach is ideally suited to integration and coordination with on-the-land treatment approaches, and could draw upon community wellness and other local resources at limited additional cost;

AND WHEREAS this community-based approach addresses the weaknesses of current programming;

AND WHEREAS the improvement of programming based upon piloted and newly proven approaches responds to the critical need for more effective substance abuse treatment programming;

AND WHEREAS preparation for the anticipated increased court and corrections costs resulting from introduction of the federal Bill C-10 provisions requires urgent action to prevent and reduce the criminal activity so commonly associated with substance abuse;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that the Department of Health and Social Services investigate the potential for successful implementation of similar programming and work with standing committees to test and introduce a similar program in the NWT;

AND FURTHER, that the government provide a comprehensive response to this motion within 120 days.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The motion is in order. To the motion.

Question.

Question has been called. I will give Mr. Bromley closing remarks.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I moved this motion because I believe the program described is too good an idea to ignore. Debates in this Assembly in recent days, throughout our term to date, and throughout the previous term indicated the priority placed upon effectively treating the plague of substance abuse that causes such sorrow to our people and harm to our economy and cultures.

Combating addictions is a specific action item in the Believing in People and Building on the Strength of Northerners priorities adopted by the 17th Assembly. This program approach appears to offer an opportunity to improve the effectiveness of our current addictions treatment programs in a culturally appropriate way, possibly with little increased costs and maximizing the effectiveness of the resources currently being devoted. The dramatically higher success rates described in program reports on pilot projects are extraordinary.

The program is straightforward and based on that rarest of talents: common sense. In a nutshell, rather than having individuals go through treatment isolated and alone in their community with nobody available that can relate to what they are experiencing, it begins by grouping them in two or three or four people. Weekly meetings would be held for a couple of months prior to the group entering a treatment program during which they would learn about and explore what will happen during treatment and how they can maximize their benefits as they go through it.

The group would then attend the treatment program together, then return to the community with a by now closely-knit support group with the same experience to share. They would again go through 10 or 12 weeks of weekly meetings to provide mutual support and to be available to each other for support as they reintegrate into the community in a healthy way. Community wellness workers seem well situated to provide support during this process.

As we look for ways to avert the anticipated upsurge in costs anticipated from the passage of federal Bill C-10’s regressive measures, we must urgently pursue programs that not only treat sufferers more effectively but divert offenders from the policing, courts and corrections route.

This motion does not call on the government to incur immediate costs. Rather, it provides a program free of infrastructure and well adapted to meeting spaces readily available in our communities. It can potentially be delivered through community wellness workers with a simple addition of a coordinator to begin to evaluate the program. This recommendation only looks at the possibility of introducing similar programming ideally based on some analysis and testing.

It’s been developed and tested in the Yukon by Mr. Wade Meszaros, who now happens to be a resident of Yellowknife, and undoubtedly would be approachable to discuss this work, should this Minister of Health and Social Services and/or Justice, whoever wants to take this one, be interested. Those are my remarks.

Mr. Speaker, I will be asking for a recorded vote, and recognizing the fundamental and ubiquitous NWT-wide nature of this issue, I think it would be really great for the Premier to enable a pre-vote for Cabinet members on this motion and drop the policy of Cabinet solidarity for this instance. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Colleagues, before we go, I would like to welcome back former colleague of ours, a good friend and former CA to Mr. Beaulieu, Mr. Joe Bailey. Welcome back to the House, Joe. It is always good to see you.

---Applause

To the motion. Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of this motion. The second whereas of the motion talks about NWT rates of substance abuse. We are among the highest rates in Canada. It seems to me that we have been doing the same thing to deal with our addictions and our substance abusers for a very long time. Our treatment programs really haven’t changed a lot. We have gone probably down in the number of treatment programs that we have over the last number of years. In my mind, we haven’t been successful doing the same thing over and over.

I think it is time to reconsider what we are doing. It is time to reconsider our drug and alcohol treatment programs. They certainly need to be increased in one form or another. I think this is a really viable alternative that we have to seriously consider. This motion asks for us to look at a different way to run our drug and alcohol treatment programs. It is interesting that Mr. Bromley mentioned common sense. I also feel that common sense says that pre and post support for any activity is necessary. That is, again, what I think this particular motion is asking for in its approach. We do it in our health care system. I don’t think anybody would contemplate an operation on their knee, for instance, without pre and post op support. Yet we don’t do that with our drug and alcohol treatment programs.

I want to mention a couple of things, give a couple of quotes. One is that addictions cannot be addressed in isolation. There are factors that affect addictions that run right through our community and it is a community issue. It is also a family issue. We can’t expect to deal with addictions without also considering the family and the community. This quote, “All the historic evidence indicates that significant community development takes place only when local community people are committed to investing themselves and their resources in the effort. This observation explains why communities are never built from the top down or the outside in.” I think this particular approach to treatment is not top down and it is not outside in. It does involve the community and therefore makes it successful. Addictions treatment is one of this Assembly’s priorities. I think that has been mentioned several times already today. This motion allows us to bring success to that particular priority. It brings success to the program users. I think it has to be noted as well that, if we get successful addictions treatment programs, that will eventually lead to safer communities. I think that is what we all want. It fits in with the theme today, bullying, safer communities, the whole issue. I think we are right in line with supporting this motion certainly. I urge all Members to do that, to support the motion. I would like to reiterate Mr. Bromley’s request that the Members across from me, across the floor, seriously consider being able to vote on this motion. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. To the motion. Mr. Yakeleya from the Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank Mr. Bromley and his seconder for putting some thought to this motion and bringing it to the floor so we can have some discussion. What I understand from this motion is that Mr. Bromley is asking this government for some formula for success for our people. There is a formula out there. He is asking the Assembly as a whole. We are asking our leaders that we elected for Cabinet to investigate, look at the possibilities of a successful program, look at success for people in our communities, look for success in our children and to look at and come back to us and say this is what we found that is going to be successful.

Several years ago I was watching the program in United States. They got really radical in the States on issues with drug and alcohol and substance abuse, so radical that this school in the States is called Sobriety High. Young kids were in the schools and they were drinking and missing school and all that. The community got behind this issue and said we’re going to have a sober school. It’s called Sobriety High. They have a pilot project where the kids were in there. They did the school but they also introduced many self-supporting techniques, meetings, 12-step programs that these young adults were doing. It’s so cool to see these young people in Grade 11 and 12 going for lunch and having a 12-step meeting. They are so cool to listen to them talk about what it’s like to be sober in school. It wasn’t 100 percent successful, but it had a high degree of success for these people in the United States. They had a really good celebration. People teased that school because it was called Sobriety High. You could see the sparkle in their eyes, the enthusiasm and the success. I think that’s what we are asking through this motion that we do some innovative thinking.

We have a lot of reports where 90 percent of our RCMP time is spent because of drinking or drug use or some contributing effect because of the abuse of it. We can cut down the alcohol. RCMP is going to have many other things to do that will help the communities, but they are so busy.

This motion here is asking this government, the ones that we elect to be our Ministers, to get your department behind you and say, what can we do? Can we come up with a successful formula? Education, Justice, Health, what can we do when we put our heads together and say, is this the right formula? Can their departments look at what we’re dealing with? A disease that is in the North and it is hitting us hard.

When you deal with a disease as in a medical field, you have to have a remedy. There are remedies. Mr. Bromley talked about it in Old Crow. Good for those people in Old Crow. Maybe we should invite them with us and talk to us. That is our own people that have the tools. We have a lot of good people even in Yellowknife who we could talk to. We have to get everybody together. This is not a race issue. This is a humanity issue right across the board. It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor. I think we need to get a new remedy, talk about it.

You go to the Justice correctional facility. I bet you 98 percent of those people are in there because of alcohol. How much do we pay each day for them to stay there? They have it good because we wheel down the food to them. They don’t even have to get up to eat it; we push their food to them. They have it good, but most of them are there because of drugs or alcohol.

That’s what I like about this motion. It talks about going back to the land and healing from the land. It may not seem quite right for some people, but most of the issues we need to work together on. The land is where you are going to find the healing. That is why I like this program.

Mr. Speaker, I want to say, for the record, I will be 110 percent behind this motion.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. To the motion. Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When we come across a program that is as successful as this one in a community that is so similar to a lot of our communities across the Northwest Territories, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that we should be putting a program like this or something similar into place to affect one of our factors in the health and social services system. Our Health and Social Services budget is the biggest out of our whole government budget. If we can put a crack or dent in that by finding programs such as this that is going to help our people thrive and become part of society, we should do that.

I am in support of this motion. I’m very honoured to second it. Thanks to Mr. Bromley for bringing it forth onto the table. I hope that we do seek such programs so that we can start making our people part of society again. It doesn’t take a very long walk from here to understand the issues that we’re facing here in the Northwest Territories in our regional centres. Inuvik has a big issue. This is one thing that we need to address in Yellowknife as well. It’s a huge issue.

I strongly support this motion and want to once again emphasize something I’ve said time and time again in this House, and that’s dealing with drug dealers and bootleggers. I’ve questioned Ministers on that. I want to address those issues in the communities. The underlying factors that keep our people down are the drug dealers and the bootleggers in our communities. Those are the people that we need to get out of the communities so that our people have a chance to go into programs like this, and not be worried that if they do come out of programs someone is going to be waiting around the corner for them. Those are the guys we need to get out of our communities, out of the territory so that we can be a healthy territory once again. It’s something that I’ve brought up and something I will continue to fight for over these next four years, that eventually if it’s not in the territory, then hopefully in Inuvik we have a drug-free community.

I do support this motion and I’m very happy to hear that the community of Old Crow has a successful program as this and they’re helping their own people out. We should take the reins and follow suit and help our people out in the Northwest Territories.

I am in support of this motion and I, too, reiterate my fellow colleague Mr. Bromley, that the Premier allows his Cabinet members a free vote on this one. I’m sure that all Members of this House have had somebody with alcohol and drug issues, either a friend, family, a relative, go through the system. It’s not funny. It’s a serious issue. It’s our number one driving force in the health and social services system. That keeps a lot of our people employed to take care of them. I would like to see that today, first time ever, and something that touches everybody.

Thank you, and once again I thank Mr. Bromley for bringing this motion forward.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake is exactly right; it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to bring this motion today to the table, it takes a bird scientist.

---Laughter

And I want to make that known.

Addictions are, no less, the breakdown of the moral fabric of our society. I don’t think anyone in this room would contradict that at all. Abuse, whether it’s the addiction to alcohol, drugs, prescribed drugs, these are not going to go any time soon. In fact, our statistics are showing that this is growing at an alarming rate. We need to think outside the box. We’ve got to look outside the box to the current on-the-land programs. We’ve got to look at ideas that were brought forward by Mr. Bromley and seconded by Mr. Moses. These are areas we’ve got to put into place and into practice.

We cannot continuously use square-pegged holes for round-holed solutions. This has to stop. We’ve got to provide tools to the tool belts of our workers so that they can go fix this addictions bus. This bus is broken.

I’ll be voting towards this new toolbox, this new toolkit and this new tool to help support our bus.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Mr. Beaulieu.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. As a government, we know that the rates of substance abuse are far too high amongst our residents and we need to take action. Substance abuse contributes to crime rates and is a cost-driver in the health care system. It also takes a terrible toll on our communities and our families.

In my travels through the communities over the past few months, I have heard repeatedly that we need to find more efficient ways to help our people with addictions. There is no one approach that works for everyone. We need to develop and offer a range of options within our system to help people deal with their addictions.

Aftercare in the community is important support for people returning from residential treatment programs. We also need to look at other creative approaches. For example, some communities have successfully piloted day treatment programs as an alternative to residential treatment. The department currently offers a variety of services for people who are struggling with addictions. We offer a 28-day gender specific residential treatment at Nats’ejee K’eh Treatment Centre located on the Hay River Reserve. This treatment centre is open to all residents over the age of 18 from the Northwest Territories.

In addition, the department offers community counselling programs to all the regions in the NWT. Community counselling programs provide counselling and support to all age groups and help all age groups with mental health addictions and family violence. The department works with the authorities, Aboriginal governments and communities to try to find approaches to treatment that are culturally appropriate and work at a local level. For example, the Deh Cho Health and Social Services is currently working with funding from Health Canada to pilot youth addictions treatment programs and this will fill a major gap in our system. The department has funded the Gwich’in Tribal Council to pilot an aftercare program for people returning from residential treatment. The department has made $25,000 available this year to all communities who want to sponsor on-the-land programs.

Before Christmas Minister Lafferty and I met with the Tlicho Services Agency. They told us in no uncertain terms that their priority to develop a substance abuse treatment program is grounded in Tlicho values, beliefs, language and culture. We need to find ways to respond.

As this motion gives direction to the government, the Cabinet will be abstaining from the vote. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member asked for a recorded vote. I’ll give Mr. Bromley closing remarks. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the comments from all Members of the Legislative Assembly here today. Basically in summary, we have exceptionally high rates of addictions in the Northwest Territories. Our current programs have stagnated, but we need a practical approach. This program draws on the tried and true buddy system, it’s community-based, it allows us to work together, it recognizes the high costs of addictions in terms of human health, correctional and community costs and so on. It’s a priority of this Assembly and it’s a step toward addictions-free communities. This is only one of a range of options and creative solutions, as the Minister has said, and fits well with an on-the-land program and we do indeed need to have this and other programs, other steps and options that we do develop, soundly based in cultural and spiritual aspects for people.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The Member has asked for a recorded vote. Question has been called. All those in favour, please rise.

Mr. Bromley, Mr. Yakeleya, Mr. Bouchard, Mr. Dolynny, Ms. Bisaro, Mr. Nadli, Mr. Hawkins, Mr. Menicoche, Mr. Moses.

All those opposed, please stand. All those abstaining, please stand.