Debates of October 29, 2004 (day 31)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is a forum for debate, and, as Ministers, we often have to answer and respond to very often provocative and sometimes inflammatory comments, the way they are prefaced and the way they are laid out. We tend to do that in a measured way. The Member asked a question about the positions. I have committed in my last answer to finding out the detail. I will restate that commitment to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We had a very interesting day yesterday led by the Premier’s report from his meetings, along with our Minister of Finance in Ottawa. I would like to direct a couple of questions to the Premier with regard to the processes underway for putting together long-term strategies for the North.

We all know, Mr. Speaker, in the Throne speech of some weeks ago that the initiative was undertaken by the federal government to look at a new pan-northern strategic plan for Canada’s northern regions. The Premier supplied us with some further information on this. One of the points being that was there could be a launch of this initiative with the Prime Minister by late November. That’s not too far from now. I would like to ask the Premier, Mr. Speaker, what steps or opportunities are there going to be for northerners for designing a framework for this strategy? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Return To Question 344-15(3): Development Of The Federal Strategy For The North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned yesterday, we had a meeting with the Prime Minister. Following that, our officials and federal officials met. They began the process of framing out what this might look like, Mr. Speaker. I am meeting this afternoon with some of my officials to look at the work they’ve done and also to provide them with some advice on some of the things I would like to see in it. The officials will be meeting in Ottawa again early next week to continue to frame a bit of a framework, a communications plan, a strategy, some of the short-term deliverables that we might be considering and also a consultation strategy about how we would go about consulting with all of the parties who may be interested. The objective here, as I stated, Mr. Speaker, is to try to put together something that might be announced in late November.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 344-15(3): Development Of The Federal Strategy For The North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is an ambitious target. I am glad to hear the Premier talk today, as he did yesterday, about jointly developing the strategy with aboriginal and northern residents. It seems very ambitious. I wanted to explore this a bit further because we are also included in this with our sister territories, the Yukon and Nunavut. Is there a process by which we are expected to or we want to bring together some joint agendas here as the three northern territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Further Return To Question 344-15(3): Development Of The Federal Strategy For The North

Mr. Speaker, yes. Last week we met with representatives from Nunavut and the Yukon, as well as with the federal officials. So there have been some discussions there. Mr. Speaker, our government will most likely be using Melody Morrison, who works in our Ottawa office, as a lead on this at the officials’ level. I am not sure who the other territories will use. We also, Mr. Speaker, want to make sure we understand what we are doing here with the federal government. We also need to begin to talk with some of the other stakeholders in the North, including the aboriginal governments. We haven’t gotten to that stage yet. It is an ambitious schedule. It is a short time frame, but I think we need to push on with this if we are going to have something that we can announce and something we can see quick, short-term deliverables on soon. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 344-15(3): Development Of The Federal Strategy For The North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would certainly like to see a plan that is well designed and that everybody buys into as our goal, instead of speed on this one. I look forward to the developing plan.

Mr. Speaker, it was kind of interesting as well to hear about the progress of the northern strategy, but also the creation of an expert panel which is going to be looking at equalization and territorial formula financing models. These are two very big and far-reaching processes, Mr. Speaker. Is there any potential for conflict between the northern strategy process and this one regarding financing and economics for the NWT? Could there be a potential for conflict? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Further Return To Question 344-15(3): Development Of The Federal Strategy For The North

Mr. Speaker, I don’t see any conflict between the panel that is going to be set up or panels that will be set up. That panel or panels will look at equalization, the formula, and a panel will also be looking at the territorial financing formula. Those are pretty specific guidelines for the panel. There may be some good linkages between the work that they do and what we do in the long-term strategy and one may complement the other, but I don’t think they will be tripping over each other. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. A short supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 344-15(3): Development Of The Federal Strategy For The North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Aside from assigning some people to this program or to the process of designing the strategy, I wonder if there is any anticipation or are we going to be called on to actually put dollars on the table to help us proceed. Will this cost us anything, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Further Return To Question 344-15(3): Development Of The Federal Strategy For The North

Mr. Speaker, I wasn’t really clear if Mr. Braden is referring to the panel or to the development of the strategy? Panel? Mr. Speaker, in terms of the strategy, then the only dollars we’ll be putting out on this that I can foresee will be our own staff working on it and our travel or those sorts of related costs. Mr. Speaker, in saying that, I have to acknowledge that our staff in the Executive and many departments are very busy. People are feeling somewhat overloaded in a lot of cases. I want to be careful to say we will use our staff time, but if we need to speed this up and it’s necessary to engage others, then we will. I don’t intend to go to some big consulting contract to do this. I think we have a lot of expertise right here; it’s a matter of finding the time to do it.

Mr. Speaker, as I said before, I feel that we can’t delay in doing this. If it means extra resources, let’s get the extra resources and get on with it quickly. This is an important exercise. We have a lot of major projects going on in the Northwest Territories and potentially happening. We need to get this strategy in place quickly and I certainly emphasize that with the Prime Minister. We are prepared to roll up our sleeves and get on with it. It’s too critical to our development. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Time for question period has expired. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to return to item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize and at the same time thank the Hay River South Pages for the excellent job they have done serving the House and the Legislative Assembly.

---Applause

My Pages are Kevin Storoz who is a Grade 9 student at Diamond Jenness Secondary School in Hay River and Michael Morgan who is a Grade 8 student at Diamond Jenness Secondary School. Also, Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize Mikey’s mom, Wendy Morgan, who is in the visitor’s gallery today. Wendy is celebrating five years in my office, not so important as the fact that she just celebrated 50 years in Las Vegas last week. Happy birthday, Wendy.

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Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would just like to recognize one of the Pages from my constituency, Ms. Tessa Moss. Also, I would like to thank all the Pages for their hard work here over the last few weeks.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Health and Social Services.

Please provide a list of programs and services that are offered to disabled persons in communities and larger centers and by which government department.

Within the health authorities of the Northwest Territories, what types of programs and services are coordinated by the authorities?

Where do all the disabled funding services come from to serve the disabled people in the North; federal, territorial or non-government agencies?

What NGO agencies are delivering programs or services in small communities?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Justice.

Please provide data available regarding trends in drug-related offences, court appearances, jail terms, Legal Aid files and social services intervention, such as child apprehensions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I have Return to Written Question 32-15(3) asked by Mr. Menicoche on October 15, 2004, to the Honourable David Krutko, Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation regarding the appeal process for housing program clients.

The Housing Corporation has separate appeal processes for public housing and homeownership. The Homeownership Program application process has internal checks and balances built in. Applications are reviewed by both district officials as well as the district director. Clients who disagree with a decision can provide additional information and request a reassessment. Throughout the process, senior officials at the corporation's headquarters in Yellowknife are available to offer assistance.

Public housing tenants have the option of appealing to the local housing organization board of directors if they have issues with decisions that affect their tenancy. Boards usually meet on a monthly basis and the meetings are open to tenants and members of the public.

Public housing tenants also have the option of appealing issues to the rental officer. The rental officer is a function of the Department of Justice, and is readily accessible to both tenants and landlords. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled Opportunities for Prosperity, Community Futures Program 2003-04 Annual Report. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Monday, November 1, 2004, I will move the following motion:

Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, that the government establish a centre in the NWT dedicated to treating addictions to drugs other than alcohol;

And further that the government establish an addictions treatment centre specifically for youth;

And furthermore that the government reopen residential treatment centres in Yellowknife and Inuvik.

Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time, I will seek unanimous consent to deal with this motion today.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Monday, November 1, 2004, I will move the following motion:

I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Great Slave, that notwithstanding Rule 4, that when this House adjourns on Friday, October 29, 2004, it shall be adjourned until Wednesday, February 9, 2005;

And further, that any time prior to February 9, 2005, if the Speaker is satisfied, after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly, that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, the Speaker may give notice and thereupon the House shall meet at the time stated in such notice and shall transact its business as it has been duly adjourned to that time.

Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time, I will seek unanimous consent to deal with this motion today.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Item 14, notices of motion. Item 15, notices of motion for first reading of bills.

At this time, Members, the Chair shall call a short break before we go onto the next item on the order paper.

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I will call the House back to order. Orders of the day, item 16, motions. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS addictions to drugs and alcohol continue to devastate many Northwest Territories individuals and families;

AND WHEREAS the use of crack cocaine, heroin and other drugs has increased substantially in Northwest Territories communities in recent years;

AND WHEREAS the numbers of youth addicted to alcohol and drugs is increasing;

AND WHEREAS having the support of family and friends makes the difference between success and failure for many people struggling to overcome addictions;

AND WHEREAS many individuals are forced to seek treatment in southern facilities away from their support networks due to the lack of treatment centres in the Northwest Territories;

AND WHEREAS the residential treatment programs in Inuvik and Yellowknife were discontinued in 1997 and 1999 respectively;

AND WHEREAS the only remaining residential treatment centre in the Northwest Territories is Nats’ejee K’eh on the Hay River Dene Reserve;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, that the government establish a centre in the NWT dedicated to treating addictions to drugs other than alcohol;

AND FURTHER that the government establish an addictions treatment centre specifically for youth;

AND FURTHERMORE the government re-open residential treatment centres in Yellowknife and Inuvik. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. A motion is on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this motion is one I fully support. It’s been an issue I have supported. Earlier today, the Honourable David Krutko made reference to the challenges of our young people and it’s something I support 100 percent.

Mr. Speaker, since the time of the cavemen who stomped on the bridge and started howling at the moon, we have, as a society, wrestled with the effects of alcohol in our communities and as a whole.

We, as legislators and leaders, need to be educated on the devastating effects of alcohol abuse and the costs we pay either as a government, communities, families or personally with regard to the effects of alcohol and drugs.

Mr. Speaker, we are dealing with drugs such as crack cocaine, heroine and other drugs that are on the market in the communities. I would like to take a proactive approach in establishing a foundation where people can go to get their lives straightened out and be the person they are meant to be.

Mr. Speaker, it’s hard to see our young people deal with troubling times who deal with alcohol and that’s the best method they know in coping with life. Can we provide them with something better, Mr. Speaker?

Mr. Speaker, we need to support our families who are dealing with addictions such as drugs and alcohol. There are major dollars spent in the Northwest Territories in sending clients down to treatment centres. I guess I question the government in terms of why they closed down these treatment centres in light of the potential of resource development happening in the Northwest Territories.

Now we are told that Nats’ejee K’eh will be reprofiled and readjusted to fit the current issues in the North. I wait to see that report.

Mr. Speaker, getting a drug centre with specific programs and services that only deals with drugs will help because one day our youth will be sitting in our chairs where we are sitting. It’s something we have to do for our youth today and this is the reason why I support this motion, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. To the motion. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, too, support the motion that’s before us today. I can’t speak about the drug situation and the need for addiction treatment in Inuvik, but certainly I am supportive of that happening and I know the people of Inuvik would be in support of that happening. I am more in touch with what is happening here in Yellowknife, being a Yellowknife Member.

Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to mention the fact that -- and Mr. Yakeleya referred to it as well -- when you start adding up what it costs to send people south, what it’s costing the Government of the Northwest Territories to send the people to the South, the impact it’s having on Stanton Territorial Hospital in terms of dealing with those who have addictions at the hospital and it’s taking away from valuable resources that should be dedicated to medical-type things, I don’t really understand why the treatment centre in Yellowknife closed to begin with in 1999. I understand it had some difficulties in the running of it or there were some underlying issues there, Mr. Speaker, but I am not sure why it happened the way it did.

As a government, we have to understand that there certainly will be a price to putting up a new treatment centre in Yellowknife. But if it doesn’t cost us now, it’s going to cost us later in terms of cost to corrections, justice, health care. If you start tallying up those costs, Mr. Speaker, the cost of getting a dedicated treatment facility here certainly will outweigh that.

I also don’t understand why it is -- and the Minister has spoken to it before -- about putting money into bricks and mortar. We have a facility on the Detah road, the Somba K’e Lodge, and I don’t understand why we can’t use that as a treatment facility. That is something I just can’t understand.

This is in reference to this motion and it goes back to addictions, but last week when I started talking about addictions, I was out in the community at a restaurant. A young fellow about the age of 16 was working behind the counter and he said, Mr. Ramsay, you are saying some good things in the Legislative Assembly. I want you to keep that up. He said my parents have been married for 19 years and they are breaking up right now because my father is addicted to cocaine. That really stuck with me, Mr. Speaker. The young fellow said there isn’t really anything here for my father. This is a run-of-the-mill, middle-class family living in Yellowknife. The impact that they are feeling as a result of an addiction to cocaine is really something that stuck with me then and will stay with me, Mr. Speaker.

Dealing with other constituents that are addicted to crack cocaine, there is really no place for them to turn here in Yellowknife. Having to go south, you have to be close to the support network, your friends, your family, to try to give you that encouragement to seek help and to get help.

I don’t know if other Members are aware of this, but right now in Yellowknife, there are more meetings for Narcotics Anonymous, Crack Busters, there are meetings seven nights a week to deal with just drug addictions. There are more meetings to deal with drug addictions than there are for alcohol. It never used to be the case, Mr. Speaker. Drugs are becoming much more prevalent in the city of Yellowknife. With the economic activity that’s happening north of the city, the proposed pipeline, there is going to be more disposable income here in the Northwest Territories and I really do support this motion.

I think it’s high time that the government look at re-establishing treatment centres. We can’t use band-aid solutions any longer, Mr. Speaker. We have to get some dedicated facilities to deal with what’s out there today and what’s going to be out there tomorrow. There are many folks out there who are suffering and who are falling through the cracks.

I am in full support of this motion, Mr. Speaker, as I am sure the rest of my colleagues will be as well. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. To the motion. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going to speak in favour of the motion. There are some aspects of it that I would like to lend some ideas or some observations to.

First, as Mr. Ramsay has said, I think most of us have encountered some kind of contact, direct or indirect, with the situation that’s going on on the streets. I can relate at least to Yellowknife. In fact, just the other night, I was at an evening event at one of the highrise office buildings in downtown Yellowknife. As I left the building at about 8:30 or so, around the corner were four young people smoking up something and the bit of conversation I was able to catch, it looked like they were coaching or training one of their friends in how to use this particular drug. It’s there. This was not in some alley snuck behind a building in an old construction site. This was very much in the glare of the streetlights and the parking lamps around this building.

In Yellowknife, Mr. Speaker, we’ve also seen a really disturbing trend, this phenomenon called the house party where somewhere along the line, someone’s parents or family are out of town. Word gets around that there is a party in this house and, within minutes, thanks to the technology of cell phones, there can be over 100 people at this house. Mr. Speaker, this is not just a loud, noisy neighbourhood party, but what can we do to trash this house, to destroy it as quickly as we can. There is something remarkably disturbing and foreign to what we’ve come to know as peaceful communities.

Those are a couple of experiences that I know of late, Mr. Speaker, to the motion where it talks about establishing treatment centres. The Minister, Mr. Miltenberger, in response to some questioning over the last couple of days, has referred to the addictions and the Mental Health and Addictions Strategy that is in place. One of the fundamentals of this strategy is that we need to find solutions and approaches at the community level, in the environments in which the drug and alcohol culture exists and in which it is growing. As we have all talked about and worried about, the tendency that we seem to have here in the North when somebody comes forward for treatment is to ship them outside. Go to a southern institution for a dry-out program, a detox program or whatever. Then people come back into the community, probably more or less into the same environment that they came out of, where the influences of their friends, of crime, of life on the street are. How are they going to really be able to recover if this is the environment? We need to change things at the community and the street level, and this is where the motion -- and I entirely respect where my colleagues are going -- but the idea that we have to keep building facilities and keep putting up institutions, I hope that’s not fully the intent here.

In fact the Somba K'e Healing Centre was put up with that specific direction and hope that it would indeed be a healing facility. It has fallen on tough times for a number of reasons that we don’t need to go into and I don’t even know if I understand all of them. But there is a multimillion dollar facility that is closed and, from my understanding, has deteriorated to the point it might not even be useful to anybody anymore. This has been a story of building facilities in many parts of the North. We can build them, we can spend lots of money, it’s easy to go and cut a ribbon, but to run these places and really make them effective is where we seem to have our problems.

I guess if we are looking for the alternatives, it’s in the start and seemingly mushrooming response to organizations like Crack Busters here in Yellowknife, an initiative between community partners, including the Tree of Peace and the Salvation Army. This is something that I think really should be leading us to where we want to go. These are programs that started, if you will, at the street level with direct contact with the people involved, and the response to their initiatives seems to be remarkable. So this is where I really fundamentally believe the answers lie, at the community and the street level, and what can we do to initiate programs that will take hold in those environments, beyond what we might be able to do with creating new facilities.

Mr. Speaker, at the very least we should be acknowledging that our ability to cope has not kept pace with the very rapid transition in the economy up here. I think when we look back a decade or so and we saw the first indication that yes, there will be diamond mines, yes, they will have an enormous impact on our economy, I don’t think we could have anticipated the enormity of the social consequence of what that new wealth is bringing us; of what the wealth in the neighbouring province of Alberta, for instance, that has been a super-heated economy as well, and it’s no secret when that kind of thing happens, you are going to get these kinds of impacts.

Perhaps one thing that we should be considering is joining up with our counterparts in Alberta. It seems that we understand that the highway is one of the main supply routes for drugs. What can we do with the hundreds of kilometres in northern Alberta that is part of this traffic as well? Maybe there is part of our answer, as well.

Mr. Speaker, if there is one final thing that I have come to understand in my experience here with the Social Programs committee and talking to professionals and experts, it is that the range and the complexity of addictions is extraordinary. Alcoholism in itself is very diverse, the consequences can be extraordinarily diverse, but now with so much different chemical and drug material going around, the addictions are not simply a one-stop-shop kind of thing.

We probably in the North will always be challenged, extremely challenged, in being able to provide rehabilitation and detox services on a regional basis, on a youth or an age basis, as the motion suggests. These are all extraordinarily expensive and hard-to-design and hard-to-maintain programs. But the spirit of the motion is that we have got to realize that we haven’t kept up with the consequences and with the realities that are out there. We need to speed up our efforts to deliver programs that really are going to help, especially as my colleague, Mr. Ramsay, pointed out, when somebody is asking for help and we cannot put anything at their disposal. That is probably where we are failing most dramatically, is when people want help and we are not able to give it. That is where we should start. Thanks, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. To the motion. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a year ago during the election campaign, I heard loudly and clearly in the city of Yellowknife, not just my riding of Yellowknife Centre, but in the city of Yellowknife as a whole, about the need for a treatment centre. The people were screaming for it, Mr. Speaker. People were asking for it. MLAs have been asking about it for a long time. So this motion, I think, speaks to the intent of what folks have been asking for.

What better job than to serve our people of the Northwest Territories? Well, our people are asking us to serve them by doing their bidding. Mr. Speaker, we are asking for what they are asking for. We are asking for a treatment centre. So let’s listen to the people, let’s do what they are asking for. Supporting this motion is the only choice I think we have.

Mr. Speaker, jail or tolerance is not a way of dealing with this solution. By allowing people to destroy their lives, by turning a blind eye, is not a way of dealing with this situation. I don’t think that’s fair, I don’t think it’s fair for this Assembly to ignore that. Yes, we do offer programs, and I have spoken to the Minister of this problem. Yes, we do offer some programs and even in the city of Yellowknife, some in Hay River and other places, but we also send people down south.

We have a treatment centre rotting out on the road just outside of Yellowknife, so we need to take drastic action and we need to start dealing with these things. This impacts all of our communities, Mr. Speaker, big and small. It doesn’t really matter; we should be thinking of people as people, we shouldn’t be thinking about centres, we shouldn’t even be talking about size of communities, we should be talking about the personal problem of this. The fact is I think we could be taking a better charge.

Mr. Speaker, if I may, speaking, of course, directly to the motion, I can tell you that recently a father had told me about the lack of a treatment centre in Yellowknife and in the Northwest Territories to treat his son. He paid out of his own pocket to send his son to Toronto. He didn’t feel that he had time to go through the lengthy process to get his son into a treatment program who knows where and how, and he felt that the services weren’t offered here to meet his son’s needs locally. His son had an alcohol and drug addition and it was serious.

The father has paid between $15,000 and $20,000 to send his son to Toronto. He paid it out of his own pocket, as I’ve said. He had been recently asked to go down for family day in support of his son because the centre said he was doing great. Well, let me first say he didn’t go through the normal process, so the process says they can’t support this family in any way. But let me put it this way; he wouldn’t be still in Toronto and having good success if he didn’t have a problem. They wouldn’t keep him in the centre in Toronto if he shouldn’t have been there, so from the words of the father in this particular case, his son’s doing great, and he wanted to strike while the iron was hot. Because when his son wanted to be treated, why would a father wait?

Mr. Speaker, I say again, let’s start by giving people what they have asked for. Nobody is complaining about having too many treatment centres, people are asking for a treatment centre. So let’s give them, again, what they want. We can meet our stakeholder needs and I think we would do that through that process.

Mr. Speaker, when I worked at the Yellowknife Correctional Centre many years ago, as a guard there, without a statistical backing, I can tell you from my experience at that centre that 75 percent of those people were there due to some reason that was connected to drugs and alcohol. People were killing people because they were drunk or drugged or trying to get drugs or alcohol, people were doing nasty things to other people. These are terrible crimes. We need ways to deal with these folks before they end up taking drastic steps. We don’t need to wait until then.

Mr. Speaker, if the government needs to verify this, they can go to their own records. They could go to the courts and see how many people are here on crimes related to drugs and alcohol. It wouldn’t take long to find out that most of the people that are in the correction centre are there because of things like drugs and alcohol.

Do we need to sell you this problem? Well, I would like to say today, no, we don’t. I think we know what their problem is and we need to take action on this problem. Would I endorse a special committee on this? Goodness, no. I think that’s another waste of time. We know what the problem is. We need to support this motion to establish centres here in the Northwest Territories to take care of our people locally. I spoke to the Tree of Peace; they said in their experience that people treated locally come out at a much higher success rate than people sent south to Edmonton or wherever.

Mr. Speaker, alcohol and drugs is a legacy of abuse that I no longer want to allow to continue in the Northwest Territories. It’s time that we put that in the history books and we talk about a clean future for all of us. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. To the motion. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.