Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the research I’ve been given in regard to the alcohol that’s been increasing in the Sahtu, I want to just ask the Minister of Health and Social Services. In Norman Wells, the percentage of alcohol-related calls for service – and this is by the Department of Justice – in 2009 was 23 percent; in 2012 it was 52 percent. In Tulita it was 20 percent in 2009; 2012, it was 47 percent.
You see the increase of alcohol because of a number of factors. I think, myself, we believe that the Norman Wells liquor store has lifted the unrestricted sales of liquor there. I want to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services, how do we start working to deal with this issue. We have the information from the RCMP in regard to community wellness plans and getting that on the ground. Are we providing them with sufficient support and resources to get these plans off the ground and on the land?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Minister of Health, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The plan for the Sahtu, in as far as the extra workload given to or, I guess, distributed to the alcohol workers and also even the medical staff, the nurses and that, has been, at this time, for the CEO out of Norman Wells to work with those two communities specifically, and also monitoring the other communities, was to monitor those two communities closely, and if at any time there was a requirement for additional health personnel like clinicians or any mental wellness personnel, I guess, community wellness workers, then there would be a call for it. Then we would go work with, and as we, I mean the Department of Health and Social Services will work with the Sahtu Health and Social Services to provide assistance to the communities if they are overloaded as a result of the extra alcohol going into the communities.
Mr. Speaker, again, going back to the numbers I have been given, in Fort Good Hope the alcohol-related occurrences in 2009 was 238. In Fort Good Hope in 2012 it was 681, and Deline was 23 in 2009 and 319 in 2012. In regard to the increase of the alcohol occurrences by the RCMP, people are drinking quite a lot and they get more calls.
With the Minister’s support and his leadership, will the he start looking at some solid programs, working with the Department of Justice and other agencies, to say that we have a problem here, Houston? What do we need to do to get the money into our communities to start dealing with our communities? Is that somewhere in his plans in this year’s budget?
Mr. Speaker, yes, it is in our plans to try to address the issues that are stemming from addictions in all of the communities right across the territory. That is built into our Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan. It’s part of the mandate of the Minister’s Forum on Addictions and Community Wellness. As they travel around, they are to get enough information and ideas from the communities to be able to develop a solution. By May 1st we are hoping that we can have the report completed. We’re looking to address this probably region by region and even community by community. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, while I was at the Sahtu Dene Council annual general meeting, people were asking me. We need to have some solid programs on the land in the Sahtu. Because of the increase of the alcohol in the Sahtu and the lifting of the Norman Wells liquor store to unrestricted sales, I have been personally told that people are buying more than they’re allowed to once they come into our communities.
Because the Nats’ejee K’eh is at a 40 percent occupancy rate, we have some money. Can the Minister look at that budget and say we are going to shift some of that money to help our people elsewhere where there is an increase in alcohol?
Mr. Speaker, earlier as I was responding to another Member, I had indicated that the department had put in about $850,000 over the last couple fiscal years to try to address the issues. Also, the department continues to allow communities to access on-the-land programs. What has happened is several of the communities have taken advantage of the program. Deline and Tulita are two of the communities that took advantage of the on-the-land program and put proposals in for and utilize their full budget of $25,000 in both communities and did some on-the-land work. We are hoping to expand that program and increase the amount that goes to the communities. We are anticipating that, because each time we talk informally to the Minister’s Forum members, they speak of on-the-land program as one of the things that comes up constantly at the community level. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Speaker, once again I ask the Minister that, because of the occupancy rate is at 46 percent level at Nats’ejee K’eh, there are some dollars, I believe, left. Given that the report will be done some time next year, I think that the implementation of those recommendations that are rolled out later on, can the Minister look at communities down the Mackenzie Valley to say, yes, we have these additional dollars? We appreciate the money that is going into the Sahtu. We would like a little more to really help our people. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct; we are spending $2.2 million in Nats’ejee K’eh and we are operating at a bit below 50 percent occupancy. We want to look at Nats’ejee K’eh as part of a spectrum of treatment opportunities or treatment options that will be provided to the people of the NWT.
Having said that, what we are doing with the one treatment centre that we do have in place is we are again removing Nats’ejee K’eh from Deh Cho Health and Social Services. We are going to have some discussions with the reserve, of course, where Nats’ejee K’eh sits. That will be directly run through the Department of Health and Social Services to try to improve the amount of people or the rate that individuals that are going in there to try to increase the capacity and change it so that we’re trying to provide more of an educational portion to the treatment centre so, like I said, it becomes part of the overall spectrum of treatment. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
