Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wanted to ask the Minister of Finance, since the lifting of the liquor sales in the Norman Wells liquor store, I’ve been receiving phone calls from the communities since February. Recently, I received phone calls in regard to the amount of alcohol that’s coming into the community, and the agencies, the RCMP and the nurses are very, very concerned now. I want to ask the Minister on this issue here, the people are waiting to see if there is some possibility of working to change the restriction of the Norman Wells liquor store, so that we can look at a regional concept to it, and to deal with the amount of booze that’s coming into our community. Is the Minister looking at some possible changes and working with me on some of the things that we could do to help the people in the Sahtu?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have met with the Member a number of times and had a considerable amount of correspondence. We’ve discussed the steps forward. The next most immediate step is going to be we’ve agreed we’re going to collectively write to the leadership in the Sahtu and we’ll pose a number of questions to them. Some very basic ones, like taking authorities that now lie at the community level and making decisions about alcohol, taking some responsibilities like the decisions over liquor store restrictions, and those types of things from the community level to a regional level, and a number of questions related to how that would possibly work, who would trigger it, what would be required to do that. We’re going to write that letter to the leadership and ask for a response. We’re going to look at the information that is provided, and then we’ll have the discussion about next steps, myself and the Member for the Sahtu. Thank you.
The Minister outlined a pretty clear path as to what transpired between now and what’s happening right now today. I thank the Minister for that. Norman Wells last year made $2.5 million in liquor sales. Inuvik made $7.4 million. I expect to see Norman Wells reach up to $5 million this year. Hopefully, by the fall time we will have some type of decision as to how we go about looking at this issue here and help people in the surrounding communities.
I have a motion from the communities in the Sahtu to say we need to make changes to the Norman Wells liquor store. I want to ask the Minister if that’s something we could look forward to sometime maybe in the fall, to make some changes if it could be.
Mr. Speaker, we have to keep in mind, as well, we don’t want to give people the impression that the people of the Sahtu are now turning into consumers of alcohol way above what is normal there. The Sahtu, as well, has the benefit, and will continue to have the benefit, of an economic boom with the tight oil play that is going on there and the amount of people coming there. It all contributes to more activity, money and people in the region that don’t currently necessarily reside there.
We’ll look at the information that comes back from the letters. The Member and I will have a discussion and we’ll look at those questions and the information provided, and we will have to, as well, have a broader discussion. We’re going to consult with the NWTAC, as well, about designing what we would do based on the information we’re going to get back from the leaders. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, when the agencies in our communities are telling me and us that enough is enough, we are getting tired of seeing the incidents, I want to ask the Minister, with the amount of development that possibly could happen in the Sahtu, part of our region is out-of-control drinking. That’s what’s happening right now, so we want to work on this issue here. Would the Minister work with his colleagues, departments of Justice, Health, Education, Housing, Economic, even the Premier, to see what are the impacts now you are seeing in the Sahtu? Go to our court dates here in the Sahtu and you will see 99.9 percent of people up there because of alcohol. Will the Minister be able to compile some of those incidents, some of those reports that say, yes, we have an issue here in the Sahtu and we need to look at it in a responsible manner?
Mr. Speaker, we are tracking those statistics. The easiest course of action, of course, would be if the community of Norman Wells agreed to put this issue back to the vote. Because of the concern they have heard from all of their companions and all the neighbours in the Sahtu in the neighbouring communities, the existing legislation is clear right now. We will do the work we need to do to chart a path forward. If it requires legislative change or regulatory change, we will have to make that determination.
Clearly, the community of Norman Wells has the legal authority now to put that issue back on the table if they would say they do that, based on the strong feedback they received from the region leadership. In the meantime, we will continue down the path the Member and I have charted out. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister. Through this whole issue here, I think we worked out a pretty good path as to how we want to resolve this issue. Between now and when we have some of the discussions, can the Minister ask his colleagues to look at some of their own numbers in regard to if the health centre is getting more calls than ever because of out-of-control drinking in our communities, or the justice is seeing more people in courts or jail because of out-of-control drinking? I want to know if the Minister can provide some of that information when we have our next meeting.
Mr. Speaker, I have heard the Member’s concern. Finance and the liquor folks are tracking their sales or consumption, the off-sales to individuals. We’ll check with the RCMP. We’ll make sure that we track their detailing and their statistics of all the potential charges or charges that they do lay. We will also be looking at the court dockets, things we are currently doing, as well, to make sure that we are as thorough as possible trying to track this issue.
I will remind the Member, once again, he and I have had this discussion. The issue of liquor store hours is only one part of the alcohol abuse issue. The circumstances are there where people have to be able to make the choice not to drink. While this issue has some importance to people, they shouldn’t be seen as a panacea that is somehow going to cure all the issues that we all struggle with with alcohol abuse. Thank you.
