Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
WHEREAS alcohol abuse has taken a heavy toll in all Northwest Territories communities;
AND WHEREAS alcohol consumption and drug use has increased among young people;
AND WHEREAS NWT Liquor Commission net revenues will increase to $24 million in fiscal year 2011-2012 from $22 million in fiscal year 2008-2009;
AND WHEREAS the Northwest Territories has only one alcohol and drug treatment centre;
AND WHEREAS there is no detoxification centre or relapse centre in the territory;
AND WHEREAS the Department of Health and Social Services strategic action plan, “A Foundation for Change,” includes no strategic action to establish additional alcohol and drug treatment centres;
AND WHEREAS the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce has called for the establishment of an alcohol and drug treatment centre;
AND WHEREAS alcohol abuse is a contributing factor in the offences committed by a majority of inmates in Northwest Territories correctional facilities, and in a majority of family violence cases;
NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, that the Government of the Northwest Territories take immediate action to identify the various options for establishing a mobile alcohol and drug treatment program that can be delivered on the land, and report back to the 17th Legislative Assembly during the first six months of its term in office.
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. I want to say that when I visit my communities, and I also heard from many people in the North, they are saying that the alcohol abuse issue in all of our communities is getting worse, and the drug issue amongst our youth is getting worse. It’s actually getting out of hand, as some of the people have said. It’s no longer a Friday or Saturday event. It’s a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday event. Now people are saying it’s getting worse and out of hand because there are younger and younger people in our communities that are using.
Bootleggers are selling to the younger people, older people, and they see an opportunity. People are telling me, you guys are in government and you should do something with alcohol abuse.
There is a cloud of darkness coming in this great land we call the Northwest Territories, the land of resources and wealth, that we can no longer ignore. It’s only going to get worse if we do not put a stop to it.
The younger population are our leaders. There are some good young leaders that will step forward and say enough is enough. If you look in our communities, if you look at the conditions of our communities, some of us spoke this afternoon about it, it doesn’t look very good.
This motion is to support something for the young people and for our communities. It talks about an opportunity, about saving lives, about putting on our best, most sacred powerful place in the world, on our land. Taking them out there. It’s about investing some dollars.
Now we are just about finished this Assembly. Given that we’re going into a new Assembly and everything’s going to be new in the 17th, we don’t even know if they will take this discussion or whatever, if it will carry forward. Hopefully this government can give us a progress report on this motion, even though it’s only a recommendation to government, that they can say yes, it makes sense to go on the land, to take families out on the land. Yellowknife, Inuvik, Tulita, Colville, Sachs, wherever. Say we believe in you. The families that hurt together are the families that have to heal together.
We do have the Nats’ejee K’eh Treatment Centre in Hay River. It’s doing its work but we need to do something different to see the success of our people. Like I said, hopefully with this motion it will give some hope to the families.
We also heard it on CBC this morning. Here in Yellowknife people are drinking things that I thought were not possible. Unbelievable. Even in the city of Yellowknife people are using things that I just have a hard time thinking about. I guess that’s how powerful the addiction is. It’s true when they say alcohol is one of the most cunning, baffling, and powerful.
There are a lot of people out there willing to help. They may not have the qualifications or criteria recognized by some of the western academic world, but they certainly have the qualifications in the Aboriginal world. I think we have to bring the two together to save us. We have to use both strengths to save a life. I think the best way is to put the people on the land.
Like I said, there is a dark cloud coming. If we don’t do anything about it today, we have only ourselves to blame. We as a government need to be there for the people. We need to do something and look at some options to put people in our hands to say we’re going to help you. We’ll look at on-the-land treatment programs, a mobile one. I’ve seen it work. There are no guarantees that it will be all successful, but I think we have something there for them.
I want to thank the Member for Yellowknife Centre for seconding the motion. I thank my colleagues for allowing this motion to come this far to the House to speak on. I look forward to hearing some of the comments. I’ll conclude later on.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. To the motion. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the mover of the motion, Mr. Yakeleya, the Member for Sahtu, for a very good motion. The idea of a mobile alcohol and drug treatment initiative is certainly innovative, and I would say welcome, from my point of view.
I’ve been around here awhile, almost eight years in total, and this is one of the first interesting and, I would say, hopefully ground-breaking initiatives that could probably make a lot of sense when tackling the alcohol and drug treatment problem. I certainly say problem as in lack thereof.
We can talk about education all we want. I think that’s a primary focus of the incoming crowd to the problem, and hopefully divert them so they never actually decide that this is a path that they wish to choose. We also cannot give up or forget about the people who are captured by these demons and held firmly in their grip. I think the solution provided by Member Yakeleya makes a lot of sense. That’s certainly why I’m very grateful for him allowing me to be part of this initiative in the sense of the motion. It’s very important that we find ways to help people who need help. This certainly makes a lot of sense.
As said by him, and I’ll say it in my own way, he was right: youth are being increasingly challenged by this particular problem. As we have all heard or know and pretend not to, or perhaps even put a blind eye to it, we know that the parties on the weekend are spilling over into the week and affecting people’s lives. The fact is they’re affecting school children every day of the week. Does that mean we need to develop programs in high schools or middle schools? I think that’s a choice we have to start considering.
Alcohol treatment is important and, as highlighted already, we only have one treatment centre here in the Northwest Territories, which is Nats’ejee K’eh. I think they offer good programming for the kind of particular problems they tackle, but they are not a detoxification centre. That still is outstanding here in the Northwest Territories. We need that type of approach, that type of access for Northerners here to seek that type of treatment.
Our Foundation of Change does bring new, innovative ideas, but I would still say that when there’s a particular issue like this lack of services here offered in the Northwest Territories, if you want a united voice, it didn’t take long to start adding up the list, as I spoke last week to. Whether it’s our coroner, or the Chamber of Commerce, or our very respected Judge Vertes all calling for this type of initiative here in the North, this motion is just one more voice adding to the cause. It often makes me worried about how many voices need to go silent before any action is taken to this. I’ll tell you, voices are screaming and saying they want something done. What fears me is the day they stop screaming and saying they want this initiative to be addressed.
As I said last week, I had experienced a few years working at the Yellowknife Correctional Centre, and I can tell you from personal experience, and although I don’t have the stats for accurate context, but I can tell you easily 75 percent of the people incarcerated in that institution were there because of alcohol and drug problems. And I would suspect from what I saw there, that that was the lead-up into their experience of doing wrong and certainly what they suffered from and perhaps led them down the course of making some of their mistakes that they are punished for.
Mr. Speaker, you don’t have to look far to find those types of experiences, but interestingly enough, as I said last week, when you’re there getting to know people, you found that once they dried out or they cleaned up and they were starting to get involved with themselves in programming, they were taking a different outlook on life. All of a sudden their spirit rose once again and the trueness of hope and opportunity came forward in the sense of getting away from those demons, and that’s an exciting thing to watch. The trueness of their heart and their spirit came out as they got away from these problems.
The example I provide to the House is quite a true example. You could ask any number of the corrections officers or any number of the addictions counsellors in Yellowknife, in the communities, whether it’s Nats’ejee K’eh or wherever, the fact is they will all tell you somewhat of a similar story, that a lot of good people get caught up in these demons and we need options.
Mr. Speaker, the motion to establish a mobile drug treatment program is an initiative that is truly innovative, because we need ways to get out to the communities to ensure that they get the health resources and programming that they rightly deserve.
Mr. Speaker, I’m definitely in favour of on-the-land programming, because I think every problem has a different type of solution. There is no one-size-fits-all. But the way it’s prescribed now is if you have a particular crystal meth problem, you have to be sent to one of the local programs, whether it’s in Hay River, or on the Hay River Reserve, sorry, or here in Yellowknife, and you have to fail in order to be further recommended to an Alberta detox centre. Mr. Speaker, I think that’s significantly disappointing, because the families get caught up in this emotional struggle. It’s very challenging to watch, whether it’s their spouses or their children or even sometimes their parents get caught up in this world where they’re like the living dead. They’re rotting away in their bodies while these diseases are consuming them, and the only way to get treatment is to be sent south for these particular issues. Yet, there is no way to fast track this process, yet it’s a matter of sending them somewhere to fail before we’ll reconsider them again.
Mr. Speaker, this is a bit of a demeaning process that I can only imagine leads to further failure, and I’ve often thought that we could skip some of this process and if we could bring some type of detoxification services here in the North, you know, although as the Yellowknife MLA the first thing I think, of course, is we’re a large community, we need these services here. You know, that’s beyond any doubt. Should it be here? I mean, as the Yellowknife MLA, I always say that. Of course, let’s look at that. But as a territorial MLA, it doesn’t have to just be here.
My issue, number one, is how do we get the services in the North. I mean, to me where they end up is a small piece of the puzzle. I mean, you can put them in the Wells; you could put them in the Nunakput riding; you could put them in the community of Inuvik or Smith. It doesn’t matter to me. The fact is the services are demanded and yet there’s no response. Right now we’re sending people to the hospital, or the people are committing themselves to the hospital.
Mr. Speaker, the hospital is no place to treat itself as a detoxification centre, and quite clearly it’s not a detention centre either, and it can’t be used for that. A hospital is not designed that way. Certainly this one isn’t. Yet, it keeps pulling it back together that we need some type of solution, and perhaps the mobile alcohol and drug treatment program could be the way for this opportunity to be addressed.
Mr. Speaker, alcohol and drug abuse has had a profound impact in Yellowknife, in the communities, and to all northern families. I mean, we all know somebody who’s been caught up in these types of problems and, generally, there is no happy ending to this particular case. It’s a long time coming if there is particularly one.
Mr. Speaker, people are united in trying to find ways to support the program. I know the Minister always says we don’t have the money, but, I mean, my goodness, there really are two or three priorities in the Northwest Territories that always rise above all others, and this certainly is one of them. I mean, people don’t want to watch other folks go through this. I mean, the human cost of this particular problem is very consuming. It’s like a train wreck. Their families get destroyed, they lose their jobs, their kids get neglected, the kids, you know, who knows what kind of trouble they get into. It’s an open door for further opportunities to go downhill, Mr. Speaker. That’s why it’s so important that we establish some type of rehabilitation centre here that deals with the detoxification program created by the headaches of alcohol and drug use.
Mr. Speaker, I’ve said before and I truly mean it this time no less, that is that jails are not always the solution for people with these types of demons. I really believe that. As I said earlier, that when you minus the drug or the alcohol problem, quite often the trueness of how good some of these people really are starts to shine, and again, when they see hope, they see opportunity, and that really is what something like this could do.
Mr. Speaker, as said by my colleague Mr. Yakeleya, kids are getting involved younger and younger in this particular problem. We cannot rest on this particular issue, and the fact is just hoping that sitting around in a circle and talking about what to do and what not to do is... Probably we’re long past that point, Mr. Speaker. I’m not saying that there isn’t a role for that type of education or support group, but we need to now step up to the times that we’re now sitting in, which is these very addictive, very destructive drugs and alcohol issues that are consuming people. Mr. Speaker, it makes good sense to be dealing with them.
Clearly, addiction has become a paramount problem here in the Northwest Territories. It will not get better until we treat it differently, because how we’ve been treating it to date is not getting us any further.
Mr. Speaker, I’ll end with the fact that this is a very important issue in the riding of Yellowknife Centre. You don’t have to go very far before you see somebody who has had a problem or who has a problem during the day. To characterize some of the strangeness or oddness of this is it was just this past Sunday, which would be yesterday, at 10 in the morning I’m doing yard work downtown and I hear a pack of people walking by in the alley. Everyone knows where I live, and I see people throwing beer cans over my fence. This is about 10 o’clock on a Sunday morning. I mean, people are drinking at that hour, and you can’t tell me that that’s not a particular issue. This is a little beyond recreation, Mr. Speaker. I think this is a question of has alcohol taken over their lives, and it’s a shame. It’s a shame. I mean, it’s not a laughable problem that we should sit here and giggle and assume that it will go away, or to pull the wool over our eyes that nothing will happen until it starts to affect us. Well, I think it’s gone way past that point.
Mr. Speaker, there will never be the ultimate answer, but in the same turn we have to keep this relentless spirit and pursuit of trying to get a solution, and the solution may just be the one in front of us. It’s that type of innovation I give credit to my colleague for trying to bring to the table, because you’ll never get anything different if you keep trying to do things the same way. This is certainly an option that stands out clearly to me as an option that says let’s give people hope back, let’s get them into the programming that they need, and I believe very strongly in this type of initiative.
To that, Mr. Speaker, I thank the House for listening and I also thank my colleague Mr. Yakeleya for being involved in this motion, because it is a very important issue for me, and as I know you will hear later today, it is an important issue to many other colleagues in this House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I will rise and support this motion today. In our communities I have asked many times to increase the mental health and healing programming dollars available to the communities, and always we’re limited by the health board budgets. I think it was about $5,000 per community. But this motion by the Member for Sahtu is a good solution to increase and diversify options and programs to our community. So I will be supporting this motion, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi cho.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, will be supporting the motion. I’d like to thank the Member for the Sahtu for bringing this forward.
Mr. Speaker, it is a well-known fact we have a huge problem with alcohol abuse in the Northwest Territories. Anything we can do to prevent that, to treat that, is something that I will support.
To the clause in the motion that speaks of the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce and to the beer cans over Mr. Hawkins’ fence, I can’t really exactly understand how that correlates to an on-the-land drug and alcohol abuse program, but that’s okay. I’m going to try and speak to the motion and not stand up here and respond to what Mr. Hawkins said.
Mr. Speaker, an on-the-land program is beneficial because it’s something that people of the North, a lot of them can relate to. I’m not a person who’s spent a lot of time on the land, but a lot of people in the North can relate to that serenity, to that quietness, to that ability to reflect on their life and the choices that they are making and what they need to make. So I think it is a great idea. A mobile treatment facility to treat people on the land is something succinctly that I think this government should spend money on, and I think that we have few larger challenges ahead of us than ensuring that facilities are in place to treat people in the Northwest Territories who have substance abuse problems. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. To the motion. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Possibly the largest source of pain, sorrow, and escalating associated social ills in the NWT is due to our substance abuse, and particularly with alcohol in the Northwest Territories. Wherever we travel and consult, especially in the Child and Family Services Act review, for example, we hear about these sorts of problems and the need for new and improved programs on alcohol abuse.
Justice Vertes I believe recently commented on this and the need to address this and what it’s costing our people and our systems. I do have a real focus on prevention, and that’s still my main focus, but in this particular case this is such a priority item in all aspects that we need to address this every which way we can.
In the larger regional centres, and certainly in Yellowknife, we see people accumulating here, gathering and becoming street people, becoming homeless, and victims and perpetrators of violence and so on. We’re a civilized society. We must be able to address this better than we are, certainly much better than we are right now. So we really need some progress there.
Many of my colleagues have pointed out the healing power of the land and the opportunity to tap into this. I personally agree with that observation. I think this is a real opportunity. I don’t know how much has been tried in the past, but we need to give that a really good shot, and I think there is some new thinking on substance abuse treatment that can mesh very nicely with that approach, and I appreciate my colleagues bringing this motion forward.
We can’t, of course, forget the need for follow-up and community and family support to realize the success an on-the-land treatment program can enable, and I’ll count on the department and my colleagues to make sure that that happens, but for now I’m stating my clear support for this motion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. To the motion. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I, too, will support the motion. I think it’s something that would be a good solution to this government in many areas.
I know that in the communities of Fort Resolution and Lutselk’e if you ask the health professionals, local health care nurses what they think are the number one health issues, they say alcoholism. Alcohol is the number one cause of health issues in the small communities, and we know from sitting here and we know from being Northerners that it’s also the number one cause for corrections, justice: alcohol. It’s the number one cost for even youth, people being in the corrections and so on. It’s the number one cost of education. The lack of support that’s provided to the kids that are going to school when you have parents that are using alcohol. It’s the number one cost in child and family services because of foster kids, and that’s what happens if their parents are not able to provide for their own kids, the children that they have themselves, and they go into a system where there’s high costs. The cost of foster care is very high. If there is no alcohol, then the foster care would come way down.
So the way in which we attempt to treat people at this time, there are treatment centres where individuals travel from small communities to a treatment centre. Sometimes it’s accessible, but many times it’s not. So this is a good alternative, the best alternative, because if you go around, I know that all of the ridings, if you go around Yellowknife, if you go around in the Sahtu, around Tu Nedhe, you see how beautiful the land is and the areas where these guys set up these little cultural camps that are designed so that these guys can come from other communities, or from within the community there’s people that are used to working with people that are struggling with alcohol and so on, and then there’s some sort of mobile cultural type healing on the land.
I think this is a very good initiative. I think that this motion obviously will receive support, but I think all of us here as government especially should take a look at, really, the cost implications of this. If we’re able to heal people from alcoholism, there’s going to be a different perspective in here. I mean, the social costs of this whole government will go down sharply; there’s no question about it. If we look at that and we get serious about it, we put money into this, we will see a big change in the Northwest Territories, a big, big change. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. To the motion. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also rise in support of this motion. As the first whereas indicates, alcohol abuse, and I believe drug abuse as well, place a really heavy toll on our communities and on our people. I think that we don’t have enough infrastructures at this point to help our people deal with that problem.
We do have one treatment centre in Hay River and we’ve heard very often from Ministers of Health and Social Services that we have a treatment centre that people should be able to just go there and get the treatment that they need. That requires them to go out away from their community and away from their families.
This is a novel and unique approach to a treatment centre which goes to the people who need the treatment. They can stay basically within their community and they also will be able to be on the land. We’ve heard very often from many people and from many different perspectives the value that being treated and being out on the land has, and how beneficial it is to us as individuals and to our peace and our well-being.
I feel really importantly that not only do we need another treatment centre, whether it be mobile or not, but we also have to ensure that any treatment option that we put into place allows for after-care. I think it’s one aspect of our treatment for drugs and alcohol which is not given enough weight. I think it’s something that we gloss over and we treat people, and then put them back into their community without any supports.
As mentioned by Mr. Bromley, one of the biggest things we heard when we were travelling for the Child and Family Services Act review was the need to provide supports in the communities for those people who are dealing with alcohol abuse, drug abuse, any number of abuses. We have way too many of them.
Lastly, Mr. Speaker, I’d like to say that I feel that it’s really important that this particular option, and the possibility of this option, be considered within the parameters of the mental health review, which is apparently ongoing at this time and we should see some sort of results from that review within the next few months. This is something which needs to be considered in light of a review of any of the mental health services that we provide as a government. It’s an option which can provide success for our people and I hope that the government does not dismiss it out of hand. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. To the motion. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank Mr. Yakeleya for bringing this motion forward.
Mr. Speaker, the problem is real and this motion offers a reasonable and unique alternative which could be highly successful, and I support this motion. I hope that it’s given fair and reasonable consideration. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. To the motion. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank Member Yakeleya for bringing this forward. I will be supporting this motion and I look forward to everybody supporting it, as well.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. To the motion. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank the Members for bringing forward this motion about a very difficult subject, about a substance, alcohol, that is the bane of northern existence when you look at the social problems that it causes.
There is, and has been over the last 10 years, a significant amount of work done in terms of trying to modernize and update and make our mental health and addictions services more efficient and effective. As the Member for Frame Lake pointed out, there is a review that is underway on mental health and addictions. That review will be coming forward and will, along with many other things, be on the list of the incoming 17th Assembly to look at. As we do business plans for all those MLAs that will be back, and as business plans are done and money is looked at and the hugely long list of competing priorities are considered, it will be there for consideration by all Members of the House.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. To the motion. I’ll allow the mover of the motion closing remarks. Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the Members for all speaking up and saying what you have to say; and also for the Minister’s consideration to the new Assembly once we get there.
I want to say that this motion came from a time when my family was out at Old Fort Point in the bush. When I came back to Tulita, the first person that came to me said to me that we have to do something with the young kids and their drinking. It’s getting scary and out of hand.
I know, as Mrs. Groenewegen has stated, that not all people have lived or grown up on the land and sometimes it’s very difficult, so I do appreciate her bringing her concerns. I thank her for opening my eyes also, that when we look at something, that’s the best solution for the people.
Also, one thing I do know is that alcohol has no discrimination in race, barrier, colour, man, or woman. That’s the one unity, commonality, that we can have. It doesn’t matter who you are, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, it affects us all.
What I do know is that if you come down to a personal level, to me, my step-father died because of it. That is so painful, especially when times at spring hunt, Christmas, fall hunt, birthdays. That’s painful and shameful and it hurts. Us human beings have such good coping mechanisms, we deal with it in our own way. Through people like you’ve heard in the communities, and workers, there is hope. It’s a struggle. As my colleague said, there’s after-care that we really need to look at. Some things that we are discovering. Why don’t you put it away?
The other fact is that I know about this: some people can use it and are pretty okay with it. That’s okay. I talk about this being on the land for people who abuse it; people who need some kind of other support than doing nothing.
For us to survive as a culture, as a nation, we have to do the most outrageous, radical thing, is put these programs on the land through a mobile unit and have it looked at again. That’s why I like this motion, and I thank the Members for supporting me on this. I know there’s hope because I’m standing here today sober for the last 24 years. I know there’s hope. I know it can be done.
