Norman Yakeleya, who has served as Sahtu MLA and Dene national chief, considers alcohol addiction one of the most serious threats facing the NWT, and he would like to see more government action in response to the problem.
"It's very common," said Yakeleya, who is also former chief of the Tulita Dene Band and former chair of the Sahtu Tribal Council. "It's showing up in our kids. Our kids, we want them to have a good life, but there is an unhealthy environment in terms of the drugs in our communities, the alcoholism."
Among Indigenous people, Yakeleya attributes the widespread alcoholism in the NWT to intergenerational trauma, admitting "alcoholism is a real good painkiller for us not to deal with it."
He is not confident the GNWT is taking the problem seriously enough.
"I think the bureaucratic process has an understanding, but they don't do nothing about it," he said.
He suspects that could be due, in part, to the amount of income that alcohol sales generate for the government.
"It's just amazing the amount of money the territory and our government makes on liquor sales SA国际影视传媒� and marijuana sales," he said. "You just got to check the liquor stores and how much money is spent on booze."
In theory, much of the revenue the GNWT receives from liquor sales should be invested back into social programs and recovery programs. However, Yakeleya feels the figures "don't equate."
He would like to see more government money invested into culturally-sensitive, on-the-land addiction and recovery programs aimed at Indigenous peoples.
"That's the start," he said. "That's safety for the communities.
"We really need to focus on intergenerational trauma."
He also noted that Indigenous Services Canada SA国际影视传媒� a branch of the federal government SA国际影视传媒� has dozens of recovery and treatment centres around the country, but that residents of the NWT are generally only sent to one or two.
"It is strange," he said. "Why is the Government of Northwest Territories telling the Indigenous community, Indigenous people, 'You have access to 45 treatment centres across Canada, but we're going to send you to one or two that's approved by the Government of the Northwest Territories?
"Something doesn't match up."
Yakeleya couldn't say exactly what the best way forward is when it comes to tackling the territory's alcohol addiction problem, but contended that, despite having some good ideas, the GNWT often has trouble executing.
"Over the years SA国际影视传媒� during my term as an MLA and up to today SA国际影视传媒� there's been so many studies, reports, commissions, and so many good recommendations and so many good suggestions," he said. "But there is no type of solutions for community government SA国际影视传媒� be it self-governments or the communities themselves SA国际影视传媒� to say, 'Let's take one of the recommendations from these reports and put it into action.' I think the government needs to get out of the way.
"They need to disburse the funding and let the communities use them as they see fit for the people," he added. "There's been a lot of impact from this substance abuse and very little sustainable funding to deal with it."
