Canada's federal, provincial and territorial ministers responsible for justice and public safety met in Yellowknife on Oct. 18, and while many of the issues discussed were national in scope, the NWT's worsening drug problem was also addressed.
"Absolutely there is an increasing drug issue in the Northwest Territories," NWT Premier and Justice Minister R.J. Simpson said at a press conference following the meeting. "That's one of the main reasons that I wanted to keep this justice portfolio. When I became premier, I saw the drugs first move into the territory, into my community, into Hay River. I was hoping we could stop them before they moved out to the smaller communities, but we're seeing it expand into all the communities, and it's being driven by organized crime, organized gangs with the resources to push those drugs.
"How we address that was definitely discussed today. It's not just a Northwest Territories issue, it's an issue across Canada."
In terms of specifics, Simpson said he and his peers discussed potential reforms to search and seizure processes, as well as bail.
The premier also expressed his ongoing support for the , pledging to make sure officers have the resources required to combat the territory's drug problem, but also noted that the solution is likely not as simple as more policing.
"Ultimately, drug use and addiction, it's a public health issue and I recognize that we're never going to enforce our way out of a drug problem," Simpson said. "Moving forward, we are looking at how we can better combine and health efforts to ensure that we're not just responding with enforcement, but also responding with help and leading people in the direction of healing."
"There's work going on around that," he continued. "Individuals who are suffering from addiction, they often have other issues as well. They're often dealing with multiple departments, whether it's income assistance or housing or health and social services regarding the addictions. We want to make it easier for those people to access their services so that they can get the help they need more quickly."
Federal Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Arif Virani, who also participated in the Oct. 18 meeting, pledged to work with Simpson to tackle the NWT's drug problem.
"We definitely discussed the organized criminality component at a number of instances," he said. "Premier Simpson has been in the leadership of those discussions, raising these with me and my counterpart, [Public Safety] Minister [Dominic] LeBlanc, quite directly. We even talked about aspects where narcotics are entering into the territory through use of Canada Post. That's something that's extremely concerning to me as a federal representative and something that we will directly address forthwith.
"We talked about the need to ensure that we are respecting indigenous decisions, particularly in remote communities, where Indigenous leadership has indicated to us through things like bylaws and band council resolutions about how they propose to keep their communities safe and how we can do that effectively, including through the advent of Indigenous policing and respecting that jurisdiction."
Virani also expressed his confidence that the Oct. 18 meeting will lead to a brighter future for the whole of Canada, in large part through collaboration with Indigenous groups.
"This [meeting] was an opportunity for collaboration and coordination among governments and with Indigenous partners working in areas of justice and public safety that directly affect Canadians," he said. "We've had some long days, we've had some long discussions, but we've made progress and we've worked together and we are going to continue to take steps to improve the lives of Canadians across the country."
