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 Const. Chris Vezina, left, and several other officers confront a person on the street earlier this summer. RCMP say public drunkenness is over-taxing their resources, and other community groups need to get involved to create solutions for the alcohol problem. - NNSL file photo |
Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services
What to do about the problem has been an ongoing question. Now, a number of organizations are trying to come up with a better solution to a problem that plagues the North.
Police and city emergency services feel the brunt of the problem.
Last year, Yellowknife RCMP spent 4,695 hours responding to 3,756 alcohol-related calls -- in fact, 90 per cent of RCMP responses include alcohol in some form, including drunks in public places, or DIPPs.
A coroner's report released this September found alcohol was involved in 58 per cent of accidental deaths in the territory.
Solutions proposed
The problem is not without solutions, though, says Const. Chris Vezina, a junior officer with the RCMP -- although he cautioned that the cops can't do it alone.
Vezina, and Const. Chris Worden just completed a broad study of the impacts of alcohol on Yellowknife and how the RCMP can respond to it.
Their proposed solutions run the gamut from more stringent legislation for liquor vendors to a detoxification centre in Yellowknife to free plane tickets home for people from outlying communities arrested for drunkenness in the capital.
Repeat offenders are another particular concern. Vezina said the bulk of DIPP pick-ups involve the same group of 40-50 habitual drunks. His idea: bulk charging, where a person is brought to court once a month with a list of charges.
More importantly, he wants the city to spearhead a community partnership to deal with the alcohol problem.
Support for effort
Already, community groups like the Salvation Army, the Yellowknife Women's Centre, the Tree of Peace and the Native Women's Association of the NWT have pledged their support.
"The question is, who leads the parade?" said Sgt. Al McCambridge. "... We cannot do it alone," he said.
The RCMP already works with a number of organizations with its Drug Awareness Resistance Education (DARE) program and Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD).
And community groups have already teamed together on their own. For example, a number of organizations have met this week to plan strategies for National Addictions Awareness Week.
"Yellowknife has a very small work force for the number of people that are in the Yellowknife area," said Diane Hrstic, addictions program manager at the Tree of Peace. "So if I have a client, one of the other agencies probably has the same client."
The Tree of Peace offers one-on-one addictions counselling, and refers clients elsewhere -- like to the Salvation Army's withdrawal management program -- when required.
"We are only one spoke on a wheel," said Hrstic.
But, said Salvation Army Major Al Hoeft, a closer relationship between groups could lead to better program delivery. He wants a "really strategic cohesive effort on the part of the whole community."
"If we can find ways to make that happen everybody wins. ... We want to be able to address the issue on a broad basis. It's not just about cleaning up the streets," he said.
