Stephanie McDonald
Northern News Services
Published Monday, November 19, 2007

NUNAVUT - Mary Irkootee gets frustrated with the lack of local programs in Rankin Inlet for those suffering from addictions.

As co-ordinator of the Aqsaraq Addictions Project, she counsels residents of the community with addictions to alcohol, drugs, gambling, and sex, and runs an AA group.

Those that she can't help are sent to a 36-day treatment centre in Thompson, Man.

"They have to wait at least three to four weeks to go to treatment," Irkootee said. When asked what these people do while they wait, she said, "Drink. Or try to get better. Or nothing."

She said she finds that most of her clients don't want to leave Rankin for treatment in Thompson.

If she had her way there would be an addictions treatment centre in Rankin with programming in Inuktitut. That way, the person's family could support them.

"You know how it is in the North," she said as way of explanation of the current system.

Irkootee said that after treatment, most people go back to their addictions, either because they haven't yet hit the bottom or they weren't ready to change. In addition, "they don't have support whatsoever."

Nunavut has no addiction treatment centre and that means that people must travel south for treatment or go without.

In 2004, the government tabled an Addictions and Mental Health Strategy, but until now it has not been implemented.

Dave Richardson, assistant deputy minister of operations with Health and Social Services, blamed the delay on a lack of staff.

Most communities in Nunavut have mental health consultants and some have wellness centres that provide counselling and addiction services. The government provides just over $1 million annually for these programs.

"We're concerned about our capacity to meet the needs of alcohol and addiction issues in the territory," Richardson said. "In the meantime ,we'll just continue to review the strategies that we have and try to revise them to be more effective."

The Department is in the final stages of recruitment for a territorial Director of Mental Health and Wellness and Richardson said that the mental health worker students, graduating from Nunavut Arctic College in December, would be a welcome addition to the workforce.

The 28-day live in drug and alcohol abuse program, offered through the wellness centre in Cambridge Bay, is often referred to as a program that could work elsewhere in the territory.

Richardson said that it is a model the department is interested in, but warned that the residential treatment programs are expensive to operate.

"It is possible to replicate it, but it takes a very skilled team," he said.