TUKTOYAKTUK - Before the House of Hope closed 15 years ago, Tuk residents would pack the place, at least 30 of them a night. They would play cards, talk about their problems - anything to keep from drinking or using drugs.

Bob Lundrigan, a recovering alcoholic, longs for those days.

"That place would be packed just about every day. We used to put on sober programs and elders used to drop by and tell stories. It was really beautiful," said Lundrigan, who's lived in Tuk for about 40 years and is now a counsellor.

"When people are addicted to alcohol and they have someone to talk to, to learn more and more each day, it does good," he said.

When the addictions centre shut down - due to lack of funding - residents in the community of about 800 lost much more than a place to go for alcohol counselling. They lost a favourite dry hangout, where they could socialize without temptation from old demons. Some even lost hope.

But now the community is trying to revive the centre with $100,000 for mental health and addictions programs from the NWT Department of Health and Social Services. The housing corp donated a building to the Tuk Community Corporation for the centre. The Inuvialuit Regional Corporation is also working with the community to secure the facility's operating costs.

"As in any other community, we need these programs and it's a good time to do it now because there's other things that are happening, like with the alcohol restrictions in Tuk, it's really working. We just need the programs, other things for people to do," said Mayor Merven Gruben. "It's not a matter of 'if,' it's a matter of 'when' we're going to be opening."

Since Tuk's alcohol restrictions came into effect in March, local RCMP have dealt with half as many liquor-related incidents compared to March 2009, when police received more than 200 alcohol-related calls.

"I'm pleased the way it's working already," Gruben said.

The mayor said the proposed building will undergo an evaluation and should be up to code within the next few months.

"I'm hoping by the summer or by the fall we should have it up and running," he said, adding that he hears from the community an overwhelming cry for an addictions treatment centre. The proposed centre, however, would not function as a detoxification facility.

"There's a lot of people that want to quit but they don't have anybody to talk to or they don't know what to do or what resources are available to them. So this would really help," Gruben said. "It's definitely something needed in every community, not only Tuk. And we definitely need a detox centre somewhere in the region."

Counselling services are available in Tuk, but residents have been asking for a dedicated addictions centre since the old House of Hope closed, which is one of the reasons the IRC is working with Tuk - as opposed to other communities in the region - on this project, said Bob Simpson, director of intergovernmental relations.

"They've been certainly active in doing some alcohol prohibition in the community, they've secured buildings and have been advocating for improvement in the services. They've been writing the minister and wanting to get something done," Simpson said.

"A lot of the communities had an A.A. (Alcoholics Anonymous) centre or some drug addictions wellness centres but those have sort of dissipated over the years, so they want to try and get the same kind of thing in the community," he added. "The pilot project (aims) to build up the capacity to try and establish that again and generally improve the access to services within the community."

While no one doubts the need for addictions services in each community across NWT, it's important to foster unity in such a project and not create a divisive attitude based on who owns the place or who's paying for it.

That's what former Gwich'in Tribal Council president Fred Carmichael believes. He helped start up the $5 million Gwich'in Wellness Camp outside of Inuvik with the intention that it welcome all people, in practice and in name. Now that the Gwich'in Tribal Council has also received funding from the Department of Health and Social Services to create addictions programs, Carmichael said he would like to see all levels of leadership work together.

"Addiction has no borders. It does not discriminate, no matter who you are," Carmichael said. "There's limited dollars out there and the greatest cost is operational," he added. "How are we going to build relationships if we continue to do stuff that's really pulling people apart."

"The territorial government, the federal government, the Inuvialuit and the Gwich'in should come together and say how can we best utilize this facility and how can we all become partners in it for the betterment of our people?"