Amanda Vaughan
Northern News Services
Wednesday, July 18, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - Though the AA program is essentially the same across North America, it's adaptable to the needs of isolated communities, said the New York chairman of Alcoholics Anonymous during a conference in Yellowknife last weekend.

New York-based Alcoholics Anonymous chairman Leonard Blumenthal stands outside the Tree of Peace Friendship Centre where the group held a three-day conference over the weekend for AA members from across the continent. - Amanda Vaughan/NNSL photo

AA members and organizers from all over Canada and several U.S. states attended the three-day event hosted by the Yellowknife chapter of the organization.

In spite of the group's strict policy of anonymity, New York-based chairman Leonard Blumenthal was able to smile for Yellowknifer's camera because he's not an alcoholic.

According to Blumenthal, anyone can start a chapter of AA and run it as it's about as simple as knowing the 12 steps.

There's also a book for those who need a little more direction than that.

Blumenthal said having non-alcoholics in the group allows them to be the face of AA, and speak to media without breaking the anonymity rule that allows people to feel comfortable sharing their problems with a group. Blumenthal is one of seven non-alcoholics on the board in New York, and he said each area has a chairperson who is free to have a chat with the media.

The weekend's event was one of three such conferences that AA's North American contingent puts on around the continent each year.

Blumenthal said the first one in 2007 was in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and that the next one would be in Quebec.

Members from anywhere that AA participants meet can put in a bid for the conference to be held in their community, and Blumenthal said Yellowknife's local chapter had put in a bid a few years ago to play host.

He said these conferences are similar to a regular meeting in some ways, but they are mostly an open-house style approach to informing people in isolated communities or areas how the organization works.

Representatives from AA's large network make presentations, share stories, and answer each other's questions.

He said one of the things they aim to do in the conferences is do away with misconceptions people might have about the program.

Blumenthal said the question periods are open for anyone to ask, and anyone to answer.

"It's all about shared experiences," he said. "Someone else in the room might have had the same experience as you."

This is one of the most basic concepts upon which AA operates: the idea that members aren't being told what to do by a leader or an administrator, but are helping each other achieve a common goal, and using each other as lifelines in times of confusion or weakness.

Blumenthal said AA does not have specially-tailored programs for unique areas like the North, but said the concept of sharing a burden meshes with First Nations' traditions.

He added that the Yellowknife chapter is an active AA group, meeting regularly and reaching out to isolated communities in the territory.