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NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
In a territory where 43 per cent of residents admit to binge drinking - more than five drinks in one sitting for men and more than four for women - it's hard to go anywhere without seeing the effects of addictions.

According to the 2009 NWT Addictions Survey, that's an increase from 34 per cent in 1996, and begs the question as to whether enough is being done.

The Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre on the Hay River Reserve is the main treatment centre for the NWT. Other resources include the Salvation Army, the Tree of Peace, the Healing Drum Society and the John Howard Society in Yellowknife.

Matilda Nakoolak moved to Yellowknife from Coral Harbour in mid-August. She said she has never suffered with addictions, but thinks more resources should be set aside to help people.

"I don't really hang around with a lot of those people. There's lots of drinking," said Nakoolak. "I think they should provide more resources towards addictions programs and provide housing for those people who are addicted and a detox."

Nakoolak said she lives in central Yellowknife and has seen the effects of drug

and alcohol abuse.

"My kids get scared. They'll be sleeping in the middle of the night and my neighbours are going crazy from being drunk," said Nakoolak, who has a seven-year-old

daughter.

"It makes me feel like I'm not secure enough around my neighbourhood. (My other neighbours) are pretty quiet, they don't bother me, but my next-door neighbours, they get really wild. There's three, four adults living under that roof."

Edward Chocolate lives in Behchoko and has also seen the effects of abuse in his community. He said he feels sad when he sees homeless people struggling with addictions, and would like to help.

"There's a lot of pain," he said. "I think we need more (resources)."

He said one of the main problems in Behchoko is the bootlegging, but added that he has seen more community co-operation with the RCMP in preventing it from happening.

"I think it's priority for them, but they just don't have the resources."

Norman Yakeleya, MLA for the Sahtu and a previous executive director of a healing centre, said "the most prevalent problem that comes to mind is the drinking and the drugs, seconded by the various forms of gambling."

He added that studies have shown that young people are drinking more and starting to use drugs at a younger age.

"Gambling is a very quiet addiction that is going on in our communities with a lot of card games and a lot of bingos," he said. "Compared to the 1970s when they first introduced self-help groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous there is more ... over the years there's been an increase of support there."

However, Yakeleya said there is need for another treatment centre in the North, especially for the young people.

"People in small communities have been asking to set up mobile treatment programs out on the land using their own resources, using their own style and method of working with addictions. However, we haven't done enough to support those types of concepts from people in our communities," said Yakeleya. "We've stayed away from that and focused more on the treatment centre. There's not enough support going through to other alternative methods to treating addiction."

He said when he talks to people in the North, they want to see people get healthy, but that they think the government has to "think outside the box."

He also pointed to the closed treatment centre in Dettah as a good location to help individuals and families get clean.

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