Tragedy prompts ban on alcohol
Fort Good Hope eyes nearby property for on-the-land addictions treatment
Kassina Ryder
Northern News Services
Published Monday, April 14, 2014
RADILIH KOE'/FORT GOOD HOPE
After a young woman's death last month, Fort Good Hope residents are looking at ways to stop the devastation they say alcohol is wreaking on their community.
"There is a track record of anything that goes wrong, it's usually alcohol-related, so we really need to look at how we can help each other out in that aspect," said Chief Greg Laboucan. "Just to come together as a community is the most important thing right now."
Charlotte Lafferty was found dead near Fort Good Hope's elders' complex at about 7 a.m. March 22.
A 17-year-old male was charged with first-degree murder in her death.
Laboucan said in response, the community is under an alcohol ban and has requested that North-Wright Airways stop delivering alcohol to Fort Good Hope until the ban is lifted at the end of the month.
Laboucan said a meeting is scheduled April 16 to allow community members to discuss what happened and to talk about possible ways to alleviate the impact alcohol has on the community.
Laboucan said the idea of having a permanent ban on alcohol will likely be part of the discussions, but the community will need to decide how to move forward.
"There is history of bans being put in place and some of these matters getting worse," he said. "That's why we're seeking direction from the community on how we should proceed and talk about it."
Fort Good Hope is a restricted community and has limits on how much alcohol a resident can bring on a weekly basis. The restriction allows a resident to bring in either 1140 ml of spirits, 24 55-ml containers of beer or two 750-ml containers of wine.
But Laboucan said with a liquor store in Norman Wells, residents travelling on the ice road often bring in much more.
"The liquor store allows them to buy as much alcohol as they want and they can bring it in," he said. "That's created issues in our town but, also, I'm sure in talking with the other communities, it's created problems there."
RCMP have made multiple alcohol busts in the Sahtu region since restrictions were lifted at the Norman Wells liquor store in 2012.
RCMP seized 18 40-ounce bottles of vodka in Fort Good Hope in October 2013 and found 77 bottles of vodka and 12 cans of beer in Tulita the same month.
Tulita is also a restricted community.
Laboucan said Fort Good Hope is getting closer to establishing its own on-the-land treatment facility if funding comes through. The community's band council and land corporation are still working to raise funds to purchase Charlie Barnaby's camp, about 30 kilometres from town. In a previous interview with News/North, Barnaby said he is selling the camp for about $60,000.
The property, which includes buildings, has been used for on-the-land programs for years.
Laboucan said the goal is to turn the camp into a year-round facility, which could host addictions treatment programs, various wellness programs and act as a tourist information centre for those travelling the Mackenzie River.
He said it could also be used as a retreat or meeting place for oil and gas companies or other business or government departments. He said the camp could employ two to six people, depending on the activities taking place.
Laboucan said it's especially ideal for an on-the-land treatment site.
"It's extremely important," he said. "If you're trying to do a program in the community, there are a lot of people and a lot of distractions that come into play. When you're out on the land, your mind is a lot clearer. You're able to focus."
Laboucan said after the territory's only addictions treatment facility, the Nats'ejee Keh Treatment Centre on Hay River Reserve, closed down, the community recognized the need to establish something of its own.
"The program in Hay River is closed now so it's definitely a need, especially for our region," he said. "Not just our people, but for people within the Sahtu."
Laboucan said if all goes well, the property could be purchased this summer.
"It's the new fiscal year for the government and for ourselves so we're looking at hopefully purchasing the camp before the summer and really get it going and planning for fall to set up some of the services over there that I think will be for the community's benefit," Laboucan said.
Andy Langford, director of territorial social programs for the Department of Health and Social Services, said discussions about a permanent treatment facility located within the NWT are currently taking place. However, he said a final decision isn't in the immediate future.
"We need to look at what the options are and it will be some time before any final decisions are made with respect to an actual treatment facility," he said.
Langford said the NWT has had three facilities over the years, including Nats'ejee Keh, all of which were shut down.
"One of the things that we have to do is consider that we have actually had three treatment facilities over the years that have proven to be non-sustainable," he said.
Langford said no matter what the final decision is on a facility, it would only be one piece of the territory's plan to tackle addictions.
He said the on-the-land treatment programs that took place in March will offer vital information on ways to move forward.
"I think it's important to note that we did in fact do some pilot programs on-the-land healing and we're particularly interested in seeing what the results of those were," he said.
"On-the-land healing programs have to be built into the mix when we look at all the options for Northern
treatment."
