INUVIK
It probably will come as no surprise to anyone who's seen her on television or in person that Clara Hughes can talk just as fast as she cycles. When it comes to issues involving mental health, there is no limit to her enthusiasm or passion.

Clara Hughes was in Inuvik May 6 as she continues her "Clara's Big Ride" to bring more awareness and less stigma to mental health issues. Robin Penner was one of the many fans happy to see her. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo

Hughes passed through Inuvik May 6 as she prepared to tackle an intense five-day ride down the Dempster Highway to Dawson City as part of her "Clara's Big Ride" to highlight the need to end the social stigma surrounding mental illness.

She made a stop at East Three Secondary School before attending a community feast and wellness fair at the Midnight Sun Recreation Complex that evening, beguiling nearly everyone she met with her charm and sincerity on the issue.

In a short speech, Inuvik Boot Lake MLA Alfred Moses said spending on mental illness and addictions are already a huge item on the GNWT's health-care budget, and there's a lot of work to do.

"This is a disease and a disorder that affects everybody," he said. "It's something that really affects our territory and our community."

Treating addictions and mental illness is the top item in the health-care budget, Moses added.

"We're trying to find ways to mitigate the effects of addictions and mental health services," he said. "The big thing we're hoping to get done is to make some major changes to the Mental Health Act."

That act, Moses said, hasn't been updated since 1987 in the NWT while other provinces and territories had carried out multiple updates.

Inuvik Mayor Floyd Roland also spoke briefly about his history with depression and alcohol abuse. While he sought treatment for his alcohol problem about 30 years ago, Roland said it was tougher to publicly acknowledge and deal with his lifelong bouts of depression.

Hughes, a six-time Olympic medal winner in both the summer and winter games, is a survivor of mental illness herself. She was diagnosed with depression in the early 2000s, she said, and it took nearly two years to shake it with all the assistance that could be mustered for an elite Canadian athlete.

That kind of top-end support is something that she's very aware most people don't have at their disposal, Hughes said.

She pointed to an example within her own family, where her sister has fought substance abuse and bipolar disorder for more than 20 years while her father has endured bouts of substance abuse.

Even with all of that awareness, Hughes said it still took months of treatment to bring her depression under control.

That's why for the last four years, she's been the official ambassador of the Bell Canada "Let's Talk" program, which has highlighted the need to re-evaluate the public face of mental illness.

That's what her "Clara's Big Ride" is all about, she told an audience of perhaps 100 people at the Midnight Sun complex.

She told the people assembled it wasn't her first time in Inuvik or tackling the daunting Dempster Highway either. In the summer of 2001, the highway helped humble her while she and her husband escaped for a quick honeymoon on the road.

The couple rode from Whitehorse to Inuvik through torrential rains, winds and snow, she said. After four days of the rigours of riding a heavily-laden touring bike through those conditions, she had what she called a "meltdown" and told her husband she "couldn't go any further."

That's a startling admission from a world-class cyclist, but it also taught her a lesson about respecting the North, Hughes said.

Needless to say, after taking a few more breaks than anticipated along the way, the couple did arrive in Inuvik safely after a variety of encounters with grizzlies, wolves and moose.

She finished her short speech to heavy applause. No one argued that mental illness isn't a huge problem, but at least one person was skeptical as to how fast things could change in the North.

Eric Hoogstraten, an instructor with Aurora College, said he believes it will take a long time for concrete action to happen.

"It's a good message and a good point, but it'll be a long time coming to see any remediation here," he said.

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