Alcoholism science project wins national
Pair of Fort Resolution students take home bronze for investigating issue which plagues communities across the North
Kassina Ryder
Northern News Services
Saturday, June 4, 2016
DENINU KU'E/FORT RESOLUTION
Two Deninu School students brought home a bronze medal during this year's Canada-Wide Science Festival in Montreal in May.
Deninu School students Laney Beaulieu, Grade 11 and Isaac Simon, Grade 10, earned a bronze medal at the Canada-Wide Science Festival in Montreal on May 19 for their project on alcoholism. - photo courtesy of Fraser McTurk
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Laney Beaulieu, Grade 11 and Isaac Simon, Grade 10, partnered on a project that investigated the risk factors of severe alcoholism in Fort Resolution.
"The school and the community really support them with this," said teacher Fraser McTurk. "This is the authentic research and the real-world problems we want students to know and understand and identify and work on."
Beaulieu said she and Simon decided to tackle the controversial topic because of alcohol's impact on their community.
"It is a very prevalent issue in this community, as well as many communities in the North," she said. "It's a problem that needs to be focused on and worked on to resolve."
Beaulieu and Simon interviewed elders to help guide their research and identify risk factors before developing a survey, which gathered information about residents' alcohol consumption and family histories, as well as childhood experiences and their parents' drinking habits.
The pair then surveyed 59 residents at various locations, such as a community health fair, the Deninu Ku'e First Nation Band office and the Fort Resolution Metis Council office.
They also gathered statistical information about alcoholism and compared the Canadian rates to those in Fort Resolution.
Beaulieu said they decided to test eight hypotheses and found that Fort Resolution residents between 18 and 30 had the highest rates of alcoholism in the community.
"The most significant risk factor that we found is being between 18 and 30," she said.
That piece of data was similar to rates in the rest of Canada.
"Risk factors that plague our community and other communities like it are also plaguing the greater Canadian public," Beaulieu said.
Overall, 33 per cent of people surveyed fit the criteria for severe alcoholism.
Beaulieu said the numbers surprised her.
"The alcoholism is worse than I thought," she said. "Thirty-three per cent were severe alcoholics, which was kind of shocking to me."
In their project report, Simon and Beaulieu explained how their data could help guide addictions programming in Fort Resolution.
"Once the risk factors have been identified, they may be targeted by community addictions councilors to circumvent the formation of new alcohol addictions within the community, and help those currently addicted on their road to healing," the report stated.
Beaulieu said determining who is in danger of becoming an alcoholic is key.
"It's important to know the risk factors of alcoholism," she said. "Once you know the risk factors, you have to know what to do with that."
McTurk commended the pair for choosing a sensitive topic.
"I think they were pretty courageous to choose this," he said. "They've got concerns and it's great to show people that we have some problems and that if we work together, we can solve them together."
Festival judges seemed to agree, he added.
"A lot of the judges came back to visit with Isaac and Laney because it was a very relevant issue and topic and because it was a little bit different," he said. "I think it made an impression."
In addition to earning one of the top spots in the competition, the event, which was held at Montreal's McGill University from May 15 to May 20, gave Beaulieu and Simon a first-hand look at university.
"They worked hard during the day and in the evening they had some social time," McTurk said. "I think it was a real good eye-opener for these guys to see what a great place university can be."
It is the first time a school from the NWT's North Slave region has participated in the national festival, McTurk also said.
Beaulieu said she hopes to expand her research and survey 80 per cent of the community's population and possibly include interviews to qualify the data.
"Hopefully we'll have more conclusive and expansive results," she said.
In the meantime, McTurk said he's proud of the dedication Simon and Beaulieu put in to their project.
"It's an important thing to talk about," he said. "They went full steam ahead with it was just awesome to see."
