Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased to speak to this motion and I want to state that my support for this motion is very conditional and I'd like to explain why. I think we should be aware that there are lots of experts and frontline workers out there who do not always like it when the only message coming out of this Assembly is that we need to have a treatment centre, and I'm not saying that a treatment centre is not important, but we have to put this into perspective because it can't be about just to symbolize that we need to do something or we need to build a building or something like that. So I support this idea for a treatment centre if it's about using facilities that are there, or the physical building that we could make better use of. But, as I stated in my Member's statement, I'd like to just state that whatever we do with the residential treatment program we have to do that with very clear understanding that that is just a small cause in a whole wheel of continuum of treatment services and care and aftercare program that we must have.
I'd like to see this government, it has to move along with strengthening and supporting a lot of programs that are already there. Mr. Speaker, I've already stated that Hay River has Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre; we have the Salvation Army in Yellowknife, which is going to be expanded I believe; a women's centre address a lot of concerns with women with addiction and with lots of other issues; Tree of Peace has programs; Crack Busters has a great program and it's run by very committed people and there's lots of committed clients that spend a lot of their days and nights and they're committed to the program to address their addiction to Crack Busters. AA and Al-Anon are very strong in this community. At all hours of the day and night, those programs are available and that's totally volunteer based. For years the frontline workers in our community asked for the detox centre of the Stanton hospital to be moved out of there and to be set separately, and I don't know if that is what some of the Member's here are alluding to and I think we need to have a detox centre for sure, but I just need to state that residential treatment program is just one aspect of it and it can't be the most dominant aspect either because sometimes people need to go away to another place and sometimes people want to go away out of the community and there's a lot of specialized people that are necessary to house and run these residential treatment programs. So I want to speak in favour of the motion, conditional to these issues that must be made aware.
Mr. Speaker, what we have to remember, and I said this in my Member's statement and anybody who is familiar with addiction issues knows that the people with addiction problems have to learn to live with that addiction for all of their life, in all aspects of their life, and I want to state that I come from a family with a lot of addiction growing up. It's not just a local problem in Yellowknife; it's a problem in different parts of the world where I grew up and I am surrounded in my personal life by people who have faced this head on and I know lots of strong survivors of addiction issues and they will all tell you that it's a challenge and struggle every day, and going to a treatment centre and getting dry for two weeks or six weeks or eight weeks is just one aspect of that. We need to support them in how they'll deal with jobs, socializing, just getting out there and just living with all of the ups and downs of life that we all need to deal with every single day.
So as I stated earlier, Mr. Speaker, I would like to really encourage this government to use the technology available to coalesce, and refine, and strengthen what we have there and let the people know what we have. For all that we do, and the millions of dollars that we spend, and all the work that the NGOs and frontline workers do, people from all across the territory should be able to call and say I want to know what crack is about, what is this crystal meth about, there's a drug dealer in my town and they should be able to call the RCMP without the fear of repercussion, for example. There should be a 1-800 line. I think the helpline experiment has worked really well. It has served especially those families with young kids who have all sorts of issues every day they need to ask about. I think we should have something like that for the drug problem. We have these mental health and wellness workers in every community. Do people know? They should be able to go to that line and ask who do I talk to in my community about drug issues and where should I go to get treatment. What is the government doing? Even in my position as an MLA, it is not always clear who in the government is working on this area.
So I just want to stress again that it is a good thing for us to pass a motion to say treatment centre, treatment centre, treatment centre, and what are we doing with this building and that building and that is an important thing. But I think we should be very mindful of the fact that this is not a simple problem, obviously, and it's not a problem that can be addressed by one or two things. I do believe that there's a lot being done by the government, and there's a lot being done by NGOs and there are lots being done by just regular citizens who've had enough. You know, the COPS Program is one thing. There's just a lot being done and I think we could just do better, and government could take the leadership role in coalescing that, packaging that, and letting everybody know what's going on, and I look forward to working with the Minister and government in that regard. Thank you, Ms. Speaker.
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