Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to try to be concise and measured in my comments here. First of all, let me say that I do support the motion. I think that we as a government do need to do more to address a very prevalent and a very large problem in the Northwest Territories. However, there is no amount of money that this government could acquire or could spend that could address this situation in and of itself.

We have to meet people halfway. I do like the fact that this ministerial forum is going out to talk to people in the communities. We as a government have done a disservice to our people and we are deceiving them if they look at us and think that we have all the answers to this problem of addictions in the Northwest Territories, because we don’t now, we never will have. We have to put that out there. But what we have to do as a government is we have to be ready to respond to the aspirations of communities and of people who do want to be sober. We have to also go even further and encourage them. I think we need to denormalize. The Minister said you can hardly find a teenager that is going to say I have an addictions problem and I need help. Somehow we have to denormalize that after a Friday or a Saturday night out on the

town that the whole talk the next day is bragging about how drunk they got. We heard the binging statistics there provided by Mr. Yakeleya today. We have to tell people that isn’t funny and that isn’t normal. And you know what? That’s nothing to be celebrated. Can we say that? That is nothing to be celebrated, people going out and getting that silly, crazy drunk. As I said in my statement today, it’s not normal.

Myself, I tend to avoid things that make me sick, I don’t eat food that makes me sick. I don’t put things in my mind that make me sick in my mind, and I don’t ingest things into my body that make me sick. That’s not normal behaviour. We have to somehow instill that in our young people, that self-respect, self-preservation… People say oh, that’s just a rite of passage, that’s just the young. You know, they think that they’re indestructible. No, I don’t buy that. We have to start, I believe, with the young. Somebody said, how early of a curriculum, at what age would it be okay to start teaching little children? I think any time. I think you wouldn’t believe the ability that children have to absorb and understand these sorts of issues.

As a government, I think we have to do our part, but there are many, many paths to sobriety. For as many people who have become sober who had addictions that were prevalent in their life, you will find a different story of how they got there, through mentorship, through sponsorship, through AA programs, through meditation, through prayer, through recognition of their need to be spiritually well as well as physically and emotionally well. I think if you interviewed people that have crossed over and become well, you will find many, many paths. I think we have to hold all of them as possible prospects for… Then it has to be celebrated.

I remember during National Addictions Week over on the K’atlodeeche First Nation, there was one year in their gymnasium at their school where they actually posted all the names of the people in their community that were sober. Yay! I mean, that’s great. That is something to be celebrated. That was a progression. That was a celebration for their community and I think we need to really support that kind of thing.

Let’s not lead people to think that we as a government have all the answers, that we have enough money. It is a multi-pronged problem. It is complex and out of control. We have to do our part, but people also have to meet us. We have to respect the ways that they come forward with, as well, on how they see accomplishing a healthy lifestyle.

I hear my friend Mr. Yakeleya – just to show you how far we as a government have taken away people’s autonomy and people’s self-determination – talking about on-the-land programs. Nobody has

to ask, no community has to ask our permission as a government to go on the land and remove themselves from whatever the temptations of community living are. The land is there and if you know how to survive on the land, go on the land. Like, where do people get the idea they need our permission to go do that? They surely don’t. So it’s a balancing act. We have to do our part, people have to do their part and we have to support them in doing their part. I will be supporting the motion. Thank you.