Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The guiding principles of the 17
th Legislative Assembly
clearly state that under extraordinary circumstances, Members of the Legislative Assembly should have the opportunity to discuss significant announcements, changes or initiatives before they are released to public. Unfortunately, it appears that the Minister of Health and Social Services and his entire department failed to dust off these principles, as numerous cavalier actions took place during the summer months that affected our dealings with addictions and health governance. Of course, Mr. Speaker, I’m talking about the closure of our only residential treatment facility and the removal of the Deh Cho Health Authority.
You might see a little theme happening here today and I would like to set the stage by reading some excerpts from a government document. “The greatest problem facing the people of the Northwest Territories in the year 2002 is addiction of substances such as alcohol, nicotine and marijuana, and addiction to problem gambling.” It goes on to say, “Improved economic opportunities as a result of oil, gas and mineral exploration have done little to decrease the incidence of addictions in the year 2002. Many problems related to addictions remain prevalent.”
These excerpts come from a document, entitled A State of Emergency: A Report on the Delivery of Addiction Services in the NWT. If, back in 2002, addictions were declared a state of emergency, sadly, in 2013, we must now be at a state of Armageddon. Ironically, if one didn’t know any better, this 2002 document mirrors many of the current documents such as our Shared Path Towards Wellness, Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan 2012-15 and the recent Forum on Addictions.
My point is that we are plagued with study after study after study and still we are no further ahead than we were decades ago. We have a way of repeating the scabs of our past and it is painfully obvious that we attempt to recycle failed directions and repeated patterns. This pattern of activity needs to stop, Mr. Speaker.
The compass waypoints that this Department of Health and Social Services are using have been changing constantly. Until we put serious dollars into quality programs and strategic infrastructure to deal with these issues, we will lose the fight to addictions. History has taught us this lesson more than once, yet it appears we are too stubborn to listen.
As a Member of this House and a Member of the Standing Committee on Social Programs, all I ask the Department of Health and Social Services and its Minister is to…
I ask for unanimous consent to conclude my statement. Thank you.
---Unanimous consent granted
