Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Obviously, we are having a theme day on addictions. Addictions is one of the most challenging and perplexing issues that faces the North. Substance abuse permeates every health indicator that we claim. Addiction shows itself in our institutions of education, our corrections, in court facilities, our health facilities and in just about every other social indicator that we could possibly list.
Addictions are robbing many of our residents of their potential, their dignity, their valued relationships, and trapping them in the throes of poverty, low self-esteem, and often depression and anxiety. As my colleague from Range Lake has stated, enough studies. Enough platitudes. Enough political correctness. There is a thief in our midst. There was an international outcry of the global community when they drew the line on the weapons of mass destruction that we heard about so much in the media recently.
I would tell you that the addictions that are trapping and slaving the people of the Northwest Territories and killing and debilitating our people, young and old, has gone on too long. It is mass destruction. If a force from without was inflicting these conditions on our people, we would mount the biggest public safety laws, harm and loss reduction laws. We might even call in the military if this was something that was coming from without, but this is something that’s coming from within. Largely under the radar, we continue to grow accustomed and acclimatized to the ravages of addictions.
If what we have done in the past isn’t working, it is time to think outside the proverbial box. It’s time to sound the alarm, as my colleague Mr. Moses said. It is time to call this what it is. It is a crisis. It is an emergency. How many accidents, how many drownings, how many assaults, how many deaths, how many family break-ups, how many more statistics of all of these things are we going to, as legislators, stand by and observe and not do something radical to try and address this in our communities and in our North?
Later today I will have some questions with some ideas for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Thank you.
