Thank you, Madam Chair. I, too, want to congratulate MLA Yakeleya for bringing forward this private member’s bill. He is responding to the concerns of his constituents and it’s a good thing to do, and I know how much work is involved in getting to this point. I’d also like to thank the residents of all the Sahtu communities for their hospitality, for their stories and the sharing that they did with us as we travelled through their communities at the public hearings.

Alcohol, addictions, drugs, all of that, this is a really difficult issue. We talked about that earlier today. And it’s not a difficult issue only in the Sahtu, it’s a difficult issue everywhere in the NWT. But we heard from so many residents how much it is impacting them in their Sahtu communities and I cannot disagree with the residents who told us many things. They told us the liquor consumption had increased, as referenced by some of the other Members. They told us that the amount of the liquor coming into their communities had increased. They told us that bootlegging was much more prevalent. They told us that they see more and more drinking in their communities. They told us that calls to the RCMP had increased considerably. That wasn’t in just one community; that was pretty much the message in every community and we visited four out of the five communities.

We heard that these problems with alcohol, the drinking, that these were not new problems. They admitted that these were problems that were there before, but we heard a number of people tell us that the rationing system which was in place before had given them some relief to a certain extent from the abuse of alcohol. Now that things were wide open, many of them felt that it had a huge impact on the alcohol consumption and on the addictions issues that they were facing.

I can find no fault with the legislation itself. It simply is asking for an opportunity for more people to vote on a plebiscite, if there is a plebiscite, if the Minister determines that a plebiscite should be held. That’s a big if. I think my main concern is that I don’t know that this bill is the solution to the problem at hand and the problem that Mr. Yakeleya is trying to address. It’s addiction, it’s alcohol consumption, it’s

the need for programs in all of the communities and this is one way, I guess, or one small step in trying to address that problem.

Many people in the communities expressed concern for their youth. They felt that the situation had changed and that more and more of their youth are drinking and that they are drinking more. One person actually referenced youth as being poisoned by alcohol, because they were drinking so much that they were putting themselves into a situation where they were being alcohol poisoned. We heard time and time again that people struggle with alcohol and addictions and that they want help and that they need help to address their problem.

We weren’t just discussing the bill in these communities. We were discussing the social issues, the health issues. It was wide-ranging. It was interesting to me that in every meeting, at least one person who was there got up and said that the community has to offer help itself. So in every community there was at least one person who recognized that and stated that the people needed to get better and they need to take some action.

We’ve also heard – this is from somebody who does not support the bill – that most Sahtu communities have restrictions and that it is a responsibility of the community to make those restrictions, put them in place and then to abide by them. That was an opinion of somebody who submitted to the committee.

Many people talked about the need for stiffer penalties and that’s reflected in the committee’s recommendations in our report. The committee’s recommendations also reflect the cries for programs that we heard. We had so many people who spoke to us and said we need programs to help us get our people better, to get our people healthy. They don’t have them. They say that they have applied, spoken to people, asking for help and that they get no response.

The interesting thing to me and I was just reviewing the committee recommendations that we determined. As a member of the committee, it was a really valuable experience, but it’s interesting to me that of all our 15 recommendations, not one of them is a recommendation to change the act. They are all recommendations to various government departments to do things like make on-the-land addictions treatment available in communities, that the Department of Justice establish an effective mechanism for anonymous reporting of bootleggers and bootlegging. They all reference the problems that we heard and how committee determined the government could help these people with their issues.

It has been pointed out already, but I will say it as well, that the Finance Minister has rightly pointed out that the bill will establish different powers for the Minister in different places in the territory. That’s a

concern expressed by the government, but I don’t think it is that big a concern. It isn’t a big concern for me. I don’t think it’s a big deal. I think it certainly can be worked around. I don’t think we’re going to see people take advantage of that difference and different powers in different places.

We also heard, and I think MLA Dolynny referenced, that some people felt that this bill would make things unconstitutional and it had to do with voting and so on. Committee considered that several times and determined that we do not feel that if this bill passes, it will create a situation where somebody is losing their rights and that it’s an unconstitutional situation.

For me, I had to ask myself is this bill the right solution to the Sahtu problem. I’m not sure. I think it may be a part of the solution, but I think there are other things that we can do and I think that’s reflected in our recommendations. Why don’t we restrict sales at the point of sale, at the liquor stores in Norman Wells, Inuvik and Yellowknife? Because it’s not just Norman Wells where this liquor is coming from. It’s coming in from Yellowknife; it’s coming in from Inuvik. We heard that as well.

Why can we not come down harder on bootleggers? Why not reinstate alcohol in committees? Require permits? The community would issue a permit for people to bring liquor in. They could charge a small amount of money. They can use that money towards local programs. There are a lot of possibilities.

I ask myself, as well, is this bill going to solve the woes and the problems of the Sahtu communities and I have to say no, it’s not going to. But this bill and the requests from the residents in the Sahtu is an ask and a cry for help and I think we need to provide the support that these residents are asking for. It’s a start. It’s not a big step, but it is a small step.

Lastly, I think I just want to mention one thing that is also in the report. The last paragraph states: “The committee understands the Finance Minister’s decision that under circumstances specific to this bill, Cabinet will not support it. The committee therefore respectfully requests that Cabinet abstain, or allow a free vote of its Members.” I just want to reinforce that. I believe that and I would ask that that would happen. I would ask Cabinet members to either abstain or have a free vote. Thank you, Madam Chair.