NORTHERN DRUG SQUAD PROPOSED

Opposition NDP Calls For Programs To Address High Number Of
Suicides

REGINA -- The NDP called this week for a drug squad dedicated
specifically to northern Saskatchewan as part of a series of measures
to deal with what the Opposition says is a worsening problem of youth
suicides.

Athabasca MLA Buckley Belanger, one of two northern members, said drug
abuse -- along with other factors such as poverty, lack of economic,
educational and recreational opportunities and isolation -- is a major
contributing factor to suicides in the North, with its predominantly
aboriginal population.

"Given the vast size of northern Saskatchewan and the fact that many
of these communities are many miles from each other, we need to
dedicate resources . . . and find the way they can have their own drug
enforcement unit. . . . There are unique characteristics to the area
and you can't simply have drug enforcement delivered out of Prince
Albert or Saskatoon. They have to adapt to the northern communities'
style," Belanger, the Opposition's northern affairs critic, told
reporters at the legislature.

There are integrated drug squads combining RCMP and municipal police
officers in Saskatoon and Regina.

In question period Tuesday, Saskatchewan Party Justice Minister Don
Morgan said the government would consider the idea of a drug squad
focused on the North as it moves forward with budget
deliberations.

Darryl Hickie, the minister responsible for policing, said the
existing drug units are aware of the illicit drug problem in northern
Saskatchewan.

"They too want to go after those individuals up north -- the suppliers
- -- not the people who use the drugs who are victimized, but the
suppliers," he said in question period.

The government does not keep statistics on suicides broken down by
region.

But Belanger, a former community resources minister, said the suicide
rate is double in northern Saskatchewan compared to the rest of the
province. He said he understood there had been an increase during the
last two years and that he knew of several youth suicides in
Ile-a-la-Crosse and La Loche in the last few months.

A report by the northern Keewatin Yathe Health Region, which includes
those two communities as well as Beauval and Buffalo Narrows, found
the region had a potential loss of 628.5 years of life per 100,000
population from suicide and self-inflicted wounds compared to 412.1
years for the rest of the province.

In early 2007, a period when the NDP was in power in Saskatchewan, the
village and reserve of Sandy Bay attracted national attention when
there were five hanging suicides and at least a dozen other attempts
by youths.

June Draude, the Saskatchewan Party's First Nations and Metis
relations minister, said she's heard from northern leaders that
suicides have become more common during the last year and a half in
northern Saskatchewan.

She told reporters it's an issue that crosses the jurisdictions of
ministries and the government believes it has to work more closely
with northerners themselves to come up with solutions.

"The questions we have to ask: Do we need to spend more on addictions
issues? Do we need to have more police officers in the North? Do we
need to have more relationships between the education system and the
health system? What hasn't been done before? There isn't a silver
bullet solution but we have to acknowledge there is a problem," said
Draude.

Belanger said the government should be pursuing actions such as a
concerted effort to "denormalize" substance abuse, ensuring RCMP
detachments are fully staffed, boosting cultural and recreational
programs for youth and supporting northern economic development.