OPPOSITION WANTS DRUG SQUAD FOR NORTHERN REGIONS

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
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 specific for one area because it's a unique area,
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 drug problem.

"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 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 over 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, did find
that 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 the
situation around suicide has become worse.

She told reporters it's an issue that crosses the jurisdictions of
ministries.

"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.