OKALIK SHARES OWN TALE WITH WORLD ADDICTIONS FORUM

"My optimism is personal," Nunavut premier says

Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik: "My name is Paul and I am an alcoholic."

Paul Okalik brought his own inspiring tale of addiction and recovery to the
opening in Montreal this week of the first worldwide forum on drugs and
dependencies.

Nunavut's premier opened the week-long international gathering, which
attracted more than 3,000 delegates from about 50 countries to Montreal's
Palais de Congres, with a dramatic declaration: "My name is Paul and I am
an alcoholic."

Because he overcame his dependency on alcohol, Okalik said, he's optimistic
that other Nunavummiut can do it too, despite what he called the "daunting
challenges" that substance abuse poses for the Nunavut government.

"My optimism is personal. I have known dependency," Okalik told forum
participants. "In Nunavut, I have made no pretense about my past. I am a
recovering alcoholic and I am able to say that last June marked 11 years of
sobriety for me. I am able to say to Nunavummiut that I am working at it
and so can you."

Called the "World Forum on Drugs, Dependencies and Society," the gathering
was backed by the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the
International Labour Office, and a long list of governments, research
institutes, law enforcement agencies, and non-governmental organizations.

Delegates looked at the social, economic, and environmental effects of
drugs and dependencies such as gambling, and shared information through a
long list of workshops and presentations.

They also reviewed implementation of the 1998 United Nations Declaration on
Drug Demand Reduction and implementation of the 2001 U.N. Declaration on
HIV/AIDS.

Okalik told delegates that the strengths of Nunavut's communities and
families helped him overcome his dependency. He later went back to school,
graduated from university, graduated from law school, became a lawyer, ran
for office, and became leader of the government of Nunavut.

"In battling my dependency I was not alone," Okalik said. "I had the strong
support of family and friends. I returned to my roots, my home community of
Pangnirtung, and sought strength in the network of close-knit families. I
embraced the tradition of reverence for elders and inter-generational
caring. So I am optimistic about the future."

He told delegates, however, that in Nunavut the situation is not always so
optimistic.

"The statistics documented within our health, justice and social services
portfolios indicate that Nunavut has many serious challenges in terms of
levels of debilitating illnesses, chronic suicide and addiction problems,
low education and high unemployment, severe housing shortages and
escalating crime rates. All these challenges have a direct and/or indirect
impact on mental health," Okalik said.

Addictions are most prevalent in Nunavummiut younger than 30, especially
those between the ages of 25 and 29, but closely followed by those aged 20
to 24, Okalik said.

The binge use of alcohol, marijuana, glue, solvents and narcotics is the
most common form of substance abuse in Nunavut, Okalik said.

"But these are more than just dry statistics. They represent real people in
our communities. They are our neighbours, our friends and our families:
Inuit and non-Inuit," Okalik said.

He told delegates that Nunavut has no addictions and mental health
treatment programs, and that the justice system often becomes a substitute
treatment provider for people with dependencies.

"Current services, where they exist, rely almost exclusively on the
staffing mix and service models that were developed before the creation of
Nunavut," Okalik said.

To cope with all that, Nunavut is at the very beginning, Okalik said, but
is starting with the addictions and mental health strategy that his
government approved last spring.

He said the government is working to strengthen the skills of Inuit
counsellors in communities. "Treatment must be a community effort and
local, trained counsellors are a vital link in the process," Okalik said.

Some new efforts include the creation of a detoxification centre, a
residential psychiatric treatment centre, and a system of referring clients
to the addictions treatment centre in Kuujjuaq. The Kuujjuaq treatment
centre is now the only one in Canada that's able to serve Inuit in Inuktitut.