Fort Simpson lifts daily limits on liquor purchases

Residents of Fort Simpson, N.W.T., will now be able to purchase liquor without a limit on the amount that they can buy in a day.

Since 1972, the community has had restrictions on the quantity of alcohol that can be purchased daily. In November, a plebiscite was held to determine whether rationing liquor should continue in the community. Residents of the village voted overwhelmingly in favour of removing those restrictions. 

A few people in the community said that the restrictions did not meaningfully curtail consumption and instead amplified bootlegging, the illegal sale of alcohol. 

Owen Rowe, owner of Rowe's Construction, said that setting limits in liquor stores does not actually reflect a reduction in how much people consume.

"People who want it still get it. But it just costs them a lot more."

Bootleg prices can be upwards of 40 to 60 per cent higher than the prices in liquor stores, which impacts families "more and more," Rowe said. Rowe told CBC that it is necessary for social and mental health support to "catch up" with the needs of the community, which is currently underserved. 

Fort Simpson's mayor, Sean Whelly, echoed some of these concerns. 

Whelly said that "if we want to do some real good for the community, that's an area we should be looking at to improve in partnership with health and social services."

In December, the community rallied to open a warming shelter to help prevent harm that could come from freezing temperatures. He said that warming shelter "gives people a safe place to go whether they're drinking or not," but added that more services are required to help people heal and recover.  

Whelly said that addictions are prompted by nuanced and complex mental health stressors and traumas, requiring more specialized help from mental health professionals, "which is beyond the scope of what a warming center can really deliver." 

Healing on the land should be a priority, says Liidlii Kue sub-chief

Liidlii Kue First Nation told CBC that they were concerned about how a potential surge in drinking may worsen the effects of an existing lack of resources to address underlying issues that lead to addictions. 

CBC was unable to reach LKFN's sub-chief Kele Antoine in time for publication, but in November, when talking about lifting the liquor restrictions, Antoine said that "there's been a true lack of resources in our attempts to properly address and mitigate the host of problems that comes with trauma and addiction." 

These resources are needed to consult with community members and to create culturally and spiritually relevant programming that helps people heal. 

Antoine said people may turn to "self-medicating" through substance use because of the significant stressors that come from housing insecurity, economic instability, intergenerational trauma from residential school, being forcibly disconnected from the land, and a myriad of other social and mental health issues.

"So concurrently, these issues must not be approached in a fragmented way, you know, but through a concerted, holistic manner," Antoine said. 

He said there needs to be a comprehensive addiction treatment centre in the Northwest Territories, "one that's developed in the North, by people that are from here … ideally taking place on the land."

Currently, the N.W.T. has no residential treatment centre for addictions. Residents instead must travel to southern centres to receive help.