'Locking down the alcohol cabinet' in La Ronge won't work: addictions worker
Proposed new rules for how alcohol should be sold in northern Sask. community are being met with resistance
Closing bars early and shutting down liquor outlets on month-end paydays is not the solution to alcohol abuse in La Ronge, Sask., according to a local addictions worker.
Recently, 49 wide-ranging rules were drafted by a Northern Alcohol Strategy committee tasked by the provincial government with suggesting ways to prevent "alcohol-fuelled harm and crime."
Jackie Ballantyne, who works for the Scattered Site Outreach Program, says while there are addictions issues in the northern community, limiting access to booze isn't the answer.
Instead of locking it down, treat the person.- Jackie Ballantyne, Scattered Site Outreach Program
"Locking down the alcohol cabinet isn't going to change that. And if anybody has anybody in their family who is misusing alcohol or is addicted, you can't lock that cabinet. There will always be a way," she said.
Ballantyne spent Thursday morning speaking to people at the outreach centre, many of them addicts. She said there is a lot more to the northern alcohol problem than access to booze.
An alternate solution to limiting access would be funding a holistic addictions centre in La Ronge, she said, so that addicts wouldn't have to travel south to get treatment.
"Instead of locking it down, treat the person. Treat the person with dignity and respect, give them some resources, give them some tools."
Ballantyne added that the conversation around alcohol and addictions needs to broaden and focus on healing people who are suffering.
"Short-term solutions do not work. And in the North because of our multi-generation issues, it needs a multi-level approach to address our abuse — whether it's alcohol, drugs, relationships," she said.
The recommendations include:
- Prohibiting alcohol sales, at both bars and stores, on Sundays, statutory holidays, month-end paydays and Canada Child Benefit payment days.
- Levying a five-per-cent alcohol sales tax on bars and stores, with the proceeds going to the town "to support initiatives to increase the well-being and public safety of the community."
- Limiting bar hours to 11-1 a.m., and liquor store hours to 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
- No 'last call.'
Dr. James Irvine, who lives in the North and is part of the alcohol strategy, said it's important to look at all the recommendations as a whole.
"It's important to look at it holistically and not cherry pick one or two recommendations of policy. It's really looking at what options are best for one community or another," he said.
As for the idea of limiting hours on cheque days, he said it has proven successful in other communities under an initiative called "Feed our children first."
Council to debate recommendations
La Ronge Mayor Ron Woytowich told CBC News, though, that he and other councillors are opposed to the idea of closing bars on cheque days.
Matt Klassen, a La Ronge town councillor, said the recommendations are just proposals at this point — there's still plenty of consultation to be done before it goes for a vote.
"In the areas of crime, health-care costs, and even as far as education and children's attendance in schools, there are records and statistics that indicate that alcohol is a major contributing factor," he said.
He denied any suggestion the proposals — like the one to close liquor establishments on so-called "cheque days" — are targeting anyone specifically.
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With files from CBC's Guy Quenneville