Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to address an issue that affects those who make the choice to go to treatment facilities away from their homes to get help for their dependency and the lack of resources available to them when they return home. Often, these people who return home fall back in the same cycle of substance abuse because they do not have any follow-up or acknowledgement for their efforts to get sober.
Mr. Speaker, making the choice to attain sobriety is not an easy choice for most people to make. Due to lack of treatment facilities in the NWT, people usually leave their homes to go somewhere like Alberta or BC for long periods of time to do the work to address their issues and heal the parts of themselves that caused them to use substances. Those who successfully complete their programs are welcome home with congratulations, but that's usually when the real work begins to maintain their sobriety because they are back in the same environment that enabled their addictions. They return home to little or no resources to help them stay consistent in their sobriety, which is challenging and discouraging to them.
Mr. Speaker, our people need more programs to ensure they are supported, recognized, and celebrated in their post-treatment journey. There needs to be AA meetings, on the land activities, job and training available to them to begin moving forward in their life that keeps them healthy and productive. We also need to utilize those people by acknowledging and celebrating those through community gatherings like feasts and dance and create spaces for them to share their stories. It's important for this person to feel safe and to share their story, for the community to hear it, because it may inspire and motivate others to follow in their path. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Member from Mackenzie Delta. Members' statements. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
