Nunavut community gets addictions treatment program back

The Pulaarvik Kablu Friendship Centre in Rankin Inlet plans open a new alcohol and drug addictions program by the start of summer. (PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PULAARVIK KABLU FRIENDSHIP CENTRE)

Rankin Inlet’s Pulaarvik Kablu Friendship Centre plans to open a new alcohol and drug addictions program by the start of summer.

Open for all residents in the community of 2,900 seeking to overcome substance abuse, the program is overdue by three years, said George Dunkerley, executive director of the centre.

“This program was let go by the hamlet [of Rankin Inlet] three years ago,” Dunkerley said. “There was some mix-up at the Government of Nunavut level about transferring it to the Friendship Centre as the hamlet had requested. So we haven’t had a working drug program here in quite some time.”

Lack of such help caused “drastic increases” in the need for counselling sessions, he said. In particular, counsellors working on spousal abuse issues were also confronted by addictions problems.

“It became pretty difficult,” Dunkerley said.

The Friendship Centre now runs a program for youth aged 15 to 24, a pilot project which served some of the need for help against substance abuse by youth.

Even though this program was not set up to serve as a counselling program, it served to “pull together all information around substance abuse” which will be used in the new program, Dunkerley said.

“The new one is essentially to provide counselling services to people who are addicted to alcohol or drugs, or showing signs of going down that path.”

The director’s office will hire three program coordinators within the next three weeks, and hopes to find office space for the program by the end of May.

Funding of $170,000 from Department of Health and Social Services will cover the program up to March 31 next year, Dunkerley said.

If all goes well, funding will be renewed and the program will continue on a yearly basis.

“We’re looking forward to the new program,” Dunkerley said. “We’re worked with the Government of Nunavut quite a lot over the last few years to get this. It’s going to complement the rest of our programs really well, and I think people involved in all of our programs at the centre will benefit from having a dedicated alcohol and drug worker.”