Nunavik community offers support for sobriety

Puvirnituq’s “sober club” meets Friday nights through the month of November to play games and talk about healthy living. (Photo courtesy of L. Qalingo Aupalu)

School children, clutching colourful cardboard signs with messages that say “Alcohol breaks families” and “We support you,” march down the streets of Puvirnituq as the afternoon sun sets over the Nunavik community.

This isn’t a protest though — this is the launch of the community’s sober month, a challenge put on by a local committee to encourage community members to take a break from drinking.

“We encourage anyone to take part, whether you’re an alcoholic or you just want to stop,” said Puvirnituq mayor Lucy Qalingo Aupalu.

“Sometimes it’s hard to know where to start. So, we’re like a club, to support each other.”

In 2018, the Hudson coast community hosted a public forum to discuss what challenges it wanted to tackle. One thing Puvirnituq residents said they wanted was better access to wellness activities and resources.

A steering committee made up of representatives of different organizations now puts on regular events, but this is the first sobriety challenge the group has organized.

The sobriety movement has gained steam in recent years, with the growing popularity of “dry” months. In Kuujjuaq, the Isuarsivik treatment centre has started hosting Pingngupaa every winter, a month-long sobriety challenge.

But this is a first for Puvirnituq, a community of about 2,000. Qalingo Aupalu said 96 community members initially signed up for the challenge — herself among them.

The participants are mostly women, and middle-aged. Since the start of the month, about 20 people have decided to withdraw from the challenge.

“We’re still really happy with the number of people participating,” she said. “We’ve heard from their family members and kids, who can see the difference.”

The “sober club” has been hosting socially-distanced get-togethers on Friday evenings — the night many people feel the strongest urge to drink, Qalingo Aupalu said.

The group has had guest speakers to talk about health and wellness and what resources are available to people struggling with addiction.

For Nunavimmiut who have an alcohol addition, there aren’t many resources available — at least not during a pandemic.

The Isuarsivik centre in Kuujjuaq, which typically runs a few treatment sessions every year, has had to suspend its residential services for much of 2020, though a new, expanded recovery centre is set to open in 2023.

The only option for treatment is travelling south to Portage, a residential rehabilitation centre outside of Montreal.

“But often, it’s really hard for people to leave their children for so long — that’s the hardest thing,” Qalingo Aupalu said.

Puvirnituq has a long and often difficult history of alcohol use. The community’s location as a travel hub along the Hudson coast has made it a magnet for bootleggers.

In 2015, the local Co-op store launched retail beer and wine sales, now for sale Mondays through Fridays.

Community leaders who pushed for beer and wine sales contended the goal of having regular access to lower-alcohol drinks was to normalize responsible drinking.

But beer and wine sales have been controversial. Some residents say people are drinking every day — rather than binge-drinking once in a while.

Qalingo Aupalu would rather not weigh in on the controversy.

“My job is to have a community at peace,” she said.

“I’m just proud that families and children are able to stay home and feel safe and welcome.”