Commission grapples with health issues

Page 4

More than 16 years after Fred Johnson's last drink, he still faces reminders of the dangerous allure of alcohol on his 95 per cent dry reserve at Alkali Lake in British Columbia.

When his teenage daughter, now 15, experimented last year with beer bought by a young adult at nearby Williams Lake, he and his wife spelled out the dangers to her and laid charges against the man for supplying a minor with alcohol.

Getting touch on alcohol-related crime is the best way to rid native communities of alcoholism, the band councilor told a forum on native health and social issues in Vancouver, The event was organized by the Royal Commission on Aboriginal People in Vancouver this month.

Issues such as AIDS, teen suicide, disease and poverty were examined in 11 discussions papers and models of health-related initiatives in different Aboriginal communities.

Participants at the hearings recommend changes in policy and practice, and identify obstacles to change in communities, institutions and governments. They also suggest concrete measures to remove such roadblocks.

Alkali Lake, once referred to as "Alcohol Lake," noted Johnson, has been almost completely dry for 20 years and the band council was invited to the forum to share its success story.

"It was an impossible transition," explained Johnson this week from the 500-member reserve where he has been a band councilor for 10 years. "Back then we didn't realize alcohol was addictive. We were drinking to have fund, but the bottle took over."

Resistance to sobriety at first was strong, especially from Johnson, who admitted his years from age 13 to 28 are a drunken blur.

"You're talking to the number one guy who hit bottom," he said. Weaning people who came from generations of alcoholism called for tough action, he said.