Top stories of 2014: P.A. tackles alcohol abuse

He said different community groups and organizations have met, as part of the alcohol strategy meetings, and have discussed what they would like to see in the future in terms of alcohol consumption. The process so far has involved a lot of planning and discussions, but they’re now at the point of creating a steering committee, which the police will be a part of.

The committee, in part, will look at the different strategies that the different agencies involved in the overall strategy can take away. The agencies would then have different objectives and initiatives in place so they can start having an impact on alcohol use, Cooper said.

Attendees have discussed issues surrounding under-aged drinking, the effect of intoxication on police resources, among other issues.

“Originally, if you go back when the COR was first formed, we were deemed by our executive steering committee that alcohol was one of our top priorities in our community,” said Glenis Clark, addictions specialist at the COR.

“And when we started taking a look at how does alcohol affect all of our different sectors and our businesses, the data that we were able to pull together definitely showed that there was a need to take a look at how we can do things in a healthier manner, how can we be safer in our community, how can we start to change some of our norms around drinking.”

The data covered impaired driving, binge drinking, under-aged drinking, chronic alcoholism, liquor laws and safety compliance.

Clark said that even though a process for the alcohol strategy hasn’t yet been finalized, there have been people already taking action and recognizing the need to take action. This includes the public safety compliance team – a partnership between the City, Prince Albert Police Service, the Prince Albert Fire Department and the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority – working to develop good relationship with licenced establishments.

This past year as well, the City has barred taxis from using the drive-thru lanes of off-sale liquor establishments. It was a move aimed at making the work of local taxi drivers safer.

According to Mayor Greg Dionne, there were ongoing concerns about the safety of drivers who refused to carry fares that were under-age or prohibited from buying liquor. Council passed the amendment to the taxi bylaw this past spring. It became the subject of a lawsuit filed by the owner of the National Hotel, which operates Georgie’s, one of the only off-sale stores with a drive-thru.

The City won the court battle over the bylaw.

It wasn’t the only move the City made with regards to the liquor issue. It began to lobby the province for a locally based liquor inspector position this past fall. Liquor inspectors are based out of Saskatoon and Regina and have to travel to Prince Albert and parts northward for the purposes of enforcement.

Liquor inspectors ensure establishments permitted to sell alcohol are following the rules when doing so – including not selling to under-age patrons.

Council approved allowing the mayor to write a letter to the ministry of justice, putting pressure on the province to base an inspector in Prince Albert on a permanent basis.

It wasn’t just the City taking strides to deal with alcohol-related problems in Prince Albert. Residents too stepped up to form and volunteer for the Prince Albert chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

By December, the local MADD chapter had about 40 volunteers, and had teamed up with the RCMP to hold spot checks. It was part of their combined effort to get intoxicated drivers off of highways in the Prince Albert area.

The police chief said the effects of impaired driving have been widely discussed – that there’s a real danger and damage caused by impaired driving. Cooper said in the last year, the police have received less calls about impaired drivers than in the year prior. To him, it’s a good sign.

“We’ve had more impaired driving charges laid, but of course, that’s primarily the result of targeted enforcement by our officers. So, the actual calls from [the] public outside of the police have been declining for impaired driving, and I think that’s a great sign.”

The alcohol strategy going forward

Clark said there may be things that will happen through this alcohol strategy that we may never hear of, as well. This may include individuals’ personal decisions, or small gatherings where hosts may serve less alcohol or may come up with safety plans for rides home. She said these are just as important.

Going forward, the strategy is in its third stage, where the participants are outlining their vision of where they want the community to be in five years. They’re also setting up a steering committee of those who want to be involved in the process going forward.

From there, the steering committee will meet and figure out its process for getting the strategy’s final document and “energy” is transferred well into the community, Clark said.

The COR won’t be saying this is our strategy, here are the steps, but for it to be a community strategy, the ideas for activities and actions taken will come from groups, organizations and neighbourhoods in the community, according to Clark.

“We’re going to push in the next few months getting the message out to the community. Again, how the steering committee decides to do that, whether it’ll be individual meetings, whether it’ll be through websites or through media, you know, a number of different venues, and we’ll be supporting that and trying to drive it out in the first part of the new year.”

-With files from James Bowler.

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tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames

by Thia James

Top stories of 2014: P.A. tackles alcohol abuse

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