Aklavik plans to hold community forum in response to rise in N.W.T. overdoses

Hamlet council members in Aklavik, N.W.T.,are concerned about the rise in opioid overdoses in Yellowknife and Whitehorse, and talked about how to the raise the issue in the community at a meeting last week.

"Council members expressed a concern that new drugs were coming into the area, maybe not specifically Aklavik yet but certainly around in Inuvik and other places," said Mayor Charles Furlong.

N.W.T.'s health department issued a public health advisory last November after eight near-fatal overdoses in Yellowknife in a 48-hour period, attributed to a batch of street fentanyl. The advisory asked the public to be "on high alert" as the drug could be available in other N.W.T. communities.

• Yellowknife's ER saw 8 fentanyl overdoses in the past 48 hours

Furlong says Aklavik wants to be proactive in regards to theissue and decided to holdapublic information forum. The council hopes to have the assistance of the RCMP and other special agencies at the forum to raise awareness and educate.

"This is the time of the year when when there are a lot of hockey tournaments in the area and also our people are travelling around near every weekend to attend carnivals in different communities," he said.

"We just want to make them aware of some of the dangers of drugs being brought into the community."

Furlong said the goal is to set up the public forum in the next couple of weeks.

• Fort Resolution, N.W.T., woman overdoses on crack, fentanyl
• Opioid antidote naloxone now available free at all N.W.T. pharmacies