An Alcohol Strategy for the Northwest Territories

Background:  Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada, has a population of approximately 40,000 spread out over 1.35 million square kilometers.  The burden of alcohol use on health and mental health in the NWT is significant; alcohol use accounts for a high proportion of visits to the emergency room, ambulance calls, police calls, and hospitalizations, and alcohol use is a contributing factor to approximately 45% of premature deaths by intentional or unintentional injury.  In response to the high rates of mortality, morbidity, and social harm attributable to alcohol, the territorial government is developing an all-of-government Alcohol Strategy, designed to reduce alcohol-related harm across the lifespan.  This presentation outlines the engagement process that was used to develop the Northwest Territories Alcohol Strategy, based on a recommendation by the developers of the Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation report, and how this informed the final actions in the strategy.  

Methods: A literature review, four targeted engagement activities, and iterative validation by advisory groups and community and Indigenous leadership were used to evaluate, modify, or reject the original recommendations and develop the final actions that were included in the NWT Alcohol Strategy.

Results: Of the original CAPE recommendations, two were included in the NWT Alcohol Strategy, four had already been implemented in the NWT when the strategy was developed, two were adapted for use in the strategy, and six were not included.  One alcohol policy measure not included in the original CAPE recommendations was also added during strategy development.

Conclusions: Alcohol strategies are dependent on a variety of contextual factors.  Developers need to take into consideration the unique geography, political climate, and cultural context of the region for which they are being developed, in order to produce a strategy that is applicable, acceptable and feasible.