Paige Desmond
The debate around renewed funding for the Rainy River District Substance Abuse Prevention Team is heating up.
Last week, the local program was granted an extension until Dec. 5 to secure letters of support from the community, as well as signatures on a petition backing it.
“The petition is being very well responded to,” noted SAPT co-ordinator Hugh Dennis. “The support from the community’s just awesome.”
Meanwhile, Ontario NDP leader and local MPP Howard Hampton is rallying his team at Queen’s Park behind the SAPT as they await some mention from the government on funding.
NDP Hamilton Centre MPP Andrea Horwath (Children and Youth Services critic) last week posed questions about FOCUS funding in the legislature to Health Promotion minister Margarett Best and received only a vague response regarding further funding.
When Horwath asked Best about continued funding, she replied, “. . . the Ministry of Health Promotion is certainly intending to continue to look into programs that affect the young people of our province. We will continue to address the issues relating to prevention and addiction.
“It is a fundamental part of the ministry’s mandate, which we continue to work on.”
Unsatisfied with the minister’s response, Hampton persevered during Monday’s session.
“Is the McGuinty government going to continue to fund the FOCUS projects or are you going to cut these programs, which are the only substance abuse programs in literally dozens of communities across this province?” he asked.
Initially, this question was met with a description by Best of the important work performed by FOCUS projects. But Hampton did not relent, seeking clarity in a “yes” or “no” answer as to whether funding will proceed.
“Our government certainly recognizes the important work that the FOCUS program is doing to improve the health of all Ontarians. We have committed to providing funding to this program until March, 2009,” Best replied.
“We will be gathering data on the program and will be analyzing it in the context of the Ministry of Health Promotion priorities and community needs,” she added. “We know that mental health is a priority and a fundamental concern of this government, and we will continue to address the issue.”
So after two exchanges in the legislature, no commitment has been guaranteed by the government. This leaves SAPT still in a state of limbo, with their fate yet to be determined.
Although the government is unwilling to confirm the value of FOCUS programs through a promise of continued funding, local residents and those involved with the SAPT are speaking up about its worth.
Locally, SAPT has been a pillar of the community since 1991, providing programming, support, and knowledge to the community regarding substance abuse prevention and related health and safety issues.
Local paramedic John Beaton, co-ordinator of the P.A.R.T.Y. program here, has been involved with the SAPT program since its inception and currently sits on the FOCUS board. He credits the project with unifying community services and bringing substance abuse issues to the forefront.
“FOCUS funding has allowed for many partnerships within all health services and First Nations, which before were very unorganized with agencies or groups either duplicating services or because of a lack of a central group not knowing what each other was doing,” Beaton described via e-mail.
“Money was being spent with no bang for the buck,” he noted.
“By not continuing funding, all this work, co-ordination, and money will be wasted and local access to resources will be lost as people will not know who to approach locally for information,” he added.
Beaton has seen firsthand both the challenges regarding substance abuse here and the successes the SAPT has achieved.
“The Rainy River District, for many years, has had the highest incidents per capita of substance abuse,” he detailed. “As a paramedic here for 24 years, I daily see the sad consequences of substance abuse, its associated problems, and high personal and economic costs.
“I have been involved with many education and prevention projects focusing on youth, like the P.A.R.T.Y. program [Prevent Alcohol-Related Trauma in Youth] and education in the schools,” he continued. “As a paramedic, I have seen a decrease in the number of teenagers severely injured and for two years in a row no teenager injuries during graduation weekend.”
Beaton is just one of the many people in the district lining up to back the local Substance Abuse Prevention Team, but the rest of the community is needed.
To sign the petition, contact Dennis at 274-9827.
SAPT members also have copies of the petition, including Beaton, Fort Frances OPP Cst. Anne McCoy, and Albert Calder at the United Native Friendship Centre here.
