2 N.W.T. MLAs miss meetings due to excessive drinking

A committee of regular N.W.T. MLAs will decide, behind closed doors, what to do about two of their own who missed meetings due to excessive drinking.

Regular members were flown into Inuvik, N.W.T., where they held a series of closed committee meetings.

Nahendeh MLA Kevin Menicoche and Mackenzie Delta MLA Frederick Blake Jr. drank excessively Thursday night and into Friday morning. They both missed a full-day committee meeting Friday.

Menicoche, who chairs the Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning which was meeting, also missed a half-day meeting the next day.

Blake did not return numerous calls from CBC News.

Menicoche refused to do an interview about the incident, but admitted he missed that days meeting and the next due to excessive alcohol consumption. He said he is waiting for a place in an alcohol treatment program and will likely have to take time off to attend it.

Menicoche said he has asked the legislature to charge him for the additional costs associated with leaving Inuvik earlier than planned.

The same committee, made up of all MLAs not on cabinet, will decide what, if anything, to do about the incident.

That meeting will be closed to the public.