Booze now allowed for special events at the N.W.T. Legislature

The 26-year tradition of the Northwest Territories Legislature being an alcohol-free building has come to an end.

The group of MLAs that runs the legislature has quietly decided that booze will be allowed for special events and private receptions held in the building.

The Board of Management made the decision at a meeting held Oct. 24, but did not announce the change or publicize itapart from posting it among the records of decision on one of the legislative assembly web pages.

Yellowknife MLA Cory Vanthuyne is the member of the Board of Management, who made the motion to make the change. Vanthuyne said it was prompted by a request from a Northwest Territories tourism association, which identified it as a venue conference goers and tourism groups would like to use for receptions that include alcohol.

"While we do have some good conferencing facilitieswith the addition of a new hotel and the expansion of another, they still like to make it out [of the hotel] and go to other facilities," said Vanthuyne.

"As you can imagine, the museum and some other places are great places to host receptions and the like. And of course we have this fantastic great hall in the Legislative Assembly."

Vanthuyne said he has sponsored a request from the Northern Air Transport Association to host an event with alcohol in the legislature.

"That's part of the deal. If you want to host an event here with alcohol present you have to get sponsorship from [an MLA]. And that member then writes a letter on their behalf to the Speaker's office for consideration."

With the same approval process, alcohol will also be allowed in the members' lounge for receptions with visiting dignitaries.

Vanthuyne said that otherwise alcohol will continue to be prohibited in the building.

Alcohol has been prohibited in the building since it opened in 1993, largely as a symbolic gesture against the drug, which causes tremendous harm in the territory.

A 2015-16 study concluded that rate of hospitalizations as a result of alcohol abuse in the N.W.T. is five times higher than it is for Canada as a whole. Police repeatedly identify alcohol intoxication as an element of the majority of crime committed here.

"While[prohibiting alcohol]has been the practice in the past, I think there's some recognition now that we're not undermining the obvious concerns we have with regard to systemic issues around alcohol abuse and addiction," said Vanthuyne.

"But we also need to recognize there are other interests at play here."

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