It's up to you, with help

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Relentless and potentially devastating addictions can shake a family tree and cause havoc in a community.

Canada's 2001 National Addiction Awareness Week (NAAW), Nov. 18 to 24, is a time for Canadians to unite and fight against this common enemy.

Families suffering and learning to cope with the challenges of fetal alcohol syndrome/fetal alcohol effects, a result of substance abuse during pregnancy, will be honored during this year's event.

Interim event co-ordinator Jean Fulkner said the effects are among the "very tangible results of alcohol abuse."

Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities across Canada are encouraged to stage events throughout the week to recognize the problems of addictions and unite to fight against them.

Activities really vary, incorporating round dances, silent auctions and other entertainment planned by schools, RCMP detachments and a diversity of health, government and charity organizations across the country.

The national kick off for the week is the Join the Circle Walk that begins at Edmonton's city hall on Nov. 19 at 9 a.m. A proclamation by Mayor Bill Smith and speeches by other provincial and national figures are followed by a walk to the Canadian Native Friendship Centre.

For the past five years, the walk has ended at one of its major supporters and sources of strength, the Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples. But this year the destination is changed to accommodate a larger crowd than the average 500 participants.

The Join the Circle Walk, which enjoys the support of 20 Edmonton-area community organizations, has also changed from the original event named Sober Walk, which officially kicked off NAAW since its inception.

The new name is a sign of the week's broadening agenda.

"We are not just focusing on addictions in terms of drugs and alcohol," said Nechi Training and Health Promotion's Fulker. "We're talking about all addictions and we're trying to promote addiction-free, healthy lifestyles."

Last year, a contest for a new motto was won by Cynthia McKay, a 15-year-old girl from a foster home in Thunder Bay, Ont.

"In these hands our future lies" replaces the old motto "It takes a whole community to raise a child."

The new motto reflects the importance of raising children in an addiction-free environment.

It is the final year for Edmonton to host the NAAW kick-off event. It does not signal the end of the city's Join the Circle Walk, but the event will adopt a more local focus.

Next year the kick off will be held in a community that takes the initiative to win a contest set up by the organizers. It is open to communities across Canada.

The national headquarters for NAAW is hosted by Nechi-an Aboriginal movement focused on promoting holistic healing and healthy, addiction-free living. The organizers hope moving the kick off to other communities will help bring attention to the national scope of the event.

NAAW is celebrating its fourteenth year of fighting addictions and rejoicing in the successes of individuals who have overcome them.

In 1987, Minister of Health and Welfare Canada, Jake Epp, proclaimed the third week of November as Drug Awareness Week, which was later renamed National Addictions Awareness Week.