Drunk driving sentencing brings up painful memories, questions for N.W.T. advocate
CBC
An N.W.T. mother who has been advocating against drinking and driving ever since her daughter's death says a recent sentencing decision in Behchokǫ̀ brings up painful memories.
In 2008, Sharon Allen lost her teenage daughter Keisha Trudel after a 16-year-old boy crashed a vehicle while intoxicated in Fort Smith.
Allen said she empathizes with the family of Felix Black, 22, who died in a drunk driving crash in 2021. A Behchokǫ̀ woman was sentenced to 3.5 years last week in the case.
"I can't help but feel for that person's family," she said.
"I can't help but feel because I know how that feels and it leaves a lasting hole in your heart, you know, to know that someone died because of someone else's decision."
Allen has been advocating against drinking and driving for the last 15 years, and recent statistics from RCMP show impaired driving in the territory continues to be an issue.
In the last year, RCMP in the Northwest Territories issued 365 impaired driving charges, Dean Riou, inspector with the N.W.T RCMP wrote in an emailed statement to CBC.
That averages out to one impaired driving charge a day.
Since the fatal car crash in Behchokǫ̀ in June 2021, there have been three fatal motor vehicle collisions where RCMP can say alcohol was a factor. There is one open investigation where a dangerous driving causing death charge was laid, they said.
N.W.T. has the highest rate of police-reported impaired driving, according to a 2019 report from Statistics Canada.
"These things shouldn't keep happening, but they keep happening and we're getting a failing grade in the north because of this," Allen said.
More education and awareness is needed, Allen said, along with a change in legislation.
"The sentencing that we've been seeing and that I've noticed is not enough. It's not enough to change a person's life because we have re-offenders, we have high incidents of re-offenders, and how are we going to get the message across if people keep offending, [and] making the same mistakes."
May was a tragic month for the territory — RCMP reported four deaths involving motorized vehicles in a two-week time span.