Yukon MLA Annie Blake opens up about her path toward recovery

Last June, Yukon MLA Annie Blake issued a public statement describing her struggles with substance abuse and announcing that she was taking a leave of absence from her job as MLA to focus on her own health and well-being.

She enrolled in a treatment program outside of the territory, and by the fall she was back at work in the Legislative Assembly.

"It was important for me to just be honest," said Blake. 

"I still believe that no matter what I go through in life, the people I represent deserve to know what's going on in my life."

Blake was elected as NDP MLA for Vuntut Gwitchin in Old Crow, her home community and Yukon's northernmost electoral district, in 2021 after spending several years working in health care and wellness. 

Her own wellness, however, took a toll over the last year after the death of her sister.

Blake, 43, said the political pressure as well as the grief became too much to handle and she relapsed into her addiction.

She said she grew up around substance use and started to use heavily herself when she was 12, after her father and youngest brother died in a fire. 

In recognition of National Addictions Awareness Week, Blake spoke to the CBC's Virginie Ann about her decision to seek help last summer, and how she's now exploring recovery. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Can you talk a bit about what was happening in your life at that time?

It was sometime in June. I had to go up to Old Crow to do my sister's headstone because it was a little over a year since we had her funeral.

I wasn't in a very good place at the time. I had nothing left to give. Nothing. All I saw was where I wanted to be, and I didn't wanna be alive at the time. I think back on that time and I just kind of shake my head because I know what I'm capable of. I know I could take a lot, and I've been through a lot. I just sometimes don't understand how I could let myself get to a place where I ended up so hopeless and basically not give a care about life or anything, even my kids.

The worse I got with using ... the less I became a mom to my kids. I didn't hide it from my kids ... they knew I was using. I remember one night my daughter was confronting me. And she straight up told me, she's like, "I don't even have a mom. I don't have anybody. I'm so alone. I don't know what to do."