Encouraging complete community involvement and action is the key to creating safe communities.

That was the dominant message at last night's Yukon NDP-sponsored Forum on Safe Communities at the Mt. McIntyre Recreation Centre.

NDP Leader Todd Hardy said he was pleased with the discussions at the meeting, which attracted approximately 60 attendees over its three hours.

'(The attendees and panelists) were really honest and clear about the needs and the direction to go in,' Hardy told the Star this morning.

Many of the participants expressed anger and frustration about crime and substance abuse in their communities.

'We can't (make changes) tomorrow, we have to do it today,' Whitehorse resident Carrie Stevenson told the five-person panel.

Many participants expressed concerns about the RCMP being pulled in too many directions, the Young Offenders Act and the justice system.

There were also many questions about what can be done to help shut down drug houses or stop illegal activities in communities.

'If a criminal is out there selling drugs to my kids, I will turn vigilante on them,' said Don McKenzie, a longtime Whitehorse resident. 'It's time to start throwing these punks in jail.'

The meeting, which was broadcast live throughout the territory on CHON-FM, also received calls from residents in Watson Lake, Mayo, Old Crow and Haines Junction.

'The government has not provided enough recourses,' Elsie Hume said of the drug situation in Old Crow. 'Everyone has to be on the same level. We can have success if we have resources.'

Sgt. Guy Rook, the RCMP's community relations officer, stressed safe communities really develop out of community empowerment. Individuals should get involved with crime prevention initiatives, he said.

'If you want to make sure you have a safe community, you need to make sure all aspects of the community are working together,' Pat Berrel, director of the Whole Child program, told the discussion.

Nina Bolton, a Pelly Crossing addictions counsellor, told the room that community activities can't just be directed at youth and elders there also needs to be programming for small children and adults, to keep them busy and educated on the dangers of substance abuse.

Philip Owen, a former mayor of Vancouver and a driving force behind the city's Four Pillar Drug Strategy, which focuses on harm reduction, prevention, treatment and enforcement, was the special panel guest.

'If you've got a problem, follow a process,' he advised the room.

Drug users should be going through the health care system, not the criminal system, he said, adding addiction is a health and public safety issue.

'You've got to get in and manage it,' he said. 'There's a lot of fear, but there's a need to get realistic on the issues.'

Combatting substance abuse isn't an easy process, he said. There is the need to work on the issue as a community.

'It's a long, slow process that needs a co-ordinated effort,' said Owen. 'There's no quick solution. It needs to be broken down to bite-size pieces.'

Community solutions suggested by participants and panelists included adult drop-in centres, community sharing activities such as food preparation and grocery/hunting contributions, encouraging volunteerism, getting more aboriginals involved in agencies aimed at helping teenagers confronting substance abuse, placing psychologists in schools, ensuring there are activities to occupy young people's time after school and forming a working group to look at safe communities and substance abuse.

'These are people who had the courage to try to find a different way and a different path,' Hardy said of the suggestions.

The meeting was a 'pure grassroots response,' he added.

The next step is to continue to place pressure on the government to ensure they move forward with the issue, said Hardy.

The legislative assembly has already agreed to move forward on consultations of the government's Substance Abuse Action Plan, which was released in early October, and to develop safe communities legislation, to be tabled in the spring of 2006.