FTL the place where they call it hell

What can I say its FTL!

That is what Prospek states in his song. I want to let you know what really happens in Fort Liard.
First of all, forget what you hear or read about it. There is more than meets the eye in FTL. I will explain some of the things that happens behind closed doors as well as what happens after the sun goes down(after 10PM in the summer). To really understand you have to see it for yourself.

There are 2 sides really in Liard. There are natives and non-natives. I am not going to talk about what happens on the non-native side of FTL...yet

There are roughly 600 people living in Fort Liard and there are an estimated 400 of them which are native. About 90% of them do drugs and/or drink Alcohol. On any given day of the week, if you go around Liard, you WILL run into someone that is intoxicated or under the influence. Even the kids are into the drinking and drug lifestyle. I know and have seen kids I knew as babies getting into drinking and drugs. Last week I found out that a 9 year old boy was getting drunk.

When people in Liard drink, they drink the whole bottle. They want to party and have a good time. A lot of the time, things get outta hand and fights break out. The girls fight as often as the guys do here.
One thing that I notice about people drinking, is that one of my close friends that drinks with becomes an asshole. He will act like hes my friend but as soon as he gets drunk, he bitches non-stop about his life and problems. Then he will take his anger out on me any way he can. If he is drinking at my house, he expects me to feed him and when I say no, he will say the same thing over and over again. And he always wants something of mine before he leaves home. I normally don't fight but if he tries that again I will seriously hurt him.

Moving on, the job situation in Liard is not the greatest. But people go work at camps on the highway to make a quick $2000 for 2 weeks of work. It is hard to get a job in town because of the BS politics with the Band and Hamlet. The current Band Manager does not like certain people in Liard just because their sons got beat up all the time when they were kids. I know because more often than not, I was the one doing it. The SAO at the Hamlet is no different. Many times people have applied for jobs,houses, etc. get turned down because they are not liked. I applied for a house and my job back as the Recreation Programmer but I was turned down because “I didn't have 10 kids.” One of my friends have applied for different jobs and been turned down despite being the most qualified for the position.

There is a lack of community support for local sports teams as well. I played soccer from 1999 to 2005 and coached from 2007 to now, and I have seen the community support numbers drop. In 2008 when The 18-under soccer won a banner, everyone in Liard came out to show their support. By the next tournament in May, the support was no longer there. This year I decided to coach soccer for one more year. I knew that my back was against the wall and I would face many challenges. When I was working at the school, I had no problem coaching soccer and when I took a break for the holidays and started practice again, The principal had changed his mind. He set up a meeting and told me not to continue coaching on school time. He also said that there is to be no fundraising from now on at the school. I had sent letters to some agencies around town requesting funding assistance and so far I have not heard a response. I know that the band manager just threw my letter into the garbage.

Sometimes I just want to quit and leave FTL and never return. But there is something that I realized..the people here NEED me. I don't think Liard will function at all without me.
I am currently at home sick and I let my team know that I won't be at soccer. Within 10 minutes I get 12 calls from people asking me if there is soccer and that they can not organize themselves without me. 3 of the ones who called said that they are not going to soccer. 5 just hung up on me after swearing at me. On Facebook chat, the rest of the youth in Liard msg me and ask about soccer. It looks like no one will go to the gym because I am not there to hold their hands.
I decideed that I am going to leave this Place by the falltime and never return.