Statements in Debates
Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my right is Debbie DeLancey, the deputy minister of Health and Social Services. On my left, Thomas Dorian, who is legal counsel.
I am pleased to be here to discuss Bill 55, Mental Health Act. The development of this bill has been the result of significant time and effort by the department, and would not have been possible without input and contributions from members of the Standing Committee on Social Programs, the public and front-line workers.
The primary purpose of Bill 55 is to ensure that those suffering from mental illness receive appropriate mental health care and treatment as soon as possible and in the least restrictive manner.
This legislation will modernize our current mental health framework while, at the same...
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document, entitled “Annual Report of the Director of Child and Family Services 2014-2015.” Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Within the legislation, going back to his first point before I go to the second point, it is going to require a significant amount of training and development of our staff to make sure that they understand their roles, and that’s going to be the community counsellors, the mental health and addictions counsellors, all the social services side, but also the health side is going to require a significant amount of development and training as we move forward with these new regulations, protocols and this new legislation that gives our people more options.
As far as culture, committee brought forward...
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the Member’s comments and I would just like to speak to a couple of his thoughts and observations. I think we’ve all probably, as MLAs, had somebody approach us who had the same type of issue that Mr. Hawkins’ constituent had about trying to keep a family member on their meds, someone who has a mental health illness, and the assisted community treatment is designed to do just that. That is giving the tools to the psychologist and psychiatrist that they haven’t had before. When I talked to some psychologists and psychiatrists here in the Northwest Territories...
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do want to take this opportunity to thank the standing committee and their staff and all the residents across the Northwest Territories who contributed to the public hearings and contributed by different means to ensure we got this bill to be the best bill that we can. I do know that committee worked awfully hard and I appreciate their willingness to work with myself and the department in order to make amendments to the bill, that I believe, and I believe committee believes, to make this a stronger bill at the end of the day. I really appreciate the work and the time...
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I requested the mental health case review under the Evidence Act and I have to comply with the terms and conditions of the Evidence Act. So I need to be careful as to what I say and what I don’t say, but upon my initial review, recognizing that I am not a lawyer, I don’t believe that any of those recommendations require legislative change, but I’m seeking advice from the legal counsel right now on how I can legally get this into the department so that they can begin drafting an action plan based on the recommendations and they may determine that maybe some legislative...
Thank you, Mr. Chair. To the Member’s points about this bill being resource poor. During committee and other discussions, we were pretty clear that we know this bill is going to take some money to make a reality and we’re talking about just a specific bill, not any additional plans that we have outside of that.
At this time we feel it’s going to take an additional three positions to help us make some of this work, plus training, plus we have to have costs for the review board. That’s just a starting point and we will be going through the business planning process, rather, the department will be...
I do, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the mover and seconder for bringing this motion to the floor for this important conversation around medical travel. I clearly hear the Members as well as I clearly hear the residents of the Northwest Territories.
Medical travel is an essential component of our health care system, one that affects each and every one of us, every resident, at some point in their lives. As a result, it’s a subject about which many people feel quite passionate, as we’ve heard today, and hold incredibly strong opinions. We all want to know that support is there to ensure...