Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I just want to wish everybody back home and in the House: happy Easter. Have a good weekend with our families. My son's back home in the Delta, so we are looking forward to a spring hunt and fishing. Looking forward to that, getting excited to get home. To all our constituents in the Delta and Nunakput, please have a safe spring. Enjoy your time here with your families.

I took part myself. We went down and watched the dog races last weekend. I would like to congratulate Grant Beck and Richard Beck and Brent for first, second, and third. Brent is the 150-mile...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services on providing mental health services across the Delta and my riding of Nunakput. Can the Minister provide me with an update on the activities supporting mental health that will take place in our small communities, including the Nunakput region, this year? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that. I really think we should be going towards Zoom conferences like we've been doing now. I really think that there are companies that do this professionally for youth across Canada. They have people who have been testing it with First Assist, John Chabot or Devin Buffalo out of Wetaskiwin, both former hockey players, but something like that for our youth. We need it. We have nothing going on in the communities. They're struggling, our youth. We can only do so much, I know, but there have to be ways that we can tap in to help them and really...

What other culturally appropriate mental health supports are currently available for Northerners?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mental health is critical for the health and well-being for our people. We all have felt the impact from our measures to keep the spread of COVID-19 under control. Symptoms like anxiety and depressive disorders are said to be increasing, in particular in your younger adults. Some people even ask for a vaccine to deal with mental health side effects from COVID.

I'm concerned, Mr. Speaker, that, in the riding of Nunakput and the Beaufort-Delta, there is a lack of mental health support, particularly in Inuvialuit men and our youths. The struggle resulting from residential...

We're going towards a digital age, even though I always say it's always good to have people coming to our communities to talk to people instead of doing it digitally or through the Internet and stuff like that. What is the Minister doing to move towards digital healthcare for residents like they do in the health centres for doctors? Are they able to do that with people with mental illness and stuff like that to take the time with their patients, the southern doctors who are available? Is that available to the people?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, back from our two-week break, I just want to thank some people. Being home for the last two weeks, you see how hard the people are working, our communities, our front-line staff. I really want to thank our schoolteachers because we had a shorter break in Nunakput so that they could go home earlier this year; our RCMP staff and our health centre; and I would like to thank the mayors and councillors, Tuktoyaktuk Community Corporation, Paulatuk Community Corporation, Ulukhaktok, and Sachs Harbour. Also, our elders' committees are working so hard, and our local DEAs...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We know school attendance across our territory and especially small communities is lacking, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Education has talked about: missing just one day means a student has missed over two years of school before he hits grade 12. The pandemic has made it even more challenging as a shift to online learning challenges parents, teachers, students around the country. We are fortunate that students are still learning in our classrooms and the territory. I am worried about school attendances is low, and our education has to be made a priority for families...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, my Member's statement was on the lack of attendance in our small communities, so I would like to see if the Minister is willing to come up to my riding of Nunakput and go on like a tour, and meet with the local DEAs and our local leadership in regard to encouraging our staff and encouraging the teachers on doing a good job that they're doing but encouraging the parents to get their kids to school. That being said, I'm inviting the Minister up to Nunakput as soon as possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I am glad that Minister Green brought this up, with elders aging in care in their home communities. Elders' facilities in Paulatuk and Ulukhaktok and keeping our elders home, Mr. Speaker: our elders have these facilities in Ulukhaktok and Paulatuk. These are small communities that would not take much to care for elders, but here in our six-bed long-term care facility, we would not have to send them to Inuvik to be away from the family, which is so tough on our elders right now. Our elders in our communities are very active. Our elders work to keep our culture...