Tom Beaulieu

Mr. Speaker, perhaps the gaps that are easy to fill can be identified and done within the next three years with this action plan. I’m sure that there will have to be more resources put in or resources moved around. That’s part of the issue; is right now we’re not sure if we need a lot more resources, because the whole nature of a plan like this is so that in the future we are avoiding a lot of costs, a lot of health costs, a lot of costs on treatment and so on, because if we go into prevention, in the future we don’t have to treat.

I think this plan is going to give us at least the ability to...

Mr. Speaker, that’s a difficult question. Creating legislation to move some money from liquor sales, tax on liquor sales to help with addictions and mental health and so on is one thing. If that’s what he’s referring to, then that legislation is something that would be developed by the Department of Finance.

I’m not sure what type of legislation we would have to develop in order to prevent people from consuming alcohol. Drugs are illegal. Alcohol is legal. We need to develop legislation around alcohol, but what type of legislation would prevent people from consuming alcohol when it’s available...

No, we are going to start this action plan and then we are going to start using the business planning process to either renew this action plan or build on to this action plan. We’ll see how this goes. We’ll have a good lay of the land on what we have out there as far as mental health and addiction issues and then, from there, we will build on something that is longer term. We are not going to start at the end of this, but we will start during this action plan. We will start to develop that longer-term strategy. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the department sees that as probably the number one gap as we talked to other Members about service gaps. That is detoxification. Detoxification is a program. It is not a treatment. We don’t have an actual facility for individuals to go to detoxify. However, it is a program that we would work on.

We see that as a service gap. We’re not sure that we’re going to build infrastructure around trying to work on detox, but rather develop some programs that will be used to help people to detoxify before going for treatment. Thank you.

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Mr. Speaker, I’d like to pass my condolences on to the family of Alphonse King, who died way too soon. I’m sure that he will be sadly missed by his entire family in Fort Resolution.

I don’t think the counsellors are going into the day shelter to counsel the people that are there, but there are services available in the community. What I’m saying is that we can advise the people that are there, that are staying there during the day, the individuals or the organization that’s running the shelter, we can provide them information on what counselling services are available, and they can provide that information to the people that are resident there during the day.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. At the appropriate time today, I will table our action plan, “A Shared Path Towards Wellness – Mental Health and Addictions, 2012-2015.”

The new action plan will help improve mental health and reduce addiction in the NWT. A Shared Path Towards Wellness will create a more efficient system that will allow residents to receive assessment, treatment and support services when and where they need them. The three-year action plan builds on the existing system and incorporates innovative ideas from our stakeholders to better coordinate and integrate our services.

The action plan...

The department does not support public drinking. This is not supposed to be a drinking establishment. It was some place to provide a day shelter for individuals that had nowhere else to go during the day. If this is officially a complaint that people are drinking in the day shelter, I will contact the department, the department will make contact with the RCMP and the RCMP can check it out. Thank you.

We haven’t engaged the federal government in this area at this time because this is still going through the budget process. As soon as the budget process is through, I think we would be… As the Minister responsible for Seniors, I know that we are having an FPT meeting and I’m sure that will be one of the topics coming up. If not, I could ensure the Member that I will engage the other federal Minister responsible for Seniors to see how that is going to impact the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know recently that a seniors handbook was published which lays out the programs from the various departments. For Health and Social Services, we are offering things in the health area. We offer home care for independent living, long-term care for elders and seniors that need it, and also for other health programs and extended health benefits which provide prescription drugs, medical travel, medical supplies, appliances, prostheses, hearing aids, dental services and eye glasses.