Tom Beaulieu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t know the exact time. From what I understand, the individual must remain sober for some time and also attend counselling prior to going into treatment. However, there has been a bit of a call from communities that this thing should be shortened and should be reduced, that when an individual’s time has come where they recognize that they have to go to treatment right now, that should be available. We are actually looking at that to see what type of success rate we would have if we were to do that instantly. That it is the minute the individual wants to go to...

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today is language day. I will be doing a part of my Member’s statement in Chipewyan.

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to pay tribute to Alphonse King of Fort Resolution. He’s also known as “The Fonze.” Alphonse King was born April 5, 1949, and passed away June 8, 2012. He was only 63 years old. He died of terminal cancer.

[English translation not provided.]

Alphonse King spent the first quarter of his life in Rocher River. Like many people from Rocher River, Alphonse had to move to Fort Resolution when the school in Rocher River burnt down. He was a trapper and he had...

Mr. Speaker, once the legislative proposal is developed and we share that, we will go through the regular process. We will assume that this one will require a considerable amount of consultation.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The $300,000 is, in the opinion of the department, new money. It is not something that this is an action plan that we are developing now. Like I said, it will be tabled in the House tomorrow. Yes, it has been discussed with the committee. We think that this forms a very huge part of our Prevention and Promotion Strategy. It is one of the bigger parts, aside from the wellness plans and so on. We have some other stuff that is in the works, like the community wellness plans which are funded by the federal government, that we are working on now. This is something that we...

Mr. Speaker, some of the ones – this may not be all of them – that we are looking at are licenced practical nurses, psychologists, medical service providers, and also we are hearing lots of information, getting a lot of information from naturopaths. So there could be quite a few of them under one umbrella. We have hired some legal people to look at it. We have a contract with them throughout this year and next year to make sure that we are doing this right and that we are not infringing on anybody’s legal rights. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I agree that just on pure numbers it’s highest in Yellowknife. On a percentage basis, they’re probably one of the lower communities that are suffering from addictions. Issues with addictions and mental health, and so on, are fairly high on a percentage basis in the small communities. The intention, though, is that if we go down the list here, there are fairly good supports within the city, as well, as it is in some of the regional centres, but especially here in the city where we have most of the doctors living. The Minister’s Forum on Addictions is a part of the Mental...

Mr. Speaker, the program at the North Slave Correctional Centre is not yet developed, but anything that this department can do to assist Justice in the development of counselling and the work inside the correctional centres, we are prepared to do. Thank you.

I don’t have that information with me as far as the percentage. I would say that more of the money would be spent on the prevention through lifestyle changes and also looking at other things like the environment.

Thank you. I don’t have that information with me here, but I can provide that information to the Member. That’s the number of different treatment centres and the number of people attending those treatment centres. No problem. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. This is the last region that doesn’t have a Healthy Families program. We have gone from the original communities, which I don’t have right now but I think are Fort Smith, Hay River, Behchoko, Yellowknife, and then we’re expanding into the Deh Cho, by having a Healthy Families program in Fort Simpson, with satellite offices or satellite programs, in Fort Providence and Fort Liard. Then we’re expanding into the Beaufort-Delta and Inuvik with a satellite program in Fort McPherson. This is the only region that didn’t have a Healthy Families program, so we’re expanding into...