Tom Beaulieu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is my privilege to rise today to express my support and appreciation for the great work accomplished by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

This initiative has been no small task. The commission visited our communities, set up supports, and provided a forum to allow our survivors to share their pain and begin to heal. This is a significant accomplishment.

I would like to acknowledge the fourth anniversary of the apology by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and the work of his government, especially Minister Leona Aglukkaq, that has led to this day.

I would also like...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The $75,000 is to fund research into the best practices of early childhood interventions, specifically in collaboration with the Health and Economic Research Institute, to develop a best return on investment for Early Childhood Development Strategy.

I have asked the Joint Leadership Council, that’s the chairpersons and the public administrators of all the health and social services authorities, and they’ve had a discussion with their CEOs to put a recruitment strategy together for physicians. Within that recruitment strategy we are asking each of them to develop various ways where they can recruit physicians to the regions. Some initial discussions we are having with the health and social services authorities are fairly interesting, and we’re hoping that we will have a plan that we can move forward with by September, or we will have a...

I was not able to get that information together today. I will agree to provide that information to the Member as soon as I have that information. Thank you.

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.