Thank you, Madam Speaker. According to Statistics Canada, the national suicide rates are higher among Indigenous people than the nonIndigenous population in Canada. The NWT Office of the Chief Coroner 20212022 Early Release of Suicide Data Report does not include any data on race or ethnicity, and the absence of this data does not allow the government to target supports and resources to those who really need it. So can the Minister of Justice explain whether or not the chief coroner tracks this data by race or ethnicity? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you. Minister responsible for Justice.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. So the information is currently not tracked. The coroner's office does ask families for information about ethnicity but not all families provide that information. So it's not a full data set. But I can't commit that the coroner's office to do something, but we can have that discussion and look further into it. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. He kind of answered my next question, which was could we commit to trying to track that data as clearly if we don't understand the or can't characterize the extent of the issue, then we wouldn't be able to come up with some good solutions. Given the overrepresentation of Indigenous men in our criminal justice system, which suicide prevention strategies are being used in our correctional facilities and rehabilitation programs? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. So obviously the staff are the people who are in direct contact with inmates in correctional facilities and staff are they receive training in applied suicide intervention skills, so the assist training that's been discussed in this House before. They also receive mental health first aid training, and this year they've moved to the mental health first aid northern peoples edition training. The intake process at corrections includes screening for suicide and mental health issues. There are psychologists, counsellors, and traditional counsellors in the correctional facilities, depending on which facility you are in. And there are a number of different programs as well that incarcerated individuals can access. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. And I'm glad to hear that those supports are in place for people while they're in the criminal justice system or within the facilities themselves. Can the Minister speak to what's given or offered to inmates after they've left the facility as far as mental health and wellness counselling or supports go? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. So once someone is released from a correctional facility, they often have to check in with probation officers, and those probation officers can provide additional support, often things that are maybe not even necessarily in the policy manual. You know, when you're dealing with people in real life situations, you might be providing supports that are outside of what is normally provided. But we don't have, I mean aftercare I guess, in the Northwest Territories for people who are coming out of jail. The move towards the therapeutic model at the South Mackenzie Correctional Centre is moving in that direction where we are trying to give people the skills they need while they are incarcerated, and then hopefully begin to provide assistance afterwards as well so that they don't get back on the same track so they can maintain the progress that they've made. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Speaker, and I'm glad to hear the Minister speaking about a change in the way that we're approaching things. There's definitely a lack of aftercare for people that are released from our correctional facilities. Can the Minister speak to anything that has been done in the last year, so that's innovative or different to the Northwest Territories when it comes to our vulnerable Indigenous men? Has there been something within the correctional system that he can point to as a success. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. So one of the major things that has happened in the past or just over a year I guess a year and two days ago was the new Corrections Act came into force, and that act restructures our correctional system with more of a focus on rehabilitation as opposed to punishment. We are still, you know, in the process of implementing that Act. It has only been a year, and much of that was COVID times so we haven't quite gotten to the point where I think we want to. But there's a recognition that doing the same old thing doesn't work, and so we are trying to move in a direction where we while we have people in the facilities, that we work with them and we help them so that they don't wind up back in there again. Thank you.
Thank you. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.
