Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of Justice. The rate of mental health issues in the Northwest Territories is the highest in Canada. Health and Social Services is in the process of reorganizing our mental health services. A motion in the 16th Assembly calling for a mental health court was overwhelmingly endorsed by front-line, non-government organizations, and Bill C-10, obviously, elevates dramatically the need for prevention and diversion programs to keep people, especially those with mental health issues, out of the costly justice process. What is the Minister doing to get a mental health court in place and resolve this need? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the 16th Legislative Assembly I believe my colleague Mr. Bromley put forward a motion that was seconded by the Member from Frame Lake, which asked us to begin research and examine options for potential benefits of the introduction of a mental health court. Since we’ve come back as the 17th Assembly, I’ve had conversations with my colleague Mr. Bromley, but also my colleague Mr. Beaulieu about this particular opportunity.
The Minister of Health has indicated that they wish to be moving forward with more prevention and treatment options within the Department of Health and Social Services, and we’ve agreed to work together to come up with a response on whether a mental health court would be the appropriate tool to use here in the Northwest Territories. But in addition, we also want to talk about integrated case management, having the departments of Justice and Health and Social Services work together more closely. We want to talk about front-end diversion to community programs and supports that could be done by the RCMP and other organizations before people are even charged, and we want to talk a lot about specialized courts.
Will a mental health court be the exact one that is laid out in the end if it is deemed to be appropriate? I can’t say. There are other options like a wellness court used in the Yukon, but it is certainly something that we’re exploring at this point in time.
We need to look at the social indicators of crime in the Northwest Territories and we need to all work together. I’m excited to say that the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Social Services are going to be working on this and will, hopefully, come to committee and Members with some options which may indeed include a diversion-type court yet to be determined. Thank you.
I appreciate that all those discussions are being had and are ongoing but, obviously, the need is only growing, so we really want on-the-ground actions. I guess my next question will be when can we see recommendations coming forward that we can actually get going on the ground. Thank you.
I can’t say exactly when we’ll actually see the recommendations come forward, but I have committed to work with the Department of Health and Social Services to come up with a working group that’s going to come up with these recommendations. I hope to have that to the Member shortly after Christmas, as far as when the actual recommendations come out. We might need a bit more time. I will continue to work on that.
Building on this is the conversation I had with the federal Minister on Monday. The federal Minister did indicate that they would be willing to work with us on options to help keep individuals out of the court system and that mental health courts or divergent court of some sort might be one of those options. We are getting support from other areas as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Again, I appreciate the response from the Minister. Obviously the motion and the discussions – I think this was brought up in our motion on Bill C-10 as well – was specifically to deal with the mental health issues. Can the Minister assure me that there will be a focus of the… Obviously I am hoping for broader and other areas of prevention and diversion, but in this particular case I am hoping we can focus on the mental health issues that the Northwest Territories is challenged with. Thank you.
I commit that in the research that the working group does that they will include those types of discussions and they will certainly include all of the research and analysis that my colleague Mr. Bromley had prepared as part of the motion in the 16th Assembly. We are looking to collect as much information as we can and to include all of that. I commit that that information will certainly be included.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess, just briefly, I would be interested to learn what possibilities there are for support from the federal government to deal with these issues based on the Minister’s visit. Thank you.
During my conversation with the federal Minister of Justice in Ottawa, we talked about options to keep people out of the court system and we have agreed that our department, and the federal department and the territorial department are going to work together to come up with some options in this area. Diversions is certainly one of those areas. The departments will continue to have that conversation. As more information comes down, I am absolutely happy to share that with committee and with the Regular Members. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Time for oral questions is now complete. But before we move on, colleagues, I would like to have recognition of visitors in the gallery. Annemieke Mulders, NWT Status of Women; Dawn Tremblay, Ecology North; Lois Little; Ron McLean, United Church; Sandra Lockhart, PSAC North; and Ben McDonald, Alternatives North. Welcome to the House.
