Thank you, Madam Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Justice.
In December I asked the question to the Minister of Justice regarding the establishment of mental health diversion courts. This mechanism is commonly used to more effectively deal with the high numbers of offenders suffering from mental illnesses and addictions. It also avoids the administrative cost burdens that will result from the new Bill C-10 provisions that we discussed earlier.
I’ve since met with the Ministers of Justice and Health and Social Services to discuss mental health diversion courts and wellness courts, and the Minister promised actions and confirmed them in a written reply to my oral question. I’m asking: Could the Minister update us on the status of this work since December, including the research he mentioned is underway on the Yukon wellness court? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The Minister of Justice, Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Work continues to be ongoing. As a matter of fact, our director of court services has just got back from the Yukon, where she was meeting with counterparts in the Yukon to review the actual wellness court that exists in that jurisdiction. We aren’t looking at just that model. We are looking at a number of models and pulling information together.
Currently, a terms of reference to support the work of the interdepartmental committee, which will examine the feasibility of a specialized court as well as consider ways to improve service delivery for mental health services, has just been completed. Those terms of reference are now up and running. From there we’re going to develop a work plan. We hope to have the work plan done by the end of August, and then work on the analysis done by the end of this fiscal year, so we can share it with committee and Members to figure out the next step and which model we want to pursue, how we want to move forward. We have to have those three steps done by the end of this fiscal year.
I appreciate that update from the Minister. In the December statement, the Minister said he would be working with the Health Minister on prevention and treatment options, and I think that’s what the Minister was talking about. I’m wondering, given that this work is ongoing, and hopefully we’re going to come up with a good solution, is the Minister aiming at avoiding the costs of Bill C-10 through his prevention program or is his strategy to come up with the dollars for new facilities and services and so on. What is the goal? What is the strategic direction of this Minister in consultation with his other colleagues taking?
Madam Speaker, if and when we get this court in place, this will obviously be a particular tool that is available to us to help offset the cost by keeping some of the low-risk offenders out of our facility. It is something we need to do. It is something that we are pursuing. As I indicated, we hope to have something available to share with Members so we can actually set a direction on which model we want to use.
In the meantime, we are managing within to make sure that we can handle the number of inmates coming into our facilities. We do know that we do need to upgrade the facility in Fort Smith, the female facility. That needs to be done regardless of Bill C-10 and that is something we need to do. We know that when we build it, we need to build it thinking about the future, not just the present. It will have to be larger than it is. We are focused on right now trying to manage the load, not have to pursue additional space and finding ways to get the lower risk inmates out of the facilities appropriately.
Madam Speaker, I would like to mention that, of course, this all started with motions in the 16th Assembly. There has been a lot of time for the government to react to those requests. We started discussions, I would say, within two weeks of being elected, so this has been going on since October. Every time that I meet, there are promises made of when they are going to… Now we are talking the end of August for plan at the end of this fiscal year.
Does the Minister find this satisfactory? How does he see it in terms of the timing of the consequences of this crime bill and the implementation of these ephemeral programs that keep receding in time? Thank you.
Madam Speaker, this is actually the first time that I have indicated any deadlines that we are going to be moving forward, in particular with the work plan for August 12th and then having a decision point for the end of the fiscal year.
Right now we don’t have a significant demand on our system. A lot of the acts on Bill C-10 haven’t actually come into effect yet, so we still have time. We are still in the planning phase, trying to make sure we can accommodate these changes when they come forward. We know this court is a valuable tool. We want to continue to pursue it, but honestly, we would rather get it right, than right now. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thanks for those comments from the Minister. I think we are at least in total agreement on the last statement he made. We do want to get it right.
One of the administrative mechanisms the Minister has mentioned is a move to an integrated case management, meaning that GNWT treatment and client service that work cooperatively to bring the various available programs to bear in helping individual clients. This would break down the cycles and improve the effectiveness of the individual programs. What progress has the Minister made on that front? Mahsi.
This is one of the items that is actually falling under the work plan and the terms of reference that I mentioned earlier. The departments, including MACA, Housing Corporation, Justice, Education and Health, have been working together on these types of initiatives, trying to find ways to break down some of these barriers. We will continue to do so. We will find some solutions hopefully that will improve service delivery in this area in particular. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
