Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve got some questions today for the Minister of Health in regard to his Minister’s statement on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission support. In his statement he makes reference to what we fund addictions counselors, on-the-land programs and treatment centres for residents. I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services what centres he’s referring to. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m referring to the one treatment centre we have in the Northwest Territories, Nats’ejee K’eh, and then, when required, people are sent to treatment centres in the South also.
Thank you. Can the Minister provide us with the numbers of out-of-territory patients, clients that are constantly going to treatment centres down south and how many different treatment centres down south is he referring to? Thank you.
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. Throughout the term of this Assembly, at the beginning I was asking questions in regard to the waiting list of members that need counselling, and in reference to the Minister’s statement, Inuvik specifically, there’s a three-month waiting list for anybody to get counselling, and with the TRC event even more are happening. So I was wondering if the Minister or his department has addressed this issue in Inuvik and if he’s seeing any growing trend in the communities that hosted a TRC event this past year. Thank you.
Thank you. Aside from what is already in the budget for community counselling, we are trying to now work with our department and within our department to develop wellness plans with all of the communities. Also, tomorrow there will be a Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan released. We’re going to use that plan over the next three years to try to address the backlog that was created by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s work, and then also having the federal government really not having enough resources at the communities to address all of the issues that came about from people trying to address their long-term issues due to the residential school. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is an issue that I’ve been seeing even before I got into the House as a Member. But continuing on, I see some good work also by the Minister of Justice in terms of the NSCC facility. Is the Minister working with the Minister of Justice to help him develop these counselling programs for the inmates? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
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.
The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
