Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are also for the Minister of Health and Social Services. In the Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan: A Shared Path Towards Wellness, it states that the Department of Health and Social Services spends $9 million each year to support mental health and addictions, yet there are 11 service gaps that are presented.
I’d like to quote the Minister of Health and Social Services during the TLC, where he states, “When I speak to community health providers, there is a need for alcohol counselling, there is a need for treatment to be close to the people where the people live. We need to have those services at the community level and on the land where the people can work together in healing.” Yet this Minister sent the Minister’s Forum on the road at a cost of $300,000 and he didn’t feel that money could be spent better anywhere else.
My question to the Minister in that sense, some stuff that was laid out in the budget process, he did mention detox beds. Can I ask the Minister of Health and Social Services how many detox beds are there going to be in the Northwest Territories and where are they going to be located?
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The determination of detox beds had come as a result of some questioning in the House here where we had determined that there are no detox beds available anywhere in the health care system. What that indicated then was that beds can be made available at the Stanton Hospital and the Beaufort-Delta hospital. What we will do is ensure that if somebody needs detox around those two centres, that detox beds can be made available to individuals for detoxification.
There are so many different areas from the budget address and what we’ve discussed in the past here, but the Minister did mention Yellowknife and Inuvik. With all the services that Yellowknife does have, even though it is a growing problem here in Yellowknife – and I appreciate that – I’d like to make a recommendation that we have one detox or two detox beds in the north and two in the south where we also have a lot of issues and concerns but don’t have the resources. Will the Minister commit to putting those detox beds, one or two detox beds in the north and one or two detox beds in the south? Will he commit to that?
I can commit to making beds available for detoxification, two in the North and two in the South.
It was really good news to hear that we did get the $1.15 million and the commitment, as well, into mental health and addictions, and it says that the money is going to be supported in the initiatives with the shared plan towards wellness. Was this $1.15 million allocated to this action plan in the initial budget before the budget dialogue process happened? Was that $1.15 million allocated in the initial budget?
In order to fully implement the action, the department would need, I think, $1.4 million ongoing for the three full years for the implementation of the action plan. Some of the action plan may indicate that we look at programs. Like the Member had indicated, we’re spending about $9 million in community counselling, residential treatment and so on. That could be part of the action plan as well, the programs that we currently have in place. But this is what we think we would need in order to fully implement the action plan for the next three years so that we actually complete the action plan.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do appreciate the challenges that we face. We do have an action plan here, and the action plan says we need action. How is he going to address this shortfall in funding so that we don’t continue to take care and treatment, rather that we can start making preventative measures sooner than later?
At the department we don’t think we have a shortfall in funding. We think that the action plan is something that would work within our current framework. The goals are to promote and understand awareness and acceptance for mental health. We focus on the person. We talk about improving availability and access to services, so the services that are available, we would try to make them more accessible to improve the efficiency of the services that we have in place. I think that’s going to save money, not cost us money. Some of those goals are what we’re looking at in this action plan.
As a department we are fairly comfortable that we’re moving forward with the money that we have and that there will be some results.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
