Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m just going to continue on the same theme here with the Mental Health Act. I have questions here today for the Minister of Justice.
I’d like to ask the Minister of Justice what is the number of psychiatrists and psychologists that we have in our current corrections facilities right now. How many psychiatrists and psychologists are there in the facilities?
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently, corrections has psychologists at the North Slave Correctional Centre as well as the South Mackenzie Correctional Centre who provide mental health services to our inmates. The North Slave Correctional Centre psychologist is currently on maternity leave and is being covered by a contracted psychologist. We don’t have any psychiatrists within our facilities, but psychiatrists are available at Stanton Regional Hospital and corrections has links to those services through referrals, just like any other NWT resident.
It’s good to hear that they do have the services at our corrections facilities. My next question is, in terms of Justice, do peace officers in the Northwest Territories have a good understanding and education of the Mental Health Act, and also understand what their duties are, and under the Mental Health Act and legislation what they’re entitled to do should they encounter somebody with a mental health disorder? Is there a program that ensures they are educated on the Mental Health Act when they do come to the Northwest Territories?
RCMP are familiar with their role under the Mental Health Act. It’s actually part of their training. On specifics, the types of training that they go through and how we ensure that they have that, I’ll get more information for the Member and committee on that. I did fail to indicate one psychologist position that we have at the North Slave Young Offenders Facility. We have a staff counsellor position or individual there who is in the process of obtaining her licence as a psychologist, under supervision of a licenced psychiatrist at Stanton. So we’re working on one more.
