Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the lead Minister of the Wellness Court, or the second lead. As I said in my Member’s statement earlier today, the Wellness Court is a most welcome new tool in the justice and health systems toolbox. Why use a hammer when a minor adjustment with a wrench is what is required? I’m wondering if our justices feel there is sufficient medical and justice resources available for a successful Wellness Court.
So my question is: What new resources have been made available, through both Justice and Health and Social Services, to achieve the potential we know is possible through this new court? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister of Justice, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for both his statement and his questions today and his support for the NWT Wellness Court, which rolled out… The first case was heard October 2nd of this year.
The question about resources, so far this year, $305,000, and for next year we’re looking at $970,000. That’s in ‘15-16 and ongoing. We aren’t going to be successful with the Wellness Court unless we are continuing to work with our colleagues at Health and Social Services and Education, Culture and Employment on the rollout of the Wellness Court and getting the people the help that they need when they need it the most. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister. I don’t disagree with any of the comments. I assume those are Justice dollars and I had also asked about the Health and Social Services dollars. The evolution of a program like the Wellness Court must be driven by results. Over a few years, the Yukon Wellness Court gained an astounding drop in the rate of recidivism from 90 percent to 11 percent for those who completed the program. In past I have not been able to get information on what our rates of recidivism are, let alone how they are changing.
What systems are now in place to gather the statistics necessary to measure the effectiveness of our Wellness Court to ensure that it stays on track and continually improves? For example, what is the recidivism rate prior to implementation of the court that we will use as a basis for future considerations and so on? Mahsi.
The Member is correct; we are going to be taking stock of what happens with the Wellness Court. We’re going to be keeping track of the recidivism, and we are going to be getting the people the supports that they need as they go through the Wellness Court. We certainly are looking forward to getting those numbers.
As I mentioned, the Wellness Court took its first case October 2nd, so we are only a few weeks into it, but my belief and the belief of the Department, and of course we have the support of the judiciary as well, is that the Wellness Court is going to make a difference and we’re convinced that it will make a difference. We will just need some time to see what a big difference it will make. We should be able to get the Member some statistics, perhaps mid next year, that should indicate that our numbers are trending in the right direction. Thank you.
The Auditor General has continually pointed out how this government has failed because we fail to put evaluation systems in place. Obviously, it’s getting too late to put an evaluation system in place. I had asked the Minister what systems he had put in place to ensure that information. This is very disappointing and, I would say, very irresponsible to be going forward with this program without those systems in place.
The Wellness Court is heavily dependent on other departments in the social envelope; for example, Health and Social Services and perhaps ECE.
What systems are in place to capture, compile and understand results from across these departments to evaluate Wellness Court programs and enable timely improvements, given that there is obviously none in Justice? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, just waiting for my light to come back on.
I’m not quite sure what the Member is getting at. We have systems in place at the Department of Justice. I can’t speak for the other two departments, but we are not going to be putting the resources and the effort into establishing a Wellness Court here in the Northwest Territories without a way to measure the success of it, measure how it is impacting people that are going through the court system. When we lay this out, those measurements are in place; they certainly will be looked at. All I was mentioning was that the court has only been established since October 2nd. It is too early to get the statistics the Member is talking about. That was my thought process there.
To the Member, we do have processes in place at the Department of Justice, and I want to assure the House and the Member that we do in fact have those in place. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks for the additional information from the Minister. I wonder if the Minister would commit to providing that. I apparently misunderstood his earlier comments.
I think we all expect great things from this program, judging from the results we have seen in the Yukon.
Will the Minister commit to annually report back to this House as to the efficacy of the Wellness Court and its attendant programs in other departments, which are critically important as well? Mahsi.
Yes, that would be something that we would look forward to doing. Again, we believe it will be very successful and we would like to share all that information with Members of the House and the public. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
