Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A couple small things here as I begin. As I mentioned at the beginning of my statement today, I said one in five Canadians experience mental health problems. The second thing I’d like to acknowledge the great courage of the Duchess of Cambridge who has come here recently in public support of people becoming more aware and helping fight the stigma of mental health. I think people like that show true leadership. They are tremendous people that step forward and help put a face on this fight, and it makes a big difference for those suffering with it because they do feel that they are suffering alone.
Speaking of those who suffer alone, we have the NWT Mental Health Act that, best guess, probably says it won’t be rewritten for at least a year at this particular time. My question for the Minister of Health and Social Services is: We’ve asked for amendments and changes and speed-up, and all those things seem to be almost impossible. But it did occur to me that why couldn’t the Department of Health and Social Services bring forward a simple amendment that could be added to the current act until it’s updated. One that targeted at that would provide some allowances and variances to the existing act where they work with a committee and a family to find better solutions.
The reason I say that question is there are many problems with families right now that they can’t get the services they need because the act stops them from accessing services and needs. But we could provide a simple amendment that could vary that closed door type of thinking. Would the Minister consider something like that?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are no quick fixes for the NWT Mental Health Act. It is a significant act with many parts and components. We have actually considered whether short-term amendments would be appropriate. Even those amendments would take a bit of time. The type of amendment the Member is talking about is not a small amendment. It would be a significant amendment and a significant part of the new act. It’s not a year away. We’re anticipating having the legislation done in the spring. Unfortunately, we don’t believe it will be ready for the May/June session, at which point I do intend to table that legislation in our fall sitting so it’s available for people to discuss and become familiar with. It’s my hope and my intent that that legislation will be passed early in the life of the 18th Legislative Assembly.
I’m going to disagree and I’ll allow the Minister to correct it for the record, but I’m not sure how he doesn’t see it a year away, because if it doesn’t come for a draft tabled before the House, it doesn’t come before the House before the fall of this year, that means the next Assembly won’t have a chance to review it, update it, take it out to public consultation, and they’d be lucky to see it back before February.
The reason I ask for a small amendment that would allow to vary it is that they could work with the committee, and certainly driven by the family, we could find a way to deal with the existing problems. Because when I hear a parent who tells me about their self-medicating child, the instability of the family, they have sleepless nights because they’re worried about what can be done, and as long as this person is falling well within the law and not hurting themselves or others, they create terror to everyone around them. We need to find amendments that could work towards the longer achieving goal. Can the Minister help us with that?
The Member and I want the same thing, which is a comprehensive Mental Health Act that meets the needs of the residents of the Northwest Territories, and we’re committed to doing that. The department is working on it every day.
A significant amount of information came out during our public consultation process. We had a lot of feedback. It was wonderful to get as much feedback as we did. The department is going through that data. It’s analysing that data and writing the act as we speak. The act is currently being written as we speak, but it will take a bit of time and there’s a good chance that it may not be ready for the May/June session. If it’s not, I intend to table it in the August session so that the residents of the Northwest Territories have an opportunity to read it and begin their discussions on it so that we can get it passed early in the life of the next Assembly.
I’m not in a position to say that that lady, Karen Lander, a few years ago the outcome would have been different in her particular circumstances, but what I can say is it might have been a different situation that led to those circumstances. Whether it would have come up with the same end, I don’t know. But I can tell you that if we consider it ourselves for a very quick moment, that if we made a small amendment to the act that it could be varied, many Ministers have the authority to vary certain decisions and this could be certainly one of them. This could be a real opportunity if the legislation isn’t ready in May.
I ask the Minister to reconsider this opportunity, because this is not just helping us, it’s helping hundreds of people. The fact is one in five Canadians suffer from this. If I just took the MLAs alone, that could mean four of the MLAs in this room, and Ministers that is, could be suffering from a mental illness. It’s that close and personal to us.
I don’t know how I can say it over and over again. This is something we do take incredibly seriously, and this is something that we want to get done, and this is something that we’re working on. The amendment the Member is talking about is not a small amendment. It isn’t an easy fix. It would take significant work just to amend the old, outdated, archaic act that we have to address this one issue, and because the act is so outdated, fixing one little clause is not going to give us the tools we truly need. Rewriting the act, the new act is going to give us the tools we need, and we are moving forward as quickly as we can and as responsibly as we can to ensure that we get an act that is right for the people of the Northwest Territories.
Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have no doubt that every one of the 19 Members in this Assembly ran in here with a can-do attitude about trying to do things. I would ask the Minister, is there any reason he here today can stand by and say I will not try this? Would he be willing to at least take this idea to a legal advisor who writes legislation to take a look at this particular scenario?
I’m eager to resolve this issue and it is something that I have already discussed at length with the deputy minister of Health and Social Services and we’ve also had discussions with legal.
The issue is it’s not a simple fix, it’s a significant component of the new legislation and it would actually not really fix it if all the other components of the act were still as archaic and bad as they are today.
I want this legislation done. My colleagues on this side want this legislation done. My colleagues on that side want this legislation done, but I believe they want it done right as opposed to right now. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
