Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I made references to two different reports that came out. One was the Mental Health Indicators for Canada. I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services if he or his department is familiar with this report that was released on January 22nd and if it’s been something that’s been brought up a lot among the Health and Social Services Ministers across the country. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department does keep up on most of the publications that are out there with respect to health and social services and mental health. I haven’t personally seen it myself, but I will confirm, I will check with the department to confirm they have it.
We haven’t had any tri-territorial meetings with the Ministers of Health and Social Services since January 29th, so the answer to his second part is no.
This document, the Mental Health Indicators for Canada, will help paint a complete picture of mental health throughout this country and also here in the Northwest Territories. It’s going to allow us to tell us how well we are doing or how poorly we are doing in terms of the health system in responding to Canadians’ mental health and well-being and their needs and what we need to do to effect the change and also here in the Northwest Territories.
Will the Minister and his department look at these? There are 13 indicators. Will he and his department look at these 13 indicators, compare it to our Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan and see if there’s anything that we need to incorporate or change, so that these indicators can help us, direct us in making the decisions to help those that need mental health services? Thank you.
The Department of Health and Social Services has just recently put in 32 indicators to monitor the effectiveness of the health and social services system here in the Northwest Territories. But we also rely on information that other organizations are putting together to help us make informed decisions here in the Northwest Territories, organizations such as CIHI. Any nationally recognized organization that is doing this type of an analysis, we do get the information and we do look at it. We’re always looking for ways to improve our reporting mechanisms. So, we will certainly look at that, and if there’s any need to update or enhance our 32 indicators, we’re always looking to improve it.
I’m glad that the department is keeping up to date on all these national standards. In fact, this is the first ever national level set of indicators that identifies and reports on the mental health of Canadians.
So I’d like to ask the Minister, if this report is something that the department wants to move forward on, will he bring together stakeholders to look at these indicators and act on them, much like the Anti-Poverty Strategy? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We already have a Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan, and as far as indicators to help us identify whether we’re on the right track, or whether we have to amend our approach, we’re always looking for ways to improve what we do.
The Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan is a living document and it will continue to move forward and it will continue to evolve as realities change. As we learn more through new indicators, it would be inappropriate for us to remain static. We will have to be flexible.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
