Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, during the last sitting, I did several statements regarding health wellness and health promotion by our government. My statement today will be similar with particular focus on health promotion in schools.
Mr. Speaker, it is critical that our government support the healthy learning and development of all our young people within every school across the NWT. Our government needs to ensure that our future generations develop skills and education necessary to have good healthy lives as they develop from adolescents to adulthood.
Mr. Speaker, as our children and our youth go through our education system, from code of conduct to high school, we need to instill in them such things as the importance of healthy, well balanced, nutritious meals, and about the dangers of harm of drugs and alcohol use, and to ensure they have sports and recreation so they stay out of trouble. In addition, Mr. Speaker, we need to ensure that students feel supported in terms of mental health.
There is a vacant counsellor position in my region right now. It is very important that our government works to fill those positions as soon as possible to ensure the students there have the mental health supports they need whenever they need it.
Moreover, Mr. Speaker, if a school is lucky enough to have a counsellor, high turnover rates for such positions makes it difficult for a student to feel motivated to seek help because it makes it that much more challenging for students to establish a rapport and build a positive therapeutic relationship with the counsellors.
In closing, Mr. Speaker, as a government, we need to ensure that all students in every region are supported physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. We must do more to help our students thrive and help lead them into futures they are proud of to look forward to in life. I will have questions for the Minister of ECE later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from the Deh Cho. Members' statements. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
