Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in 2013 a Ministers' forum on addictions and community wellness conducted four months of consultations in communities across the territory and produced a report with recommendations that I have been reflecting on personally this week.
It's encouraging to see that some of the recommendations from that forum are finally coming to life. The top priority identified then was community-based and operated on the land programming, and now it's a key priority in this government's mandate. The forum recommended that those coming back from residential treatment get proper aftercare, and now we finally see in this budget money for transitional housing. The forum recommended more cultural awareness and antiracism training for health care providers, and now we see that as part of the way we work.
Now some of the recommendations are ongoing, and we need to continue to return and advocate for these things, such as better recreation and arts programs and on-the-land programs for youth, multi-year core funding for community level programming.
The forum's final recommendation was to turn negative conversations around substance abuse into positive celebrations of individuals who break free from addictions. I want to quote at length from the introductory message by the forum's chair Paul Andrew, who is a wise Shuta Got'ine elder, and I'm very fortunate to have him as a Yellowknife North constituent. Quote: An older man reminded the forum we come from strong people, and we need to return to traditional values that make us strong. Many people, young and old, agreed far too often we in the North keep doing the same things over and over again hoping things will change. More than one community said sending people to jail has not helped the individual, and communities want to be involved in the justice system. Others said trying to sober up a person in isolation is not working, so if a community has addictions issues all should be involved in recovery. People say addictions are everyone's problem, and we must all do our part. They want elders to speak out more often. They want young people to learn about addictions in schools. They are demanding more sober events and want more opportunities to share the beauty of working on healing and wellness. If there's one hope I have, it's that we will never stop talking about healing. We must continue to share, to cry, and to give each other hope. Success belongs to those who dare.
Member from Yellowknife North, your time is up.
I ask for unanimous consent to conclude my statement, Mr. Speaker.
---Unanimous consent granted
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to conclude by saying mahsi cho to Paul for his work and his inspiration and thank you to everyone here. Mahsi cho for everyone's work during this session. I hope we will continue to strive and to dare to make the North a better place. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Members' statements. Member from Great Slave.
