Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak on why community wellness should be focused on our youth. Listening to Mr. Ootes, I am glad to see that the federal government sees youth employment as top priority. I am concerned that too narrow a focus on employment will not help the youth of our nation. Many of our youth face tremendous barriers in their search for a place in Canadian society. This is especially true with aboriginal youth and youth in northern Canada. Some of these barriers are shared with all Canadian youth: the changing economy; the decline in manufacturing and resource industries; and, the rise of service industry.
There are some barriers which affect aboriginal and northern youth in much higher numbers. One of the highest barriers is that of substance abuse. We have tremendous problems with the abuse of drugs, alcohol and other intoxicants in the North. It should be obvious to the young person who is enslaved by addiction, that they are not likely to have very good employment prospects. Not only would an addicted youth be unlikely to get a good job, but he or she is unlikely to get an adequate education.
Addicted youth, rather than contributing to our society, are far more likely to represent a heavy burden on our strained social system. They will require more health care services, more remedial education, more social assistance payments and more intervention than would youth who are drug free. If we want to see the youth employment situation improve for northern and aboriginal youth, we have to address problems such as addictions. That is why I am confused by the mixed messages put out by both the federal and territorial governments. On the one hand, the government speaks of youth as a priority and funds training initiatives, the federal Taskforce on Youth and other projects.
On the other hand, the federal government takes money away from projects that are already making a positive difference to our youth. The territorial government also says there are no funds for this. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.