Mr. Speaker, obviously that’s a very complicated issue, and it’s one that has to be addressed in multi-faceted ways. The government and the Department of Health work with other organizations on suicide prevention, working with youth. The government funds various programs to support youth. I think over the last two, three years, we have made some progress in that area.

Specifically to mental health and addictions issues in small communities, it is a constant challenge to be able to provide a community-based program. We do fund about $7 million for 75 positions. But in the last three, four, five years, we’ve had a constant level of vacancies with community wellness workers positions. It’s up to about 25 per cent. But we’re making steady progress in that area. And I look forward to working on that more with the Member.

Mr. Speaker, would the Minister tell me what role the Lutselk’e Indian Band has had in the delivery of counselling services at the community level?

Mr. Speaker, as far as I understand, all of the programs for mental health counselling and community support work in that area are delivered by Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority, which oversees that community.

Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to working with myself and the community, specifically the Lutselk’e Indian Band, to explore options for actively engaging the community for delivery of effective community-based counselling services in Lutselk’e?

Absolutely, I am willing to do that and prepared to do that, Mr. Speaker.

I’d like to just give notice to the Members that I’m in the process of having the department review our entire mental health and addictions strategy. The

current plan that we have in place has been in the works for about four or five years.

But I think there’s room for a change and room for revising and re-profiling, specifically giving more multi-dimensional roles to our community workers, social workers, mental health workers, so that we have a holistic approach towards those who walk into the office and need help. Right now, I think the way it’s being done is way too many stovepipes, and one may not be working as efficiently and effectively as we could.

So I look forward to working on that process with the Member in the coming months. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is certainly our intention. As has been mentioned, we do have 118 potentially affected employees, depending on whether the budget gets passed or not. There are a number of these employees that are approaching some significant milestones with regard to retirement. So this is an area that we’re looking at.

I thank you, Minister, for that answer. Particularly in regard to those who are approaching retirement or those who are requesting voluntary separation, there are policies which are in place. I wonder if the Minister could advise whether or not the department is open to actions for these particular employees that are outside the current policy.

We are open to looking at all possible options and with the individuals that are potentially affected.

I’m glad to hear that. Thank you, Minister.

I’d like to know whether or not the Minister can advise what kind of a time frame is involved. I presume there has to be Cabinet approval of any changes to these policies. Can he advise when these policies will be going forward to Cabinet and when we might expect some kind of a response in that regard?

Mr.

Speaker, we had an

opportunity to brief the standing committee with regard to human resources, and I am waiting for a letter from the committee that would indicate they’re supportive of the department taking such an approach. If we have that support, then we would go forward.

Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I missed that part of the meeting. That wasn’t my understanding. I will discuss that with the committee.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. I didn't hear a question there. The Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Mr.

Speaker, in regard to the

statement made earlier today by the Minister of Justice in regard to policing in Sachs Harbour, I’d like to applaud him on that. But more importantly, we still have, I believe, nine or ten communities out there that still don’t have policing.

I think it is an essential service for our communities, and also for our professionals to deliver programs and services in those communities. I’m talking about the community I represent, Tsiigehtchic, where they were having problems attracting nurses and also in ensuring public safety in their community.

I’d like to ask the Minister of Justice: exactly what is he doing to ensure the other nine communities will also have a similar opportunity where we can expand the policing into those other communities that don’t have that policing in place at the present date?

The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Lafferty.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to thank the Member for asking that. It’s one of the important questions that I addressed today in my Minister’s statement.

We are focusing on the small communities that don’t have RCMP detachments, and Sachs Harbour is one of them that we have identified.

There will be two more that are coming up: Gametì and Wrigley. We will continue to stress this with our federal government, to push them even further to establish more of a presence in the communities.

For the remaining communities without detachments, I’ll certainly make a commitment in this House to continue working with the federal Minister. We met already, last year, as part of the FPT meeting, and I did stress the importance of having police presence.

Mr. Speaker, I believe it’s an essential service, like I mentioned earlier. Again, it may be some time before we do get to all the nine communities, but I believe we do have to look for options and alternatives.

I’d like to ask the Minister: have you looked at the possibility of either increasing the number of RCMP visits to our communities, where they stay a couple of days or they drop in on a weekend? At least with their presence, a community does feel a lot safer; but also, building that relationship between the RCMP and the community is just as important as having an individual stationed there.

I’d like to ask the Minister: have they looked at options of ensuring that there will be more police presence in those communities that don’t have police?

Mr. Speaker, this is one area that our department is focusing on: those without detachments. We will certainly work on a schedule. We do have schedules in place for visits from the regional centres to communities without detachments.

Also, the Member talked about possibly options of overnighting. We need to work with the communities in finding suitable accommodation for officers to be in a safe environment in the communities. So we are continuing to work with the communities to identify those accommodations.

Also, the Member brought up a good point about building relationships. That is one of our strengths in the communities. We want to build on our strengths, having open communication and dialogue, and also building on our relationship with the RCMP, the communities, the leadership and the community as a whole.

Mr. Speaker, another option that I think the Minister should certainly consider looking at is, I believe, that under the policing agreement, it does talk about First Nations policing and also the possibility of looking at special constables.

I think that we have to look at every avenue that we have available to us, because I believe that without policing in our communities, it is affecting the government’s ability to deliver programs and

services, especially around nursing, teachers and other professions in those communities.

I’d like to ask the Minister: have they also talked with the federal government, or even with the aboriginal governments in the Northwest Territories, about looking at the possibility of First Nations policing?

Mr. Speaker, the area of special constables in community policing has been addressed by my department. I

met with the

commissioner of the RCMP just last month. We just had an initial discussion of trying to find out where the status was with aboriginal policing in the communities. I was told, at that time, that news will be coming this summer — late summer or early fall — and that there will be an announcement from the federal government.

Currently they are looking at options of reintroducing community policing, whether it be the special constables…. They’re still working out the logistics on that, and there’ll certainly be good news for the communities. It will certainly benefit most of the communities that have the detachments. Certainly we’ll work with the communities that do not have detachments at this time.