Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This isn’t the first time that my colleagues have called on the government to take some real action on this issue. I have to admit that I have been very disappointed to the response to previous calls for action, and particularly I wanted to mention a treatment system that had been developed in the Yukon and was written off, as we heard in the response from Cabinet, apparently because it wasn’t fully carried out. They didn’t have firm evidence that it worked, yet it was based on common sense and it was a comprehensive approach. It was full of common sense and yet our Cabinet chose to, again, ignore this when they had an opportunity to put it in place even on a pilot basis.
What were some of the bits of common sense that it proposed or brought? It was community-based. It involved strong preparation and support of people who were putting themselves forward for treatment in preparation to ensure that they achieved the best benefits from the actual treatment itself. It ensures community peers went forward together so that they could always have that support. It provided for follow-up and aftercare once people returned to the communities. All elements of this study and yet nonchalantly, apparently written off in favour of more study.
We’ve heard over and over again from people across the Territories what needs to be done. I can be walking down the street and be pulled over by a staff person from the Tree of Peace, and I’m sure that this phenomenon is true for all of us in all of our communities. There are people that know what needs to be done, and surely we’ve listened to them over the past decades.
Of course, in terms of the economies of investment here, this has the potential for a big return. We know that we are losing our people and what they can contribute to society and our economy. There’s a big cost to procrastination here. Again, as has been mentioned, the biggest cost is people. We are talking about community members, friends, relatives. We’re talking about our families, individuals in our families, and when we lose them or see the suffering that they cause or experience or bring to others, it’s a major cost that we need to be addressing.
The motion calls for – and I thank my colleagues for this – creating a seamless, integrated system of addictions and mental health programs. A seamless, integrated system of addictions and mental health programs. To me, this means we need to, again, support a person through a period of sobriety prior to treatment, help prepare them for taking the best advantage of that treatment, help them through treatment and, of course, the aftercare, and all within the context of family, community, their personal history, counselling and so on.
A seamless, integrated system means that the policy is focused on families, children, community, education, health, corrections and so on. They all need to be cognizant of addictions and responsive to the opportunity to help address addictions and people who are suffering from them, fighting them or experiencing trauma because of people that have addictions.
I just want to say that I think a lot of strong points have been brought forward. I’m sure the message is clear. We can’t be procrastinating any further. The time is now. Let’s get it done.
I will be supporting this motion. I, again, would like to express appreciation to my colleagues for bringing this forward. Mahsi.