I’ll just note our youth facilities are costing slightly over $5 million a year, so with respect to the wellness court, it would take roughly success with one-third of a youth to make payback right away. Clearly, with these sorts of numbers and the costs that we’re talking about, a wellness court
is a no-brainer in terms of investment. I’m sure the Minister knows that, but I just think it’s clear enough that it needs to be underscored here and the Minister needs to put all efforts to expedite this wellness court which has taken us so many years to get going. That was a comment. I haven’t done the calculation on the 188 adults for $24 million, but I’m assuming it would be in that sort of zone.
My other question was with respect to people with FASD that end up in the correctional system. I know the Minister is aware that people with FASD require a very specialized approach for care and management and certainly for rehabilitation, so diagnosis is very important now. Diagnosis of adults is also problematic, although there are jurisdictions that have programs in place. I’m not aware that Health and Social Services has a support system for diagnosing adults with FASD.
How does the department deal with this situation, knowing that we must have a number of people with FASD in the correctional system and they really should be getting specialized rehabilitation work?