Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The total for adults is 188. The total for youth is five.

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?

The wellness court, of course, would help in this area, as well, and I thank the Member for his support on the wellness court.

As far as FASD, at North Slave Correctional Centre we do have a specialized pod at that facility to help deal with inmates that have FASD. Also, in Fort Smith we have an educator located at the facility in Fort Smith to help with the programming for inmates that have FASD as well.

I am aware of that facility and those services. Do we have, then, a FASD diagnostic capability within Justice?

No, we currently do not have that.

I’m still confused about how people are identified with FASD then.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Deputy Minister Haener.

Thank you, Ms. Haener. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, I am no professional, but my understanding is that the people with FASD do take a different type of care and work in rehab, so that is why I am posing the question and considering that it might be important.

It’s my understanding that it is possible, at least under addictions, to have a diagnostic methodology for adult people with the FASD. Now, that may be too expensive and whatnot, but I would say this is potentially an issue and I would appreciate some information to show that the department has looked into it quite a bit and made some decisions here, and how the treatments that we are offering, the rehabilitation work that we are offering incorporates that sensitivity and acknowledgement that you need a different approach with people with that syndrome. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is a difficult situation when you are dealing with the adult population in our correctional facilities. We are not alone in that, the prevalence of FASD across the country. Other jurisdictions are in a similar situation as us in trying to determine the prevalence of FASD. We have a diagnostic team at Stanton Territorial Hospital but they deal with youth and it is very much intensive. You require the services of a psychologist, a specialized pediatrician and also other health care providers, so it is something that is not easily arrived at, but we do have that through the Department of Health and Social Services.

As far as how other jurisdictions are dealing with this, we could inquire with Health and Social Services, perhaps, to find out a little bit more information about how other jurisdictions in the country are diagnosing, especially the adult population. I think it is going to be very difficult to arrive at that type of diagnosis in an adult population. Thank you.

I will leave it at that, I know the Minister is alert to the issue. I will just mention that I did have a colleague do the calculation for adults, and the cost of adults in our system is about $130,000 per person per year, so again a wellness course that is successful for three people would more than pay back, theoretically, the costs that we are proposing to invest, a very modest cost this year. I think the potential is substantially more than that, though I don’t know what is being contemplated for the pilot project, but the opportunities are huge. Just a comment again. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. I will take that as a comment. Colleagues, to page 9-13, activity summary, corrections, operations expenditure summary, $38.928 million. Agreed?

Page 9-32, activity summary, corrections, grants and contributions, contributions, $179,000. Agreed?

Page 9-33, information item, corrections, active positions. Agreed?

Page 9-35, activity summary, services to public, operations expenditure summary, $5.111 million. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wondered: from time to time we have a coroner’s office report when there has been an incident that requires particular investigation into the cause of death. I am wondering what the role of the department is in seeing that there is an official response to the coroner’s office and if they also have a role in working towards ensuring that the government follows up on those recommendations. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Deputy Minister Haener.

Thank you, Deputy Minister. Mr. Bromley.