Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would just like to thank the Minister for bringing the bill forward, the Mental Health Act. As he knows, the Mental Health Act hasn’t had any significant changes to it since 1985. Throughout my term as an MLA, a lot of our issues that we see and deal with, and as chair of the Committee on Social Programs, a lot of issues that we deal with, whether it’s in justice, education, health, housing, and it could go on and on, all comes down to an underlying fact and that deals with mental health.

I know that residents of the Northwest Territories will be very happy to hear that this government, the 17th Legislative Assembly Members all agreed to

ensure that that bill needed to be updated and

modernized so that people don’t slip through the cracks anymore. Along with this bill what needs to be done is that we’ve got to start providing the programs and the services that our people need so that they can get the help that they deserve so that they can be part of society.

I just wanted to make a quick comment on this, and I know that, as we’re going through the second reading of the bill, the Standing Committee on Social Programs will be looking forward to receiving a lot of comments and feedback from our stakeholders, from residents of the Northwest Territories, but also looking at engaging our public in our public consultations as we go to the communities and also hearing from our residents across the North and even getting input from organizations across Canada. Personally I know that I’ve been a big advocate on the mental health aspect and I’m glad to see where we are today and I know committee is going to work hard to try to push this bill through and I know we’ve got one more sitting and hopefully we’ll get it done during the 17th Legislative Assembly. Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.