This is page numbers 6757 – 6826 of the Hansard for the 17th Assembly, 5th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was health.

Topics

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Is committee agreed?

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Some Hon. Members

Agreed.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Jane Groenewegen

Thank you. We’ll take a break.

---SHORT RECESS

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Thank you, committee. We’ll start with Bill 55, Mental Health Act. Committee has agreed to consider Bill 55, Mental Health Act. I’ll go to the Minister responsible for opening remarks. Mr. Abernethy.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

I am pleased to be here to discuss Bill 55, Mental Health Act. The development of this bill has been the result of significant time and effort by the department, and would not have been possible without input and contributions from members of the Standing Committee on Social Programs, the public and front-line workers.

The primary purpose of Bill 55 is to ensure that those suffering from mental illness receive appropriate mental health care and treatment as soon as possible and in the least restrictive manner.

This legislation will modernize our current mental health framework while, at the same time, recognizing the unique needs and challenges of the Northwest Territories. It will better protect the rights of patients and those acting on their behalf, with the importance of culture and community at its core.

While the bill will address many gaps in our current mental health system, we know that the work does not end here.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the Standing Committee on Social Programs, community members and front-line workers for their significant contribution to the development of this bill.

I would be pleased to answer any questions Members may have. Thank you.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. I will go to the chair responsible for Social Programs, the committee that considered the bill, Mr. Moses.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As mentioned earlier during our review, when we read our document on Bill 55, there was a long consultation process. We had about 17 written submissions and we visited nine communities. We opened up our discussion on August 24th with the Minister. I appreciate the Minister and his department with the work that he did with committee over the length of this bill.

As we proceed, I believe committee members may have other questions for the Minister as we proceed with Bill 55. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Mr. Minister, do you have witnesses you’d like to bring into the House?

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

I do, Mr. Chair.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Thank you, Minister. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Could you please introduce your witnesses.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my right is Debbie DeLancey, the deputy minister of Health and Social Services. On my left, Thomas Dorian, who is legal counsel.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Committee, we’ll go to general comments on Bill 55. General comments. Mr. Dolynny.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’d like to welcome the department and the Minister here today. As this has been a very long and a very swift journey to have this bill before the House, I do want to commend the Minister and his department for getting this bill near the end of our term and I want to thank the department for assisting committee as we went from community to community to discuss the intricacies of this bill.

I guess, first and foremost – and some of this stuff may sound familiar to the department here – as I said in the clause-by-clause review, I believe what we have before is a very action-rich and a very resource-poor bill before us and what I mean by that is the fact that we’ve got a lot of new actions in order to deal with mental illness in the Northwest Territories, many of those which I support as a Member who has had the pleasure of going literally line-by-line and community-by-community to make that evaluation.

Where I feel that it is resource poor, although we have heard some indications that there will be some money invested in this, that money will pale in comparison to what really is needed to make this bill fully and truly effective. I want to just be cautious as we go through this bill and hopefully approve it here today, that the department has a big undertaking to try to get the much-needed resources. The Minister has his colleagues sitting across from us here; we have the Finance Minister here. You’re going to have to find some money, Mr. Minister, otherwise this bill won’t be as effective as we may think it is and it’s going to require some infrastructure, it’s going to require some human resources and it’s going to require a lot of community involvement.

So I do challenge the Minister to do the necessary lobbying. I know we’re going to be finishing up session here in a day or so. I know the Minister acts in his capacity up until the next Assembly is sworn in. So I’m hoping that during that period of time that we’re able to put the tools together to kind of put the necessary action items together to make sure that, again, if this bill goes through, that we’re going to have to start on that venture.

Things that I’ve noticed as we went through this act and taking this act on the road and trying to dabble in a little bit into my own medical background as a pharmacist is that – and I’m just going to say something here – according to statistics from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, at least 20 percent of people with mental illness also have a substance abuse problem. So there’s a clear correlation, and I’ll explain more about where this number comes from and what it means to this act, but there’s a clear indication as we investigate more and more in Canada that there is a commonality between addictions and mental health. Again, when you look at the overall aspect of this act, addictions are relatively silent. I think there’s going to be a bit of a wall there when we start rolling this out, and I’ll tell you that in a second.

What we’re seeing is that with the new paradigm shift in treatment is integrating the treatment of both mental health and addiction as being treated together. A lot of the studies coming out now that have some of the best outcomes when we treat mental health and addictions as one. Now, where this puts the residents of the Northwest Territories in a bit of a predicament is that our addictions treatment facilities are down south and that’s going be causing a problem and you heard time and time again and even some of the recommendations is the fact that we strongly encourage addictions treatment programs need to come back to home row.

I know the Minister is very adamant that through cost efficiencies and trying to save money, economies of scale, that it’s not possible. But the health care system is saying we need to work together with addictions, we have to find ways to find solutions. There are many studies here. There are a number of studies I can provide to the Minister and the department later to back up the information that I’m talking about, but as the Minister always says, these are silos and there are silos now with mental health and addiction service across Canada.

Many organizations, many jurisdictions, many provinces have seen that and, again, this act is silent on that. The growing trend right now in the provinces is integrated diagnosis and treatment initiatives. These are going hand in hand, and again, many of the new paradigms in terms of treatment are showing that these integrated diagnosis treatment programs are starting to roll out across the provinces and even at a provincial level – I’ll pick Alberta, for example – addiction counsellors are being cross-trained to do mental health work and mental health counsellors are being cross-trained to do addiction work. So it’s happening in other provinces. In fact, it’s gone even further that even a province like Ontario, that Minister of Health made an integrating mental health and addictions services as one of his four goals in the strategic 10-year plan. So they’ve noticed the fact that this is important to them as well. I know we’re not Ontario, but we need to look at what’s leading the charge across Canada when it comes to the flexibility of treatment options and integrated services.

So I’ll leave it at that particular point, Mr. Chair, and again, because this act is relatively silent on addictions, I just wanted to point out some of the recent trends that we’re seeing across Canada and some of the silence that we have pursuant to this act.

One of the last things I want to talk about is the fact that, yes, there is a triggering mechanism of a five-year review of this act, and I’m very thankful that it is. I think it was well received across the communities and I applaud the government for including it. Not every legislation has a triggering clause and I’m glad we have one in this one. So, kudos to the department for allowing that to happen. However, as I’ve said before in committee, in public settings, I don’t think we need to wait for that five-year review before we initiate that trigger. I think we’re going to slowly find out, once this act and if this act comes online, that we’re going to probably have to do some massaging of this act sooner than later and we all know how the speed of government happens sometimes and I don’t want to fall victim to that trend. We waited over 30 years for this to happen, so let’s not become victims of our own demise.

Let’s make sure that we are proactive by design and I strongly encourage the department to look at it early on in the life of the 18th once this thing comes online. I would include even up to a year, up to two years after we go live with this that it comes up for formal review and a full public consultation process. Hopefully by then the stuff I talked about earlier with integration of addictions might be able to be incorporated with mental health within the paradigms of one act.

I will conclude saying thank you very much for allowing me to speak and I do want to thank my colleagues. This was the last act that we had the pleasure of travelling together. You get to know your fellow counterparts quite intimately, I guess, sometimes when you’re doing road community travel. But this is a great group from the Social Programs committee. They’re enriched with plenty of rigor and I just want to say, for the record, it was a pleasure working with them and we’ve got a great chair that leads us down that path. Thank you.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister Abernethy.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Chair. To the Member’s points about this bill being resource poor. During committee and other discussions, we were pretty clear that we know this bill is going to take some money to make a reality and we’re talking about just a specific bill, not any additional plans that we have outside of that.

At this time we feel it’s going to take an additional three positions to help us make some of this work, plus training, plus we have to have costs for the review board. That’s just a starting point and we will be going through the business planning process, rather, the department will be going through the business planning in the 18th Assembly, at which point they’ll be coming forth for a financial ask to help cover the costs of implementing the Mental Health Act.

On top of that, the department will continue to monitor and determine demand of some of the programs or opportunities that are outlined in here, like the review boards help us determine ongoing costs so that they can make some evidence-based decisions based on what the resources are going to be.

With respect to the five-year review, I agree with the Member. I think it is a good thing that we have a five-year review in here. The department is currently developing an evaluation framework for the implementation of this particular bill that will help us determine what aspects are working and what aspects are not working. I anticipate, as with any new legislation – and this is new legislation – that there will be some massaging, and I committed to that and indicated that when we were reviewing this bill in committee.

As far as requiring a two-year review, at this point I would say that that is something we should leave in the hands of the 18th Assembly, who can decide whether they want to conduct a formal review. I would suggest that two years might not be enough time for us to actually see some of this stuff working quite the way we want it. It is going to take a little bit of time to write the regulations. I will point out that we are not planning to go live with this legislation probably for a year. So, two years might be a little soon.

With respect to addictions, I think everybody gets this. This bill is a mental health piece of legislation; it is not an addictions piece of legislation. But in the Department of Health and Social Services, as throughout the system, the professionals clearly understand the co-morbidity of addictions and mental health. In fact, the Department of Health and Social Services has a mental health and addictions division which is focussed on collaboration, integrating services, working together around mental health and addictions. We have mental health and addictions counsellors throughout the Northwest Territories in many of our communities recognizing the co-morbidity of this, so I believe the department clearly understands.

With respect to addictions, the recommendations indicate developing a treatment facility here in the Northwest Territories, and I have heard people indicate that they would like to see a treatment facility, but we know that we have had four different treatment facilities in the Northwest Territories, and for utilization, staffing and a multitude of other issues, all four of those facilities have failed. We also know that the facilities that we have had here in the Northwest Territories, because of those issues like low utilization and other things, we weren’t able to provide the types of programming that we currently have access to in our four southern facilities, which are very, very specific. We have psychologists and psychiatrists who are working one on one with patients in those facilities who are also working with our professionals on plans of care for when those individuals are returning.

When we did the mental health and addictions round table, we heard clearly from residents throughout the Northwest Territories that what people wanted when it comes to mental health and addictions is options. Treatment facilities are but one option. We heard clearly that people wanted options at the community level, at the regional level. We also heard that people wanted on-the-land options. Since two and a half or two years ago when Nats'ejee K'eh, our last treatment facility, failed, a report that they conducted, or conducted themselves, demonstrated their clients and staff were at risk. There was underutilization, high expenses, $420 per day compared to $145 a day that we are getting in our southern treatment where the range of programming far exceeds anything we have been able to deliver here.

We have clearly made significant changes in the way we are dealing and supporting people’s addictions. We have community counsellors, mental health and addictions counsellors in every region of the Northwest Territories in most communities. We have Matrix programs that are available in almost all of the regions at this point providing outpatient community-based treatment options for our residents. I have had an opportunity to talk to some of the people who have participated or taken Matrix who have indicated that they are getting positive results and they appreciate the program being available.

We also have on-the-land programming in partnership with different Aboriginal governments and organizations throughout the Northwest Territories offering a wide range of services that two years ago weren’t available. Two years ago we had one treatment facility that was putting people at risk, and some community counselling. We have improved some of the protocols and standards for our community counsellors and our addictions counsellors. We have on-the-land programs. We have Matrix programming. We have ASIST in many communities. We are pushing really hard to get Mental Health First Aid out there. We are doing an awful lot. Is it enough, Mr. Chair? No. We continue to need to evolve our programs and services to meet the needs of our residents.

To that end, recognizing the co-morbidity but also recognizing that we do have a challenge around mental health here in the Northwest Territories, and building upon this act, I have already directed the department to begin the preliminary work on the development of a comprehensive mental health or youth mental health strategy that can help guide us in the future.

The Member talks about money. As we move forward with the strategy, that is going to change the direction on how we respond to youth. There will likely be some costs and the future Assembly is going to be faced with some hard decisions about how to pay for these particular services and these changes and enhancements that we need to put in place to provide our youth and adults who are suffering with mental health, a full spectrum of services and programs that will help them through their needs.

I have heard a lot of people, once again, say we need a treatment facility in the North, and given what I have seen with the treatment facilities in the North, I don’t agree with that. What I think we need here in the Northwest Territories, and I have seen it recommended in other places, is something more akin to a mental health transitional facility or mental health transitional housing facility much like the one described in the Members’ report. I believe something like that will give us far better results for our residents as opposed to building yet another facility that may or can fail here in the Northwest Territories.

Thanks to the Member for his questions. Thanks to the Member for his support of this bill. If anyone else has any comments, I am happy to answer them. Thank you.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Next I have Ms. Bisaro.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I don’t have any questions, but I do want to make a few comments to this bill.

It is a long time coming, both the amount of time it took to get from department to committee and then the time committee spent on it, although it was compressed. I know we had a lot of hours in a short period of time.

This bill, as I stated earlier today, is very much an improvement over the current bill. I look forward to seeing how it is going to work. In terms of the concerns that we heard in our public hearings and in our travels, I think most of them have been addressed by committee. We didn’t agree with all of the concerns that we were presented with, but certainly in our deliberations we took a great deal of time. If we were going to sort of put aside somebody’s concern, we took a great deal of time to understand why we were doing that and whether or not it was the right decision and if that concern could be addressed elsewhere. I feel quite comfortable with the changes that we have made to the bill, based on the concerns that we were presented with and I don’t think that the ones that we did not accept, I don’t think they have had a huge impact on the success of the bill, on the future success.

One of the things – and Mr. Dolynny mentioned it already – that I am really quite concerned about is the assisted community treatment program and the provisions in the act for that. I support the principle, absolutely, but I am extremely concerned that without the programs and services at a local level and, as I think we stated in the report, without increases in those local programs and services, it is basically going to be assisted community treatment in Yellowknife and maybe in a couple of the regional centres.

The Minister has referenced, and I think it was referenced elsewhere, that there is going to be an addition of three PYs. Those PYs are all going to be at headquarters. Maybe that is okay for the first year, while you are developing regulations and while the act is not in force, but if there is not a significant change in the provision of programs and services at the local level, assisted community treatment won’t work, in my estimation. I echo Mr. Dolynny’s comments. You are going to have to find more money somewhere or else, and money for people somewhere in order for it to work.

One of the major concerns that committee had, and many people who made submissions also had, right from the start, it was really interesting. It was a huge topic at the very first public hearing, and that was the lack of reference to any sort of culture in the act. We have added enough provisions in the act that I feel quite comfortable that those who made submissions about culture would read the act, or would understand it now, that the act does allow for a cultural component. It is so much of the way that people live in the Northwest Territories is based on their culture or their spirituality or their religion, whatever it happens to be. We have allowed for that to come to how the act is going to operate.

I am extremely pleased that the Minister has publically now stated that there will be a development of a strategy for youth and adolescents. It was something that at committee we felt strongly was required and there was a period of time that we were not sure whether or not that was going to be happening, and I’m really pleased that is going to be developed because I think it’s also going to add to the success of the act.

My last comment has to do with the recommendations that are in the report. They aren’t recommendations specifically to the bill, but they are recommendations, as I see it, to the way the bill is going to operate, to the way the programs and services are going to operate. I would ask, we’ve had a couple of reports in the last couple of years where the response from government to a report has not responded publicly to recommendations that don’t affect the act specifically. So I would ask the Minister to inform his future Minister that any response to this standing committee report should include, publicly, a response to the recommendations that are in this report because they are key to making the act work from an operational perspective. So that’s all I have. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Thank you, Madam Bisaro. I’ll call on the Minister for a brief response, then I think you said there was a statement, but I think the Minister wants to make a statement. Thank you. Mr. Abernethy.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thought I heard a couple of questions in there. The assisted community treatment, we do hear what the Member is saying and what the other Members have said and there will be many assisted community treatments ordered in the community at a Yellowknife and regional level. We also believe, with our current resources, and it will all be on a case-by-case basis, depending on the individual’s condition. If an individual is relatively stable, or stable and requiring meds, and wants to go back to their home community, we can actually set that up today with a community health nurse, where that person would have to report to the community health nurse on any given day in order to receive their meds. Those types of things we can do and we should be able to do right away. We also have community counsellors who will be able to work on the individuals based on a plan of care that may have been established with a psychiatrist or psychologist at Stanton. So today we could provide some level of act. But we do hear you and acknowledge that as we roll this out, we may find that it’s taken up more time or resources than anticipated, which is why I’ve previously indicated we’re going to monitor, and continually monitor, to determine demand and usage so that we can seek resources where appropriate in the future. But we do hear you loud and clear and it will be something that is going to be monitored.

With respect to lack of culture, I have concurred with all the motions that I feel, and I believe committee feels, will help improve this bill and bring back some of the culture components that may have inadvertently been removed or excluded as a result of the drafting, and I think we have a better bill as a result of that.

The Member mentions a youth mental health strategy and I’d like to just take this opportunity really quickly to indicate that I’m pleased to announce that I have received the final report of the Mental Health Quality Assurance Case Review on October 1st. As Members will recall, I directed this case review back in the late spring in the wake of the death of a young Yellowknifer who had been a patient in our mental health system.

The work of the review committee got underway in June 2015 and has been carried through to completion with the original timeline I committed. I’m pleased to share that it is a very comprehensive report and I believe it will serve to guide to move the health and social services system forward in ensuring improved care for our residents and families impacted by mental health. To be really clear, so we get it out there, the report contains five major recommendations and 11 supporting recommendations for a total of 16, all of which will be addressed in the form of an action plan which I have committed to the Members and to the public previously. This action plan will be done in January. Originally I was hoping we would have it done sooner, but given the magnitude of the recommendations, we want to make sure that we get it right and the department has indicated they need until January to prepare that action plan. That action plan, all the recommendations within the committee report, all the research that has been done over the last couple of years plus future public consultations and discussions will inform the youth mental health strategy that will be developed in the 18th Assembly, that I assume will be developed in the 18th Assembly. I’ve already directed the department to begin the preliminary work so that they’re ready to move forward with that strategy, if it is the wish of the 18th Assembly and I anticipate that it will, given the amount of interest that exists throughout the Northwest Territories in this particular area. It will also inform the development of a more generic or sort of adult- based strategy as well.

So, we are moving forward. We will, absolutely, take into consideration the recommendations of the report and input from future committees of this House.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Next I have Mr. Bromley.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’ve heard my colleagues and I’ve heard the Minister and I appreciate all that I’m hearing. Mental health and this legislation and the policies associated really are of deeply personal concerns to many people across the Northwest Territories, and I’ve heard, through the committee, that they were able to put their finger on that pulse of their community hearings. I know that we’ve heard from many individuals and families, organizations, institutions, First Nations. I think this is a very strong cross-section of our society and it’s a common issue that I think there’s a high degree of interest in doing a better job of addressing. In particular I would like to single out a family, some individuals, Connie and James Boraski and Ian Henderson, who delved into their personal experience, which involved some pain, but they had considerable perseverance and commitment and dedication to drawing the best results for everybody that they could from that experience and were very willing to share it. So I learned a lot through communications with those families.

I just want to back up the calls for the recognition of the need and the intentions to act and, in fact, there’s some work going on already on a youth adolescent strategy towards mental health. I see there’s a preventative element, which I always like to see, as well as progressive early intervention. This is very important. I see the intent to develop assisted community treatment for outpatients where sufficient resources exist, and we’ve heard some comments on the need for resources.

I’d also like to recognize, really, the hard work and the excellent work by committee and staff and the response to that work and interaction with the committee from the Minister and his staff and legal professionals, and that includes, of course, Glen Rutland, who was legal counsel for the Standing Committee on Social Programs. I was able to see them in action a number of times.

One specific thing I would like to mention is clause 9.(1) and I’ll just mention it here, Mr. Chair, rather than interrupt our review later, which is a response to some specific situations and in particular, for me, allows a patient who feels unsafe being on his or her own but is being released from hospital care and who wishes to remain admitted in the hospital may now, with this new legislation, seek a thorough review of his or her situation through a second opinion before being released from hospital care.

I think we’ve had some specific incidences and situations where that option was not available to a patient, with perhaps dire consequences. So, I really appreciate the committee going after that and the Minister and staff stepping in to address it in the most effective way. I would note that other clauses were developed or amended to support this clause, including, I highlight, the requirement to ensure that the patient understands their right to seek a second opinion before leaving hospital care. I think that’s obviously a requirement that if we have good legislation, it needs to be known about and understood and transparent. So there’s a commitment in the legislation to make that happen. Of course, the Minister did mention in his comments a recent report on the specific case study that he commissioned. He mentioned the five major recommendations and 11 supported recommendations. He also mentioned that some were very substantive requiring more time to deal with. So I guess if I had a question at this moment in time it would be should we anticipate any of those recommendations require a legislative response.

Is the Minister prepared at this time? Has the analysis been advanced to that degree that he can respond to that question? Thank you.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Abernethy.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I requested the mental health case review under the Evidence Act and I have to comply with the terms and conditions of the Evidence Act. So I need to be careful as to what I say and what I don’t say, but upon my initial review, recognizing that I am not a lawyer, I don’t believe that any of those recommendations require legislative change, but I’m seeking advice from the legal counsel right now on how I can legally get this into the department so that they can begin drafting an action plan based on the recommendations and they may determine that maybe some legislative requirements or amendments may be required. But in my review, recognizing I’m not a lawyer, I did not see any that jumped out to me that might require legislative changes.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

October 6th, 2015

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Thanks to the Minister for that, and I recognize in some ways it’s a delicate situation in timing and we need a little time for the job to be done. I recognize that we’re talking about a future Assembly, but I hope if it is required that we can have some alacrity to deal with that legislative change despite having just done these amendments.

Thank you. That’s all I have.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you. I think Mr. Bromley’s comment goes directly to Mr. Dolynny’s comment about the requirement for a review of the legislation, and as we are rolling out to developing regulations and recognizing future strategies and action plans, there is a possibility that we may have to do some legislative reviews. I believe the department, the government would be open to that. Mind you, it will be a new government, but I anticipate, given the interest in this particular area, that reasonable responses will be provided.