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.