Thank you, Mr. Chair. So this is the section where there's community counsellors to deal with mental health and wellness. I've said many times in this House that, not just the Northwest Territories, but Canada, doesn't treat this area of health with the respect it deserves. I think that, if you put resources into this, you reduce costs elsewhere; in income assistance, in sick days, in addictions, in youth pregnancies, and in all of these other areas. The way it stands right now, it's difficult if someone has mental health issues to go and get an appointment just to see a counsellor. It can sometimes take weeks to get in to see someone; and then maybe, you'll get a once-a-month, once-every-two-weeks, sort of, appointment schedule. I've seen it first-hand. It almost seems like, when you call up to get an appointment, they almost want you to say that you're suicidal. That's sort of the metric that they use to determine if they're going to help you or not. I think that we are greatly underfunding this, not just by, you know, a few percentage points, but to a fraction of what it should be. So if someone is having mental health issues in the community, they don't want to say they're suicidal yet, but, I mean, it is detrimental to their daily life. How many appointments per month does the Minister think is adequate to treat someone like that? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
R.J. Simpson on Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
In the Legislative Assembly on February 28th, 2018. See this statement in context.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
February 28th, 2018
See context to find out what was said next.