Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.

MS. SEMMLER: COMMITTEE APPROACH

Committee took two approaches to this report. First, a suicide prevention approach that is focused on strategies that reduce the likelihood of someone losing their life to suicide, participating in suicidal behaviours, or suicidal thoughts (suicidal ideation). Second, a trauma-informed approach that recognizes a person holistically and acknowledges that a person may have or is currently experiencing trauma. Committee incorporated this approach several ways, including centering the voices of individuals with lived experience, providing private and confidential listening sessions, and only asking questions with consent.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Youth-led Mental Health and Wellness Conference

"Throughout the process, avoid tokenization. Have lots of youth. Value their lived experience. The youth of today have the insights and experience needed to represent what NWT youth are experiencing." This was from Community Building Youth Futures.

Youth want a youth-led territory-wide conference in a regional centre or small community outside of Yellowknife that focuses on fostering mental health and wellness with workshops and activities. Potential topics for workshops and activities mentioned were positive relationship development, emotional intelligence, healthy ways to manage grief, anti-bullying, practicing advocacy and grassroots movements, sobriety, self-care, Indigenous languages, Indigenous culture, trauma and intergenerational trauma, mental health first aid, grant proposal writing, sports, and art. Youth require support from the Government of the Northwest Territories to advance this undertaking. Youth-led organizations want to lead and develop a conference but need the GNWT's financial and human resource support.

Committee believes a youth-led conference can be organized within six months. Committee therefore recommends:

Recommendation 1: The Department of Health and Social Services provide financial and human resource support to youth-led non-governmental organizations to host a territorial youth conference on mental health and wellness before the end of the 19th Assembly.

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to pass it on to the Member for Deh Cho.