Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the committee's report was read into the record on March 27, 2023. In October 2022, the Office of the Chief Coroner released the 2021-2022 early release of suicide data to raise alarms on the upsurge of deaths to suicide in the Northwest Territories. According to the Office of the Chief Coroner, the majority of those impacted were males between the age of 20 and 29 in the Beaufort Delta and North Slave regions of the NWT.
In response to the loss of life among youth to suicide, the committee prioritized speaking to youth on the topic of suicide prevention efforts and advocating for accessible resources and supports.
I would like to thank the youth who shared recommendations and also their lived experiences courageously with the committee. From you, we learn and we take your lead.
In this report, Members will see that youth were clear in their responses. Youth know what they want. It is up to this Assembly to hold the government to account to provide what youth need for suicide prevention strategies.
The recommendations in this report are in direct response to what committee heard from the youth of the Northwest Territories. Madam Chair, youth need action taken now, not tomorrow, and not in 120 days.
Madam Chair, I'd also like to thank committee. Committee members all live in the Northwest Territories, and every single one of us are either directly or indirectly impacted by suicide in the Northwest Territories. And this was incredibly heavy work that committee waded into. But committee also made commitments to the people that they serve to step in to heavy work without delay on behalf of the residents of the Northwest Territories. So with that, I would also like to thank staff.
We have Indigenous staff who work with us at the Legislative Assembly as well who agree up in small communities outside of Yellowknife, in some cases know some of the people that we were speaking to when we were speaking to people who lost their life to suicide last year. And so this was very heavy and very difficult work that the staff followed us into wholeheartedly and participated in. So I also want to thank staff who partook in this. So thank you. Thank you, both.
Madam Chair, individual committee members might have comments at this time. Thank you.