Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I appreciate the idea and the intent behind this motion. I am not sure how this would look in practice. In particular, I think this would look quite different in each different community in the Northwest Territories. And I actually think the solution needs to be a partnership that goes beyond just the GNWT and the RCMP. I think there's many other partners who are on the frontlines of trying to support and deal with mental health emergencies.
You know, the Member for Yellowknife Centre talked repeatedly about the fact that people need somewhere else to go as opposed to being, I guess, taken to jail. And the problem is that we still don't have somewhere else for them to go. And this motion doesn't actually take us in that direction, per se. And, you know, in Yellowknife, we have the Street Outreach van which live and work in the downtown area, but, you know, thank goodness for the Street Outreach van. It's an essential service. But the Street Outreach van has identified time and time again that a big problem is that they're a van but often they don't have anywhere to actually take people who need help. They can transport them somewhere but there is nowhere to take them if, you know, the shelters are full, if the sobering centre is full, if the day shelter is full. And so that remains a big problem. And so, you know, we have a review that's happening of the Street Outreach program that the city has led and I've been happy to see that GNWT staff have been able to participate in that review. I am anxious to see the report that comes out of that and the recommendations. I would urge this government to look at those recommendations seriously, to follow up, to commit resources, to work with the city of Yellowknife in ensuring that we have appropriate, you know, responses when people are going through mental health crises or, you know, struggling and they're on the street and someone needs to respond but I agree, it shouldn't be the police. And so we need a more comprehensive service. We also need a sort of more comprehensive net of supports that are going to be able to help people beyond just being the first person to intervene in that crisis. We need the follow-up supports and services that's going to allow them to move past that crisis.
So I will support the motion, but I would urge the government in its response to carefully consider the review and recommendations coming out of the report on the Street Outreach program and building on current initiatives that are underway. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.