Tom Beaulieu

I would like to ask the Minister if the youth themselves would be directly and meaningfully engaged in the development of these plans.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, [translation] Minister of Health and Social Services, the kids that are addicted to drugs and alcohol, that is what I want to ask [translation ends].

The Department of Health and Social Services tabled a strategic framework on mental health and addictions recovery. Now, it is working on three action plans, with children and youth coming first. Can the Minister provide an update on the work towards its Children and Youth Mental Wellness Action Plan? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Thirty per cent of NWT youth reported that they had been harmed in some way by their own drinking in the past year; 56 per cent reported that they had been harmed by somebody else's drinking.

However, Mr. Speaker, there is hope. I compliment the Department of Health and Social Services for the work they are doing in this area. When a person looks for help, the help is available. The problem is it is not available to all and it is not available everywhere.

As we go through the budget, I will be asking the Ministers to spread the magic of HSS through the NWT to all youth...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That's it for now. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, moving on to a different topic, I noticed that the homecare and support services has been decreased a bit. It actually has sort of decreased over the last three fiscal years. Also, that there had been some marginal increase to the mental health and addictions. Like I had indicated during my opening remarks on this department, that's a huge cost driver for the department and I think there should be more funding put into at least those two areas. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask the Minister, on the contract section, what type of term? I realize there is a lot of detail, but what type of term on the contracts for this care, the length of the contract? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have no further questions on this side.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I think there are a lot of good items and a lot of money wellspent or planned to be wellspent in this budget. I just want to touch on, in no particular priority, some of the items that I will be exploring as we go through the budget with Health and Social Services.

Longterm care, I think, is something that the department is heading in the right direction. I am very pleased with the fact that we are able to provide longterm care regionally, the fact that people from Fort Smith can go into longterm care in their own community, Hay River. Hay River...

Marci, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, currently, at this time, how are existing addictions programming targeted to serve the youth? Thank you.

How will the actions described in this plan work with the department's future development of an addictions recovery action plan?