Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the Minister of Health and Social Services here. I received a phone call a few days back about somebody being released in the care of one of the wards, the psych wards, here in Yellowknife. Now, it's not specific about this individual but the concern about the care of custody back into the community, and the parent who called me about this issue is that they said when their child is released, they're literally dropped off at the day shelter. So, they go from full services and supports, clearly, I mean, I won't go at length, but what they're done is then they're dropped off at the day shelter where they can't access housing, basic services, income support, etc. Is there any way to do this better and create a system of protocols that we can actually help people get integrated back into the system, even if you get ICS or other type of people?
Oh, my apologies. Thank you. And you're right, Mr. Speaker. Is there any way you could do -- is there any way you can change the way this format is currently structured? Thank you. My apologies.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't know the circumstances and I'm not going to speak to this situation specifically. I don't know the age of the person, but I do know that our child and family services does have a voluntary service agreement that if you're over 16, and I believe that there are different circumstances around it, that, you know, if you don't have -- if you're homeless, they can work with the youth or the young adult -- or, you know, a youth, to try to find supports for them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For the record, they're an adult. Secondly, they're under control and custody. In other words, they have a release date. They have to stay there just to make sure we're in contact. Mr. Speaker, I guess I'm really asking is, can the Minister make sure that there's protocols, that we just don't dump them on the street, you know, a van pulls up, throws them out and says good luck. Because people are at their -- you know, as they approach healthy stage, I just don't want to put them back in the next most difficult challenging experiences. Can we ensure that that policy is articulated to these folks and we even bring in ICS to help reintegrate them in the community. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for this question, and I know that in our system, you know, I've recently had this conversation with my department, that there's a whole continuum of mental health and addictions and the supports that go along with that spectrum. And so what I've actually gone to my department is to work with NTHSSA and themselves to figure out where all of these gaps are and so and what can we do and a lot of it's going to probably take partnerships. But, however, I can -- you know, if I can work with the Member to get more detail on what actually happened with this situation, then I can -- I can bring that back to NTHSSA to see what their process is and then, you know, figure that out. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Oral questions. I apologize to the Yellowknife North. It's your turn.
