Evidence of meeting #7 for Public Safety and National Security in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was treatment.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:20 p.m.
NDP
Jasbir Sandhu NDP Surrey North, BC
I'll follow up on the last discussion we were having.
We know that the aboriginal population is over-represented in the prisons and also in the ranks of those suffering from mental illness and substance abuse. Could you, Dr. Simpson, tell us, in your opinion, how we can invest to help improve outcomes for aboriginal people? How can we improve the outcomes by investing in programs?
12:20 p.m.
Clinical Director, Law and Mental Health Program, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
It's a very broad question, and I would hesitate to answer it. I suspect that there are many other people in Canada much better able to answer that than I.
I would simply repeat some of what I said earlier. We know that the more you can reconnect people with healthy structures, and the more we can do things to retain the health and integrity of communities, the lower the measures of community ill health. Offending, drug and alcohol misuse, and mental health problems, which are all good measures of community ill health, will be reduced.
I would take a community development answer to that in terms of the aboriginal communities as a whole. Where you have well-developed communities and healthy community structures, use those as the contextual basis upon which we deliver care and support to people. And reconnect people with healthy structures upon release. We need to enhance and celebrate those aspects of cultural identity and origin actively in terms of what we do, rather than have a one-size-fits-all approach.
12:20 p.m.
Deputy Clinical Director, Addictions Program, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
CSC's Addiction Research Centre has developed some impressive protocols for doing culture-based treatment with aboriginals. Those are materials that are available. I'm not sure how well disseminated they are, or how well delivered they are across the country, but there are these models.
Rather than thinking of this as an overwhelming problem, it's important to start to segment it. An effective strategy that has an aboriginal focus takes care of a fifth of the problem, because 20% of people in prisons are aboriginal. The more you can have targeted strategies that address that population and others, the more effective your overall approach will be.
You could also develop strategies oriented to particular forms of addiction and mental health, targeting programs to those populations. It's through developing targeted approaches that we can have more success in our interventions.
12:25 p.m.
NDP
Jasbir Sandhu NDP Surrey North, BC
Mr. Skinner, you mentioned the study done by this committee back in 2010, and you talked about some of the things that we can do to move forward. Can you touch upon some of the things that we can do to reduce drug use in the prisons? What would be the most effective things we could do, just a couple of things?
12:25 p.m.
Deputy Clinical Director, Addictions Program, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
I was impressed by the plan for the six objectives that were articulated by Correctional Services Canada: screening and assessment upon admission; having primary mental health care in all institutions; developing the intermediate mental health units for offenders who require a higher level of care; enhancing regional treatment centres; focusing on community; and improving training for staff. The sixth objective has to do with the people who work in these environments. The work they do is arduous and demanding, and it needs to be skilful. So it's important to do more to train staff to have more of a mental health frame in the work they do. These are the things that have been articulated. I think it provides a pathway that would be valid for continuing to work in this area.
12:25 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kevin Sorenson
Thank you, Mr. Skinner and Mr. Sandhu.
I think that pretty well brings our time to a close. I want to thank both of you for appearing for an hour and a half. Most witnesses get one hour, so thank you for staying longer today. I think your expertise in the area has been noted and appreciated today by the committee.
Although all committee members, I'm sure, have read and studied the 2010 report, I should mention that it is pretty well a new committee that sits here today trying to build on the report from 2010. It seems as if we've had three elections since 2010, so there are many new members sitting on this committee.
We appreciate your testimony today to help us understand this problem a little more.
With that, we will adjourn this part of the meeting. Again, thank you.
We will suspend and return to an in camera portion of this. I want to remind committee members that you are allowed one staffer. Your whip's office can have someone here as well, but one staffer per office. We'll begin in about five minutes.
[Proceedings continue in camera]