Evidence of meeting #16 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was research.
A video is available from Parliament.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
That would be good because, if it's only $50 million and the rest is being held back for whatever other administration issues, then we're still not in compliance, so that would be helpful to us.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Education and Social Development Programs and Partnerships, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
We'll provide the breakdown.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
Thank you very much.
Dr. Wong, I wanted to return to you in terms of staffing up to wherever we're going to go with the mental wellness teams.
If we have 10 mental wellness teams servicing 5%, 10%, or 20% maximum and we need to get to 80%, are there targeted plans in terms of how we get there? Are we just hoping or...?
Executive Director, Office of Population and Public Health, Department of Health
Right now we are seeking resources and sources of funding. As I said before, 10 teams are not sufficient, so we would like to actually increase it.
If we look at 80 teams, we would be looking at $40 million to $50 million.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
Okay. You would need to find that money so that would have to come from Treasury Board. That's roughly the area of what you would need to meet that shortfall?
Executive Director, Office of Population and Public Health, Department of Health
Approximately, yes.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
I'd like to pick up on a question my colleague, Mr. Massé, had regarding the decrease in Quebec's suicide rate. It's really incredible. If you look at the difference between Quebec's Cree population and Ontario's, it's like night and day.
The Quebec government and the province's Cree population signed an agreement known as the peace of the braves, and it set out an engagement process for resource development, economic development, and land protection. The situation is entirely different from that of the James Bay Cree in Ontario.
Would you say there's a link between the improvement in the Quebec Cree population's economic conditions and the drop in the province's suicide rate?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Andy Fillmore
Could you just take less than a minute, please? I'm afraid we're over time.
President, Canadian Institutes of Health Research
I can't really answer that.
As I said earlier, the government took a slew of preventative measures, including improving access to mental health care, creating suicide prevention centres, and, even, erecting barriers along railways to stop people from throwing themselves in front of passing trains. A whole slew of measures were taken.
The real question, then, is which of those measures were truly effective, but I can't answer your question, specifically.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Andy Fillmore
Thank you very much.
I wish to thank all the witnesses today for their time and very thoughtful presentations. Your contribution will make a tremendous impact on our study. Thank you very much.
We are adjourned. Thank you.