Thank you, and thank you both for the presentations. They are very interesting observations and studies you've done.
We spent the better part of last week going to Nunavik and Nunavut and heard many people speak on this issue. A lot of what you're raising is also reflected in their words. We heard very clearly, especially from people in Nunavik, that there's a need for crisis centres in the community, cultural centres, and family centres. You have raised the issue in part of your study that having a cultural centre lowered the levels of suicide.
I've been talking quite a bit over the last while about facilities, such as friendship centres, because I'm a strong believer that every community needs an organization such as this that deals with sport, recreation, culture, and education, all these programs, including the service of crisis centres at times.
If you look at the north—I'm from the Northwest Territories—we've had in all the territories, including Yukon, Nunavut, Nunavik, and Labrador, well over 1,000 people commit suicide in the last 15 years. However, if you look at the different parts of the north, including the Northwest Territories on the southern part, where we have friendship centres, that level is low, including the community I live in.
We've had a friendship centre for over 25 years, and we've never had a youth suicide. If you start looking at the people who are committing suicide in my riding—and we have different nations of people in the Northwest Territories—it's the Inuit males who are committing suicide, who live in the further northern communities where there is very little in terms of facilities, certainly no friendship centre. Nunavut has no friendship centre, except for one in Rankin Inlet. I don't believe Nunavik has any either.
We don't have that type of facility, but I'm wondering if you had looked at the role that facilities such as friendship centres play, and existing programs that are out there that help alleviate this problem.
I think, Mr. Lalonde, you talked about a facility that proved that cultural centres work and help alleviate this problem, so I wanted to ask if you had looked at friendship centres.