Mr. Speaker, not only has the Conservative government failed to add resources to make a meaningful improvement to treating mental health in our prisons, it has cut resources.
We had the prison farm system at a number of institutions in this country that was a resounding success, where we had mentally ill offenders working with animals. Prison psychologists and psychiatrists pointed out that it made a profound difference in the abilities of these people. Many of them had difficulty relating well to other human beings, but through the use of animal husbandry and other responsibilities, they learned the value of work and learned how to relate to other living beings.
The government cut the CORCAN program, a program where prisoners learned skills and trades and would build furniture that would then be sold to the federal government at reduced rates and give them a reason to work and adequate skills. There are closed CORCAN industrial arts places across this country in prisons.
Finally, there is not one stand-alone psychiatric facility for women in this country. The only one in Saskatchewan is in a male institution. There was a little part carved off for women in the middle of a male institution. Most of those women have been sexually abused or suffered from traumatic abuse and they are in the middle of a male institution. In our report we recommended that there be a stand-alone women's psychiatric facility. The government would not even do that.
Not only did it not put the resources in, it has cut the very resources in our system that would actually make our communities safer.