Mr. Speaker, we remain committed to a renewed nation-to-nation relationship with indigenous peoples to make progress on the issues that they have identified as being more important to them, including health and mental wellness.
Earlier this summer, the Minister of Health met with the Assembly of First Nations Youth Council to discuss life promotion. This was a great opportunity to hear from first nations youth on their holistic views about what would make a difference in their life.
They have published a report entitled “Calls to Action on Life Promotion for First Nations Communities”, which provides a path that clearly shows health services as important, but also that many other dimensions are critical if we want to achieve wellness.
Among the things asked by the Assembly of First Nations Youth Council are investments in culturally safe prevention, health promotion, and mental health treatment services. This is what we have initiated this summer with the announcement of a number of interim mental wellness measures.
The minister also attended the launch of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami's “National Inuit Suicide Prevention Strategy” in Kuujjuaq. This strategy was developed by Inuit partners, which proposes a wide range of culturally and evidence-based interventions. This was an opportunity to confirm federal support to the strategy at the same time that it was made public. This is partnership.
In response to mental health and suicide crises in some communities, the Government of Canada announced an investment of $69 million over the next three years for immediate interim measures to support first nations and Inuit communities.
Funding is being used to increase the number of mental wellness teams in communities from 11 to 43, and to support four mental health crisis intervention teams in regions located in Ontario, Manitoba and Nunavut, which were identified as having the greatest need. I am pleased to say that the work is under way with partners to enhance services available and support through the communities.
These measures also provide $9 million in funding for Inuit-specific approaches to mental wellness to address the unique needs of this population and to establish a culturally safe, 24-hour crisis support line.
These are also complementary to the range of health programs and services funded and supported by Health Canada. The department is investing approximately $2.7 billion in first nations and Inuit health. Of this amount, we are investing over $300 million in mental wellness programs and services, with the goal of providing first nations and Inuit individuals and communities with culturally appropriate mental wellness services and supports that are responsive to their needs.
This includes $13.5 million annually for the national aboriginal youth suicide prevention strategy, which supports 138 community-based suicide prevention projects in first nations and Inuit communities.
Our government is also investing an additional $8.4 billion over the next five years to improve socio-economic conditions of indigenous peoples and their communities, as highlighted in budget 2016.
Our government remains committed to working with indigenous leaders to ensure we have strategies that are grounded in culture, based on evidence, and where first nations and Inuit play a central role in defining the goals, planning the approach and managing the services.