Meegwetch, Speaker. This morning, I’d like to introduce the policy and the communications team from the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres. They are here in the members’ gallery: Abigail Hill; Tessa Jourdain; Chelsea Combot; Jennifer McPhee; Sarah Lukaszczyk; Stan Williams; Annie Mackillican; Francene Antone; Randi Jacob; Jada Reynolds; and, again, the former member for Toronto Centre, Suze Morrison.

Welcome to Queen’s Park, and meegwetch for the important work that you do.

It’s my honour today to welcome John and Nicki Groenewegen, constituents of mine from Guelph who have come for a tour of the Legislature and who will have lunch with me today as part of a fundraiser for the Rotary Club of Guelph.

I would also like to acknowledge that Tessa Jourdain from the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres is also a constituent of mine from Guelph.

Thanks for being here at Queen’s Park today.

My question is for the Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions.

Speaker, we all know that across Ontario, many people are affected by mental health issues or addiction challenges, and this can have a serious impact on their quality of life and that of their families and everyone around them.

We know that Indigenous communities have been disproportionately impacted by mental health and addiction challenges, and sadly, many of these individuals face barriers in accessing safe and effective care. For Indigenous peoples, mental health and addiction care must respect the unique needs of their communities and honour their culture and traditions.

Speaker, can the associate minister please explain how our government is expanding access to critical mental health and addiction services for Indigenous communities?

“To the Solicitor General:

“Whereas the government of Ontario is committed to ensuring the safety of Ontario communities; and

“Whereas the government of Ontario is committed to supporting our hard-working women and men in blue, who put their lives on the line every day in police forces across the province of Ontario to keep our communities safe;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly as follows:

“To support the passage of Bill 102, Strengthening Safety and Modernizing Justice Act, 2023, to ensure the following:

“(1) Make it easier for police services across the province to recruit and train more police officers by removing tuition fees for the basic constable training program at the Ontario Police College”—OPC—“and immediately expand the number of recruits that could be trained each year;

“(2) To expand the Basic Constable Training Program at the Ontario Police College ... immediately to accommodate an additional 70 recruits per cohort from 480 to 550;

“(3) Starting in 2024, expand the Basic Constable Training Program to four cohorts per year instead of three;

“(4) Additionally, to support recruitment efforts at a time when local police officers have signalled challenges in doing so, introduce legislation that, if passed, will eliminate the post-secondary education requirement to become a police officer as set out in the Community Safety and Policing Act, ... CSPA, and if passed, the act would amend the ... CSPA, to provide that a secondary school diploma or equivalent is sufficient education for the purposes of being appointed as a police officer; and

“(5) To make the elimination of the tuition fee for the basic constable training program at the Ontario Police College retroactive to January 1, 2023, and recruits who paid for their 12-week basic constable training earlier this year to be reimbursed.”

I fully support this petition, affix my signature and provide it to page Cole.

Thank you to the fantastic member for Hastings–Lennox and Addington for the important question.

He’s right; for many Indigenous communities across the province, the consequences of addiction and mental illness are far too real.

Last week, I had the privilege to spend time in Middlesex county to meet with the chiefs of the Chippewas of the Thames, the Oneida of the Thames and Munsee-Delaware First Nations to talk about investments we’re making to improve mental health and addictions services for Indigenous communities across the province.

I announced recently that our government has provided $33 million in additional investments for important capital projects, as well as for culturally safe and appropriate services in Indigenous communities—investments, for instance, like the $1 million going to my hosts last week, the Chippewas of the Thames, to build a mental health and addictions crisis management centre. This is how we’re going to plug Indigenous communities into the recovery-oriented continuum of care that our government is building to ensure that everyone gets the supports they need, where and when they need them.