SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Ontario Assembly

43rd Parl. 1st Sess.
June 5, 2024 09:00AM
  • Jun/5/24 11:10:00 a.m.

I appreciate the advocacy of the member from Kiiwetinoong and the Minister of Education and, frankly, the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, who collectively have worked with us to build a very effective partnership with Nishnawbe Aski Nation. We recently committed $2.6 million in funding to support a number of activities to ensure that children in school, especially from the Far North, get the mental health supports that they need.

Part of that funding went to Keewaytinook Okimakanak to lead the NAN Hope program that provides community-driven, culturally appropriate services for young people in crisis. Other supports included students who have come from the isolated communities to places like Sioux Lookout and Thunder Bay and ensuring, whether it’s crisis teams or just partnering with a mentor, they have the resources in those schools for mental health supports.

Of course, to the member’s question about the immediacy of support, especially for youth in crisis, part of those resources was dedicated to make sure that Nishnawbe Aski Nation as an organization had the vehicles necessary to get to locations to meet students coming from the north or in cities—

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