After a judge scolded the provincial government for a lack of supports to the community of La Loche in the wake and years following a deadly shooting, Premier Scott Moe was on the defensive Wednesday saying the government has made investments into increased mental health and other supports in that community.
Moe pointed to the school getting $4 million in renovations, more mental health workers from two-to-five, increased trades training and a Dene language program.
“There have been supports that have been provided in the way of mental health, infrastructure supports and education supports. I’m always working with northern communities across this province to get better,” Moe said.
Judge Janet McIvor in her sentencing Tuesday called the lack of supports a travesty and victimization on the entire community.
La Loche Mayor Robert St. Pierre says although the sentencing does bring some closure, not much has changed since January 2016 in terms of the community receiving necessary mental health supports.
“We’re in a community that needs a lot of help,” he says. “We know that, we’ve identified that, we’ve stipulated that over and over — all the leaders and community members. And we’re still there, unfortunately, we’re still there, two years later.”
NDP leader Ryan Meili agrees with the assessment of both judge McIvor and the mayor that more needs to be done.
“[It’s] a failure to act in a way that’s actually proportional to the problem. The justice’s comments, the mayor’s comments are very clear in what’s being seen up there is a huge gap in the level of resources that are actually needed to deal with the problems that are actually being faced,” Meili explained. “But it goes much further than that. It goes to having a proper suicide prevention strategy, which we do not have in this province. It goes to actually dealing with some of the serious socio-economic problems in northern communities.”
(With files from Fraser Needham)
(PHOTO: The La Loche shooter is driven to court on Feb. 23, 2017. Photo by Chelsea Laskowski.)