Social work students imploring the government to introduce consistent funding for in-school mental health counsellors

A group of First Nations University social work students are banding together to demand better access to mental health supports for the province’s youth.

The social workers began their project last term as a part of a school assignment. They put together photo campaigns in an effort to destigmatize mental illness. While doing research for the project, looking for gaps in services, they discovered that the contract between the Prince Albert Catholic School Division and Catholic Family Services had been ended due to school division budget cuts. Director of education Laurel Trumier told PANow the cuts were due to a tight budget, and the division was hoping future funding restorations would support the program. Three mental health counsellors in elementary schools were cut.

According to the group of social work students, called Fight.the.stigma., of the 200 or so open files Catholic Family Services had at the time the partnership ended, very few have continued to access fare.

“Having mental health counsellors in school was one way to reduce barriers and improve access to mental health care for children that has now been abolished,” Fight.the.stigma. wrote in their open letter, published to their Facebook page.

“Many children do not have access to mental health services outside of schools. … This is highlighted by the information provided by Catholic Family Services who assert that very few of the 200 children who were accessing counselling in the schools continued with counselling in the community, and of the few that did transfer … even fewer have been able to continue due to rides/parental problems.”

One of the students in the group, Al Grigori, said the lack of services available to Prince Albert youth and other youth across the province is deeply concerning.

“Are youth are so often disregarded. They’re not part of the ruling, class and not part of the decision makers. They’re not getting jobs year, they’re not the ones voting and they’re not the taxpayers, so they’re kind of pushed to the wayside,” Grigori said.

“Everyone who has worked on this project, we’re all mothers or grandmothers to children in the school system directly impacted by this change in the availability of services.”

The group has been working with Prince Albert Northcote MLA and former social worker Nicole Rancourt. Rancourt has helped the group gain the information they need, and has helped them put a petition together to call on the province to provide stable funding exclusively for in-school mental health supports separate from the lump sum funding. The petition also calls for all decision makers to take part in mental health awareness training.

“I keep in touch with the social workers at First Nations University because of my own background as a social worker,” Rancourt said. “But also, the subject was a particular interest because of my background in mental health.”

According to Grigori, there have been some encouraging signs in the most recent budget that the government is taking mental health seriously. The Facebook post referenced the inclusion of a pilot program based on Alberta’s Mental Health Capacity Building in Schools Initiative. The budget also included funding for new child and adolescent specialist positions in the health care system, the implementation of a targeted doctor training program to improve capacity to assess and treat child and youth mental health conditions, funds to fire about 40 full-time equiavlents to develop multi-disciplinary community recovery teams to provide support to those with complex and persistent mental illness, expansion o suicide prevention efforts, expansion of addiction services for Prince Albert, an increase in access to mental health first id courses, patient record tracking tools and an expansion of online mental health services province-wide.

While the Fight.the.Stigma group applauds those changes, it still doesn’t address the barriers faced by students who have difficulty accessing those services outside of school.

“When you look at community we have so many issues that are plaguing our youth. We have really high addictions rates of high crime rates violence within our community and a lot of that can be linked to a lack of resources,” Grigory said.

“I do think it’s great were going to increase access to community mental health resources, but a problem for youth is they can’t just go to their appointments and so they rely on a lot of other people to get them to appointments. When you have the counsellors in the schools, it eliminates so many barriers for those children” Grigori said.

According to the group’s Facebook post, those barriers include “a lack of awareness from the parents, parents not having the ability to take children to appointments, or parents who are too ill dealing with their own mental illness/substance misuse to provide their children with mental health services.”

Rancourt agreed with Grigori’s assessment.

“We have families regularly contacting us saying they’re having a hard time getting services for their kids,” she said.

“I think it’s important that both (the health and education systems receive funding) because when people want to access services, they need to have opportunities to access them where they feel more comfortable.”

Moe, Duncan and Morgan confident challenge will succeed, argue carbon tax not effective

After months of threatening legal action, the province is challenging the federally imposed carbon tax in court.

The Government of Saskatchewan launched a constitutional reference case in the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal Wednesday, to challenge Ottawa’s ability to impose a carbon tax on the province. The province is asking the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal to answer a question on the constitutionality of the legislation used by Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government to impose the carbon tax.

The question reads:

“The Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act was introduced into Parliament on March 28, 2018 as Part 5 of Bill C-74. If enacted, will this Act be unconstitutional in whole or in part?”

“We do not believe the federal government has the constitutional right to impose the Trudeau carbon tax on Saskatchewan, against the wishes of the government and people of Saskatchewan,” Premier Scott Moe said in a press release.

“We have a made-in-Saskatchewan plan to reduce emissions and fight climate change, and that plan does not include a job-killing carbon tax on Saskatchewan families.”

The province’s constitutional lawyers believe federal legislation can be challenged because it imposes a carbon tax on some provinces, but not others, based on how each province has chosen to exercise its own legislative jurisdiction.

In a press conference held Wednesday morning, Moe compared it to setting a sales tax, and charging Alberta an extra five per cent to make up for their lack of PST.

Moe also stressed that talking about carbon taxes is the wrong conversation to have.

“The challenge is we are an export-based economy, and it puts us at a severe competitive disadvantage,” he said. “This is the wrong conversation, taxing our industries that are more sustainable compared to similar ones around the world.”

Environment Minister Dustin Duncan agreed.

“If this is really about emissions, Saskatchewan has put forward a very credible plan,” he said.

“The federal government has to answer whether this is about emissions, or whether this is about a tax.”

Moe said the federal government is treating different provinces differently, and that goes beyond what it is constitutionally allowed to do. He said the government’s case is strong, and if unsuccessful, they would not hesitate to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

“This runs contrary to the principle of federalism, which is one of the bedrocks of our constitutional division of powers, because it fails to respect the sovereignty and autonomy of the provinces with respect to matters under their jurisdiction,” said Justice Minister Don Morgan. “Simply put, we do not believe the federal government has the right to impose a tax on one province but not others just because they don’t like our climate change plan.”

According to the press release, under the constitution, each level of government is sovereign within its own realm. Provinces have the authority to set policy in areas of provincial jurisdiction, and the federal government does not have the right to override that authority.

The two ministers and Premier Moe also argued a carbon tax isn’t actually effective at reducing emissions, and doesn’t take into account Saskatchewan’s properties as a natural carbon sink.

“The federal government has not been able to demonstrate what the carbon tax will do to reduce emissions,” Duncan said.

“If the point of a carbon tax is to change behaviour, then their own documents suggest the price isn’t high enough. (Our plan) will achieve better results than the federal government, but we have not heard why that would not be acceptable. Our crop land alone sequesters 12 million tonnes of carbon a year.”

Duncan said the overall carbon sink effect is even greater than that 12 million tonnes, as that number doesn’t include prairie grasslands or forests.

‘If this is about science, you have to take into account the full picture,” Duncan said, “And the carbon tax doesn’t do that.”

While the federal government has said it will also withhold infrastructure funding related to climate change if Saskatchewan doesn’t sign on to the carbon tax, Moe said the province will still apply for the funds.

“We’re still going to apply, because we are still part of this great nation,” Moe said.

Duncan said the province will apply with several initiatives aimed at reducing emissions.

“Let the federal government answer the question as to why we wouldn’t get the money if it would actually reduce emissions,” he said.

Athlete raised in Cumberland House, P.A. alleges Saskatoon Police laughed at him, dropped him off at city outskirts after accusing him of rummaging through vehicles

A man who grew up in Cumberland House and Prince Albert has had his faith in the justice system shaken after allegedly falling victim to a case of racial profiling in Saskatoon.

Ken Thomas was out with his girlfriend at the Nelly and T-Pain concert in Saskatoon on Saturday. After the show, they went back to a bar, Stan’s Place, located on the city’s south side. Thomas said he had stepped out for a cigarette, when he was approached by a group of police officers in a dark SUV.

The officers allegedly told Thomas he fit the description of someone who had been digging around in vehicles.

“They detained me,” Thomas said.

“I complied, because I didn’t want to pick up a charge.”

Thomas coaches youth running and other sports. He said a criminal charge could mean he wouldn’t be able to coach youth. Thomas said he “absolutely” felt like he was racially profiled.

“I complied with them, they detained me in the back of their squad car, drove me to the outskirts of town, and from there I had to run home in order to stay warm. I only had a tracksuit on.”

Thomas alleged the police dropped him off in the Stonebridge neighbourhood, at the corner of Highway 11 and Preston Avenue.

He alleged the officers laughed at him before driving away. Thomas felt humiliated. He had been ready to call a taxi and go home. He had change, and a cellphone.

“I was ready to call it a night,” he said.

“My girlfriend was waiting for me inside. She thought I had left. But instead, police took me to the outskirts of town and gave me the starlight tour.”

Thomas used to run in many events, often sponsored by Fresh Air Experience in Prince Albert. He has completed police half-marathons and donated blood. He’s gone down some dark paths, and is hoping to help show kids they don’t have to get involved in gangs and crime. He coaches sports for the Saskatoon Tribal Council, and was hoping to start a series of running clubs for at-risk youth in cities such as Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert, eventually expanding to the north.

He told the Daily Herald back in March that he was hoping to explore the possibility of teaming up with the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) to hold a series of runs for youth, including events in Little Red.

“I want to get something going, especially with all this negativity,” Thomas said in March.

“I want to give (youth) something to look forward to, in regards to athleticism. Whatever they want to do, it’s all for the kids. It takes somebody to go out of their way and make time for them and show them that they’re worth it.”

Thomas has used running as an outlet, and encourages other kids to do the same. He said he has, in the past, encouraged youth to see police in a positive light.

After this incident, he’s not sure he can do that anymore.

“My faith in the justice system is shaken now,” Thomas said.

“My job as a coach, a youth advocate, is to provide kids comfort. Kids don’t feel like they can trust the police, and I always try to put a positive spin on what’s gong on. Now, what am I supposed to tell the kids? My perspective on the justice system — they definitely lost my respect and trust. It’s not okay to do that. I feel really betrayed.”

Since Saturday night, Thomas has filed a formal complaint. He’s also on the hunt for legal representation. He doesn’t feel comfortable going to the police station, unless he has a lawyer or other witness present. He’d like to, at some point, sit down with Saskatoon Police Chief Troy Cooper and talk about what happened.

“They’re just going to try to belittle and intimidate me,” Thomas said.

“This is not ok, and it happens all the time. It’s not ok to be stereotyped. I just wanted to help the kids. Now I see where they’re coming from. I gave (police) the benefit of the doubt. I’m brave enough to come forward, but how many people have they intimidated?”

A spokesperson from the Saskatoon police confirmed a complaint had been filed. She said the incident is under investigation.

The Saskatoon Police Service also “considers allegations such as this to be very serious in nature,” the emailed statement said.

“We have been notified that a formal complaint with the PCC (Public Complaints Commission) has been filed and due to that, we are limited in what we can say. We will cooperate fully with their investigation to ensure that every effort is made to ensure a thorough and complete investigation. Part of that investigation will include the review of GPS logs that track the location of patrol vehicles at any given time, as well as the in-car camera video, which is automatically activated when the back door of a patrol car is opened. Any further requests for comments will need to be directed to the PCC.”

The term starlight tour, or starlight tours, refers to Saskatoon police officers detaining Indigenous people and dropping them off on the outskirts of the city, instead of bringing them back to a holding cell or a police station.

In 2004, the public inquiry into the freezing death of Neil Stonechild in Saskatoon in November 1990 found that former Saskatoon police officers Larry Hartwig and Brad Senger had Stonechild – a 17-year-old Indigenous boy – in their custody on the night of his death.

The first reported case of a Saskatoon police officer engaging in the practice referred to as starlight tours was that of Bruce Bolton, who committed the act and was fined for it in 1969.

With files from Evan Radford, Daily Herald

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