Public Accounts committee  Just to clarify, it will include statistics for Quebec and Alberta as well, where we do deliver clinical care. So it will be Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, and Alberta.

Public Accounts committee  You have a number of questions in there. I will try to answer some of them. First, a construction project like a nursing station is a pretty big project, ranging from $12 million to $15 million. Some communities won't see projects like that come along very often. We need to work with them on the planning, the capacity building, and the governance to handle these projects.

Public Accounts committee  Yes. These health facilities built on reserve are owned by the first nation. This is according to the Indian Act. Ownership is really with the first nation community. The way we are working with the first nation community on these buildings is that basically we are funding them through contribution agreements to do the maintenance, the operations, the renovations, the repairs, and the construction.

Public Accounts committee  As far as I can tell, the nursing stations are owned by first nations in all regions. I would perhaps ask my colleague Valerie if she knows of any exception to this rule. Usually the nursing station is owned by the first nation community and will be operated by a health director who is hired by the community as well.

Public Accounts committee  I would like to thank the committee chair and the rest of the committee members for the invitation to appear here today. I, and other officials at Health Canada, have reviewed the Auditor General's 2015 Report, and we have paid a great deal of attention to his recommendations. We take the findings seriously and are addressing each of them through an action plan.

Health committee  This is an excellent question. I think in the programming that we are offering there has never been a hidden agenda to say this is not an existing problem. It's an existing problem, but we have missed an element that appears now in this framework, which is moving forward with helping people to participate actively in their community and in the economy.

Health committee  Thank you. That is an excellent question. There is the National Native Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program, or NNADAP. I am sorry, but I cannot think of the program's French name right now. We use certain indicators for this program. At the end of a treatment, for example, we can see whether or not an individual has abandoned one or more elements of their substance dependence.

Health committee  Unfortunately, the data are not strong enough to do that.

Health committee  No, we haven't done that. The reality is our operation is mostly on the reserve. We do not have a program in the cities.

Health committee  As part of the Indian residential school resolution process, part of the commitment from the federal government was to support emotional support during the resolution process. This goes in different ways. We are funding professionals, like social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists to support and do one-on-one or family consultation services.

Health committee  Maybe I will begin by adding two things. First, there is a recognition that we are dealing with a problem that is multi-faceted and involved in terms of substance abuse. Years ago in the first nations and Inuit health branch, we were talking about alcohol abuse and our programs were all geared towards that.

Health committee  I think we are. We have in terms of surveillance of that specific problem of suicide. It's something that is a challenge and it's a challenge throughout Canada in general. It's even more of a challenge in first nations or aboriginal communities because the mechanisms to report and track, and say that a suicide was in a first nations community, or in an aboriginal community, or that it's an Inuit person, are weak.

Health committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the opportunity to provide an overview of the programs and services supported by Health Canada in the area of mental health and wellness for first nations and the Inuit. Health Canada recognizes that addressing mental health and addictions issues are important health priorities for First Nations and Inuit.