Saskatchewan has a mental health and addictions crisis:
- Saskatchewan has the highest suicide rate in the country.
- The suicide rate for Indigenous people in Saskatchewan is 4 times higher than for non-Indigenous people.
- Saskatchewan continues to break its own record in overdose deaths losing 464 people in 2021.
- 1 in 4 youth in Saskatchewan have reported having engaged in self-harm.
- 1 in 4 youth have reported having considered suicide in the past year.
- There are 800 children and youth waiting to see a psychiatrist in Saskatchewan.
We need the government to immediately create a bipartisan legislative committee on the mental health and addictions crisis in Saskatchewan.
It's time for everyone to work together to save lives. We know that working together can make progress, like when NDP MLA Doyle Vermette's suicide prevention bill was supported by the government. But it also takes action to make that real. The government hasn't acted, and so we need a bipartisan committee to address the crisis.