QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Jobs and Families
Community Crises
December 9, 2025
Minister, Southern First Nations are experiencing a state of emergency — overdoses, violence, youth at risk, suicide — with no fully funded treatment centres in the region. Communities are running checkpoints and crisis responses without stable federal funding.
What immediate federal actions will you take to fund First Nations-led treatment and crisis-response infrastructure in southern Manitoba?
Thank you. As the senator will know, in my previous role as Minister of Indigenous Services Canada, I fully worked with the department to ensure that solutions to community crises were self-determined and were supported by the community. That work is continuing under Minister Mandy Gull-Masty. I, of course, will serve as an ally to her in her work to advocate for sufficiency of funding.
I will say that the best solutions to community crises are the ones that are developed by communities themselves.
