On September 22nd, the province announced plans to launch Mental Health, Wellness and Recovery Community Roundtables.
Winnipeg, Selkirk, Brandon, Thompson and the Morden/Winkler areas were all mentioned in the press release.
The Parkland was notably absent from these roundtable sessions scheduled to take place from September 20th to October 5th.
Provincial NDP Leader Wab Kinew says this is a big missed opportunity for the PC government,
"I think this is a bad oversight because the Parkland people in the area know full well, that issues around addictions, around opioids, it's been very damaging, and it seems to have only gotten worse during the pandemic." Kinew carried on, "At the same time, folks in Dauphin, in Swan, in the surrounding communities, I think have started to come up with a lot of good local solutions to dealing with the addictions crisis, and I think the government is making a mistake by not setting up a specific time and place for people in the region to present both the challenges but also the solutions that they're bringing forward."
The department for Manitoba Mental Health, Wellness and Recovery was created in January of this year.
Its mandate includes mental health and substance-use policy, planning, program supports, broader health promotion and prevention programs.
