'I was a little surprised': Minister Gord Wyant defends services provided for La Loche after harsh criticism

The province's deputy premier plans to travel to La Loche, Sask. to talk to the town's mayor and other officials after receiving sharp criticism over mental health and addiction services in the northern village.

Earlier this month, JudgeJanet McIvor said there was a lack of support for La Lochein the wake of a fatal school shooting in January 2016. McIvor called it a "victimization" and a "travesty."

She said many people in the northern town have expressed discontent with mental health services available in the communityand feel abandoned.

Education Minister Gord Wyant said the province has already allocated many resources to the northern community and wants to tell people about them.

"Certainly, if there's a disconnect with the community, it obviously means we need to do more work when it comes to communicating with the community," said Wyant. "We have deployed more resources in La Loche and region in terms of more supports for mental health, more supports for addictions services."

Saskatchewan government on next steps in La Loche

7 years ago

Duration 6:39

'A lot of healing has to take place,' says Education Minister Gordon Wyant.

Wyant, a former lawyer in Saskatoon, said he knows McIvor well.

"I was a little surprised by the comments she made," he said. "We've done quite a bit in the community and the surrounding area."

Wyant pointed to the creation of the Dene Teacher Education program run by First Nations University as one of the initiatives the province has launched.

"We developed that program in an effort to train more local residents to deliver the education services in their schools," he said. "It's wholly appropriate that members of the community are the ones that are teaching in the schools."

Calls for help

Criticism has been widespread since the then-17-year-old shooter, who cannot be named under a publication ban, shot and killed four people and wounded seven.

Months after the shooting, MP Georgina Jolibois said the village needed 24-hour mental health services to deal with the trauma.

The shooter was sentenced as an adult and received a life sentence with no chance of parole for ten years.

Last year, the village's mayor said anyone seeking victimservices needed to make a six-hour drive to Saskatoon, then wait three months to be reimbursed.