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The Nova Scotia government is cutting funds from mental health programs tied to the 2020 mass shooting in the province.
The cuts are part of a $130-million reduction in government grants to non-profits and community groups in the provincial budget tabled Monday.
Facing a $1.2-billion deficit, the government has chosen to reduce or cancel more than 280 grants across several departments, including for scholarship programs, arts funding, Mi’kmaw and African Nova Scotian programs, accessibility supports, food security, caregiver benefits and adult learning.
The Office of Addictions and Mental Health is cutting a total of $110,000 from two mass shooting-related programs, both of which came out of recommendations from the public inquiry that investigated the 2020 tragedy in which a gunman dressed as a Mountie killed 22 people over two days.
Domestic violence was a key theme for the resulting inquiry into the worst mass shooting in modern Canadian history, which began with the gunman’s violent assault on his common-law spouse.
A program offering trauma-informed care training is seeing a 10 per cent reduction. The province’s mental office said in a statement that the training has been offered to health-care professionals at the IWK Health Centre and Nova Scotia Health and will “continue for those who need it.”
The second cut is related to a program to address the unmet need for mental health, grief and bereavement support in northern Nova Scotia, and drops the budget from $200,000 to $160,000. The office says that’s because the recommendations from the public inquiry called for a needs and impact assessment of the program in 2023, 2025 and 2028, with no requirement for an assessment in the 2026-27 fiscal year.
“Initiatives aligned with Mass Casualty Commission recommendations remain a priority and will continue to receive funding to ensure those needs are met,” the office said in a statement.
Asked during question period about the cuts to almost 300 grants, Premier Tim Houston said, “I didn’t run for office to cut things and take things away, but I also know that leadership requires discipline at certain points in time.”
He said his government is trying to cut expenses “to protect front-line services, to protect health care, to protect education, to protect housing.”
Serena Lewis is a longtime rural social worker who, in April 2020, was the province’s grief and bereavement co-ordinator in Nova Scotia’s northern region, where the gunman’s 13-hour rampage began.
“When you look at a victim-centred approach and looking at the impacts of a mass casualty in the middle of a pandemic, I think it’s important that this work doesn’t have a timeline,” she said in an interview Wednesday.
“When you look at other tragedies in a global context, it takes many, many years for some people to come forward to acknowledge they need assistance and support.”
Overall the mental health office is cutting $2.6 million in grants. That includes $1.3-million less for e-mental health, a $214,000 reduction to trauma-informed care at the IWK Health Centre and $157,000 less for recovery houses.
The government is also reducing funding for domestic violence courts in Sydney and Halifax by $15,000 each.
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