Bob Bromley

Mr. Chairman, what is its current state, contrasted with the immediately previous state, of our support from this department through ECE for the training of nurse practitioners?

Question has been called.

---Carried

We will defer further consideration of Health and Social Services until another time.

Thank you, Minister Lee. If I can please get the Sergeant-at-Arms to please escort the witnesses out, and thank you to the witnesses for being here today.

Before we move on to the next department we’re going to take a short break.

---SHORT RECESS

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on my statement earlier today, I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services about her plan for the expansion of midwifery services and extension throughout the Territory.

When we recognized midwifery as a regulated occupation in 2005, we laid the foundation for the establishment of this service throughout the NWT or in the NWT. Initial and important steps have been taken but they haven’t kept up with demand. The Minister points out that midwifery practice is essential to the integrated service delivery model and that there are special...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the mover of the motion, I will offer remarks on reinstating funds to ensure NWT students are considered for placements in the University of Saskatchewan’s Veterinary Medicine Program.

As the motion points out, the University of Saskatchewan is offering a student from this Territory the opportunity to occupy one of the much sought after seats in its prestigious Veterinary Medicine Doctoral Program. Not only does the University of Saskatchewan make a seat available to a non-resident applicant, they offer this seat to the GNWT at a reduced rate, greatly reduced rate of...

Mr. Speaker, I would like to present a petition dealing with the matter of expansion of the Midwifery Program. Mr. Speaker, the petition contains 33 handwritten signatures and 304 electronic signatures. Of those, 150 signatories identified themselves as residents of the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, the petitioners request that the Government of the Northwest Territories Department of Health and Social Services fund additional full-time indeterminate positions for the Midwifery Program in Yellowknife and identify communities other than Yellowknife and Fort Smith to receive midwifery care...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once again, I appreciate the Minister’s comments. Will the Minister commit to working with our public partners to mine the best ideas they have and contribute that to the analysis for improving this service? We have a number of partners out there that are experienced in this area. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, midwives have been a vital part of our families and cultures for thousands of years. Obviously we have moved away from that. Meeting the advanced accreditation licensing training requirements, as the Minister mentioned, will need to be part of an integrated plan, especially for extension of services to regional communities. Will the Minister commit to working with the Minister of ECE and consider, in any review, the opportunities for training, employment and cultural support that expanded midwifery offers? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Later today I will be tabling the written portion of the petition calling for expansion of the Midwifery Program in Yellowknife and the extension of this programming throughout the Territories. Taken together with the Assembly’s first ever on-line e-petition, of 304 signatures, a total of 377 persons -- 161 from Yellowknife and 176 from outside the capital -- are calling on the government for increased support to midwifery.

We recognize midwifery as a regulated profession through the creation of legislation in 2005. This action only formalized the ancestral tradition of...

WHEREAS citizens of the NWT have identified the need for services of qualified veterinarians with northern knowledge and cultural awareness for the care of all domesticated animals;

AND WHEREAS the public service of the Northwest Territories requires the services of veterinarians for the administration of its wildlife management responsibilities;

AND WHEREAS public consultations on amendments to the Dog Act have further emphasized both the scarcity of and increasing need for veterinary service providers;

AND WHEREAS the University of Saskatchewan reserves one seat each year in its Western College...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.

What have been the total NWT costs and volumes by year for the 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10 fiscal years of obstetrical and midwifery services, including:

the average number and cost, including travel expenses and accommodation, of admission days during prenatal, birth and one year postpartum care for those mothers attended by midwives versus those not attended by midwives;

the average number and cost, including travel expenses and accommodation outside home communities, of admission days during prenatal...