Julie Green

Good afternoon, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories is committed to ensuring that persons with disabilities have access to equitable levels of supported living services. We want to help them live as independently as possible in their own homes, or in accommodations provided by a supported living service provider. To advance our commitment, we conducted a comprehensive territorial review of supported living services to identify gaps in service, future demand, and best practices. The goal is a renewed person and familycentered, culturally safe, and inclusive...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following four documents: Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Committee Report 3719(2): Report on the Office of the Auditor General's Audit on Prevention and Recovery Services; Addictions Prevention and Recovery Services Work Plan (20222024); Followup Letter for Oral Question 131919(2): Registered Nurses Licensing Process; and, Followup Letter for Oral Question 138519(2): Midwifery Program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, addictions continue to be a serious issue in the NWT. Many residents have experienced the grip of addictions at some point in their lifetime while many others have watched family or friends battle drug or alcohol dependencies. The GNWT is committed to making sure that residents have access to the right combination of culturally safe supports and services where and when they need it. This is why the 19th Legislative Assembly made it a mandate priority to increase the number and variety of communitybased mental health and addictions programs, including aftercare. To ensure that...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I'm pleased to say that there is a performance measurement framework. It captures a broad range of activities that are part of the implementation plan for midwifery, and it adheres to the recommendations that were provided in the stakeholder engagement in 2017. So I am not sure when this first measurement framework will be complete and ready for the public to review, but that's certainly something I can provide as a followup. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, a project charter is like a vision and mission statement. It sets out the project that is to be accomplished, breaks it down into timing, responsibilities and actions, and so on. The project charter for midwifery was created in 2021 to guide the work of implementation of the midwifery program. It's an internal document that employees refer to and measure their progress against. And while it wasn't developed specifically with external stakeholders, I'm sure the Member is aware that there was a very thorough public engagement on the question of midwifery...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, it's my understanding that the report is not yet complete but that the production of the report will follow the normal practice of providing it to Regular Members for comment. Thank you.

Yes, thank you. Given the disastrous start to COVID and the large loss of life, up to as many as 18,000 seniors who died in the early days of COVID, the health and social services authorities developed a management policy for longterm care facilities in the NWT. And this was aimed at managing the outbreak that was happening all across the world at that point, and also with the support of the chief public health officer who provided her input as well. So the document was a living document. Each wave of COVID was different and so the policy was updated each time we confronted a new situation, a...

Yes, thank you. We currently have two ads out for midwives. One that is for two midwives in Fort Smith, and one is for a senior consultant in Yellowknife. Those ads are open until filled. The one for the midwives in Fort Smith has been up for three weeks; the other one for Yellowknife has been up for one week. So midwives are included as people who can have the benefit of the labour market supplement recruitment and retention payments, as well as the other incentives that we introduced such as having friends and family coming to spend holidays with people who are working here. So I think our...

Yes, thank you, Madam Speaker. I'm happy to provide an update on the midwifery program. The major issue we have right now is with staffing. The Fort Smith program is now Monday to Friday because they're down two staff. We're also looking for a senior consultant in Yellowknife. So we're not fully staffed anywhere so it's difficult for us to move forward with the implementation program until that happens. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, this work is not being led by the Department of Health and Social Services but what I understand is that there was, as the Member said, a discussion paper and a period of time for people to discuss the things that they wanted to be recorded as lessons learned from COVID. So my hope is that when I see this report, there will be the reflections in there of the kind of questions I got during COVID, which actually had less to do with the health side of COVID and more to do with the social side about isolation, visitor policies, and so on. So I'm...