Julie Green

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River North, that Bill 40, An Act to Amend the Medical Profession Act, be read for the third time. And Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded vote. Thank you.

In favour.

Abstain.

Good morning, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to update Members on the work being done to recruit and retain health and social services staff in the Northwest Territories. This work responds to the mandate commitment of the 19th Legislative Assembly to increase the number of resident healthcare professionals by at least 20 percent.

The recruitment and retention of health and social services professionals has become increasingly high profile over the past year, as the COVID19 pandemic has made shortages of health and social services personnel across Canada worse. The department has...

Thank you to the Member for her comments. I will take them into account.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for Kam Lake for that question.

NTHSSA has a systemwide policy on suicide risk assessment. It's a 10page policy which is available online.

The policy clearly states that the staff need to assess the risk and complete a meaningful safety plan. The risk assessment determines the level of intervention which could be minimum, moderate, or high. If the suicidal incident involves the hospital, there's a discharge meeting and a plan for which there is a template. And if needed, a multidisciplinary community care plan is created. So this could include...

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member was not a Member in 2018 when the OAG reviewed the provision of child and family services. But that was a very distressing report, showing significant gaps in the provision of child and family services. The result was an investment of 57 new positions in child and family services across the NWT since 2018.

So I can say that there are, for example, two social workers in Fort Providence. Most communities have resident social workers. Some of the smaller communities are served from regional offices.

The other big thing that's happened is that...

Thank you, Madam Chair. On my left is Cherie Jarock, legislative counsel, and on my right is Kelly Mahoney, director of policy for the Department of Health and Social Services.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Member for Deh Cho for the question.

Just by way of background, the Child and Family Services Act came into force in 1998, and it has a provision to be reviewed every five years, and it is being reviewed this year.

The purpose of the act is, and will continue to be, to ensure that the best interests of the child are taken care of. What has changed is that there is more of a focus now on prevention rather than protection. So protection is still present, but prevention needs to be exhausted first.

So there are opportunities for counselling, parenting...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am here to present Bill 40, An Act to Amend the Medical Profession Act. The purpose of this bill is to allow for regulation of physicians providing virtual care to NWT residents. The use of virtual care has greatly increased, in large part due to the limit of inperson contact and medical travel during the COVID19 pandemic.

We engaged with physicians throughout the development of this bill and have committed to undertake a collaborative approach to physician regulation. We know that this work needs to be informed and supported by these professionals.

I appreciate the...