Julie Green

In favour.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I heard the Member say in his statement that our health was at risk, and I would just like to say that, in fact, we have the resources to cope with the health care demand as it exists now, both at Stanton and in the regional centres. We have protocols in place that enable us to surge with staff and beds to meet the needs of patients and also to assist the telehealth medical professionals in the regional centres and in the health care centres to treat the residents who come their way. So at this point, while our resources are thin, we do believe that we are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, my thanks to the Member for highlighting this area. Yes, indeed, we are keen to recruit and retain healthcare professionals. We have developed a health human resources workforce plan, which will be made public next month. It's a threeyear plan that looks at a variety of measures to bring to bring healthcare professionals to the Northwest Territories and to have them to have them live here over the long term.

Not only that, Mr. Speaker, I have been successful in persuading my federal colleagues at the FPT health ministers' table to create a national health human...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today in the gallery is my partner Janice McKenna, and her eldest brother Peter McKenna from Calgary. I'd like to welcome them to the House. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I've had versions of this question recently, and I would like to confirm that medical travel only is paid when the patient has been referred by an NWTbased physician for additional care. And so somebody who decides to jump in their vehicle and drive to Edmonton for a diagnostic or treatment services would be doing so at their own expense. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have conducted or the nurses association has conducted a couple of surveys to find out why it is that people are not coming here and not staying here. And certainly, we have heard the cost of living here is an issue; separation from family in the south is an issue; the burnout, which we've all heard about in the healthcare professions, is an issue. The labour pool is smaller than it was. And we've also heard that while we have been a generous employer in the past, the gap between what we offer and what's offered in the south has closed in the last...

Yeah, I neglected also to introduce Ms. Jeanette Demerse who is visiting us in the House today. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Member's point but I don't think that priority or access to their own resources is the issue here. The primary issue that is discussed every day in this House is housing. So, you know, the family may live in conditions that are overcrowded, the housing is inadequate and potentially unaffordable. So those are the kinds of issues that need to be addressed on a across departmental basis. It's not a matter of money. It's a matter of finding a place for a suitable place for families to live, and that's why I think that work on this integrated...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's true, as a Regular Member I did advocate for this. But I have to say how much has changed in the child and family services environment.

The colonial approach of "father knows best" with some kind of office that takes care of the whole NWT is no longer considered best practice. The best practice now is for Indigenous governments to write and implement their own child and family services law and be accountable to themselves and their Indigenous Members for the provision of child and family services. That's what we're working on. Thank you.

Yes, thank you. In the negotiations to date, this hasn't been a topic of discussion. I note it's also not a topic of discussion in the recently tabled Child and Family Services Act Review Report from the standing committee. The point of Indigenous governments creating their own child and family services law is that they they won't need an advocate. It's their law. They decide how it's implemented. Thank you.