Sandy Lee

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am happy to advise the House that Dr. Bob Bromley can call himself Dr. Bromley and if MLA Abernethy were to get a PhD, he could call himself a doctor. However, Mr. Speaker, Section 82 of the Medical Profession Act of the NWT prohibits anyone from using the title doctor, surgeon or physician that may lead people to believe that she or he is a medical practitioner licensed under the act. Individuals are free to practice as a naturopath practitioner but may not refer to themselves as a doctor or a physician. This is based on legal advice we received from Justice. Thank...

For the Member to say there’s no plan, that really speaks poorly to the people who are taking care of our medevac planes and travels everyday all over the Territories. We are involved and we are responsible and our staff does a very good job of moving patients around, bad weather notwithstanding. They have to accommodate that.

Mr. Speaker, I am not at all aware of the specific situation he’s talking about. I do not have the information on the situation where somebody waited for two hours. I don’t know how he can say there was no involvement by anybody, because I’ve not had a chance to look at...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. How is it possible? That’s the weather. People who move patients around all over the Territories work with our weather system. The health care professionals work very hard to make quick decisions and necessary decisions and medical decisions on an ongoing basis. It is possible for patients to be weathered out of somewhere. It happens in the Territories once in a while. I mean, that’s the weather. Surely I’m not responsible for weather.

I did not say we would not do that. I said we are reviewing the possibility of adding that. This issue came up within the last couple of months and we are reviewing to see if we could add that extra profession. Let me say that lack of regulation does not preclude the practitioners from practicing. There’s nothing that precludes them from practicing.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I said that yesterday, and today I say it again, that we are reviewing the possibility of including that.

I believe I did a very good job in explaining that yesterday, but it doesn’t seem to make any difference to the Member. I said it yesterday and I’ll say it again, there’s nothing absolutely that stops a naturopath or other therapist and professions from practicing in the Northwest Territories. They are absolutely welcome and able to practice. Thank you.

Absolutely nothing, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One hundred years ago women were chattels with no privileges or rights as those enjoyed by men, yet women felt the full brunt of the punishment of law. One hundred years ago women did not have the right to vote, as women were not considered responsible enough to have a say in how Canada was governed. One hundred years ago women were not considered persons under the law.

Today marks the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, Mr. Speaker. March 8th is a global day of celebrations connecting all women around the world to honour women’s advancement, while reminding...

Mr. Speaker, I want to assure the Member I get what he is saying. I get what the Members are saying, Mr. Speaker. This is about a capacity issue. It is about a priority issue. It is about the traffic jam we have with the legislative office.

Mr. Speaker, we have, as I stated, outstanding that we have been working on to regulate licensed nurse practitioners who we need to regulate. We need to regulate psychologists who are numerous in numbers who do a lot of work in the Northwest Territories. We need to regulate emergency responders and we need to regulate chiropractors. I said, and I will say it...

We contract medevac services to our providers. We have people qualified to handle that. Medic North does that on the ground. We have staff and people equipped to handle medical situations on the plane. We spend millions and millions to do this medical travel. Mr. Speaker, I want to assure the Member and the public that we take care of our residents.

I want to offer to the Member again, before he makes generalized statements that sort of impunes the staff and the contracts that work for us, maybe he should just present to me the details and I will get back to him. Thank you.