Bob Bromley

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will also be supporting this motion. The Minister mentioned in his budget address a number of places where additional funding was being planned for expenditures. One of those was the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative. I think those sorts of things fit exactly with this program, from what I know of it. I recommend that we do have the dollars for this and that it be made. I will be supporting the motion.

Agreed. Committee, that concludes that section. Let us turn back to 8-7, which is on page 8-7. Mr. Beaulieu.

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...

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the commitments of the Minister here. I would like to refer specifically to the Yellowknife situation where we are not meeting the Canadian standards for care, having only one midwife. Will that commitment be made to bump this situation up to what is required by our Canadian standards? Mahsi.