Glen Abernethy

Mr. Speaker, excellent. That is good. I am glad the Minister gets it, but all I hear is that we are going to look at it at some point. We are suggesting and what the people are demanding -- it is not just the naturopathic doctors and the registered massage therapists that are demanding it, the public is demanding this as well -- there are concerns about individuals coming and claiming to be something that they may be, but through a certificate off the Internet as opposed to four, 10, eight years of education. We need the Minister to commit to putting this on that list of four and increasing it...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services and a follow-up on questions that some of my colleagues have already asked with respect to naturopathic medicine and naturopathic doctors. I want to start off with a clarification question.

Yesterday, when talking to the Minister, the Minister indicated the title of doctor is a protected title and that naturopathic doctors should not be using this title. I just need a little bit of clarity under that. I am curious how an individual who can go off and get 10 years of education and graduate from a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to mention a constituent whose longstanding efforts to improve the lives and situations of people of the North have been recognized by the Status of Women Council. Today is International Women’s Day and at noon the Wise Women Awards were presented. This year Lena Pedersen is one of the recipients.

Last year was the 40th anniversary of Lena Pedersen’s election to the Legislative Assembly. In 1970 Lena was the first woman to be elected to the Assembly. Born and raised in Greenland and upon coming to the Northwest Territories in 1959, Lena has lived and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once again she is explaining so clearly why we need to get this into regulation legislation. It’s my understanding that this legislation, if it comes through, will protect titles, it will require people to have a licensure in another jurisdiction and those types of things, but it doesn’t talk about scope of practice. The Minister does say that they will be able to practice here in the Northwest Territories, but what comfort do both patients and providers have that their role is understood and they have to operate within some set parameters?

We need some scope of practice...

Mr. Speaker, I am glad that it is possible that it can. I am wondering what it would take to get it included in the first round. Can we actually get the naturopathic doctors included in this legislation that will be coming forward at some point either later in this Assembly or early in the next one? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During the life of the 16th Assembly the Department of Health and Social Services has been working towards the development of legislation for health care professionals in the Northwest Territories where only a few practitioners are employed; professions such as psychologists, chiropractors and other related allied health professions. It’s my understanding that this legislation is intended to protect these professionals’ titles as well as require the practitioners to be licensed in another Canadian jurisdiction before she or he can work here in the Northwest Territories...

Mr. Speaker, the Minister nicely gave us the reason why we need to get these positions in regulation. There are naturopathic doctors in at least five provinces in Canada. There is a Canadian Association of Naturopathic Doctors and these people that we are referring to do take a significant amount of education, often degree based. So, clearly, we need to get them into regulation which would protect their titles and would allow them to use the titles that they have worked so hard to get over the last couple of years or over the years.

In the regulation, Mr. Speaker, I am hoping that the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to follow up on my Member’s statement of earlier today on naturopathic medicine, in particular naturopathic doctors. I know the Department of Health and Social Services is working on some regulations and some legislation now for kind of an umbrella legislation to cover a wide variety of professionals. I am wondering what it would take to get the naturopathic doctors included in that legislation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I look forward, like I said, to seeing the results of this program. It sounds good. Between that and the Victim Notification Program, I think some good work has really been done in the department. But as I talked in my statement, the V-Day North has been rolling money into the community to help break the cycles of violence and one of the organizations that they have been giving some money to help them break that cycle of violence is the Centre for Northern Families. I know that many departments in this government are supporting the Centre for Northern Families in...

I listened, with interest, to the Minister’s statement today and I’m very happy that this Victim Notification Program is going to be implemented. I didn’t catch the title, but it’s the Domestic Violence Treatment Option Court that’s going to be rolled out later this year. Can the Minister tell us how that is intended to help break the cycle of violence? What is the value in that program in breaking that cycle? Thank you.