Rylund Johnson

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the Guiding Principles and Process Conventions for Consensus Government in the Northwest Territories dated August 2020.

I tend to agree with the Minister, but my concern here is that we seem to have no plans in this area to increase access to justice. Right now, I know that we have done some good work. We have one outreach lawyer. They run a Legal Aid clinic that does some of this work in poverty law, but I think there is definitely much more that can be done in that area. I think it starts by having it be a more public-facing law centre, one where people can find access to resources. Are there any plans to expand our current Legal Aid outreach clinic so that, perhaps, people looking for information can start...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My first answer, I am hoping for a yes. Presently, right now, if you want to access the law resource centre, it is behind a locked door. Is the Minister willing to unlock the door? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that, on Wednesday, March 31, 2021, I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River North, that, notwithstanding Rule 4, when this House adjourns on Wednesday, March 31, 2021, it shall be adjourned until Thursday, May 27, 2021. And further, that any time prior to May 27, 2021, if the Speaker is satisfied, after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly, that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment or at a time later than the...

I recognize that is probably a suite of these questions I can also ask to the corresponding Minister for the Department of Finance. In the Department of Health and Social Services business plan, this year, we were supposed to have completed new recruitment and retention strategies to guide that work. Has that work been completed? I heard the Minister say the potential of exit surveys. What I am really looking for is a comprehensive strategy I can sit down and nurses can review to see where we are going. Has that work for new recruitment and retention strategies been completed yet?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Minister stated, new hospitals and machines only work if we have the people, and the people are healthcare workers that we rely on. I know we have faced a number of retention issues; they're nothing new to the North. My question for the Minister of Health and Social Services is: what is the number one reason that nurses are leaving the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad to hear that work, and I know that some of the specialization work and the training to get people into nursing is some of the best work we're doing in this area. My concern is also specifically on the retention. I know there is new recruitment unit going out, and I know we are offering signing bonuses. We're attracting locums, and we're getting more people to come here. Previously, in a number of different formats, the department has offered retention benefits. These were service agreements. If you worked one year, you get a bonus at the conclusion of that year...

That gets to my next question. If we're not tracking why our nurses are leaving, whether that be due to burnout, not getting paid enough, workplace culture, lack of housing, there can be a long list of reasons why a nurse does not leave. I note that the NWTA for teachers tracks this information diligently and in response to each of those concerns when a teacher decides to go down south. Is this part of the work the Department of Health and Social Services is doing in this area, is to track with exit interviews the reasons nurses leave the Northwest Territories?

Mr. Speaker, nurses are the backbone of our healthcare system, and across Canada, we face a nursing shortage. The market is highly competitive to attract and retain nurses. We in the North have long struggled to fulfill all of our nursing positions. This last year has shown just how important our healthcare workers are. Our pandemic response was informed by our ability to manage the threat, and we took no chances, Mr. Speaker. However, we need to take that bold spirit to attracting and retaining our nurses.

I have had many exhausted nurses reach out to me over the course of this pandemic...

I know the Minister is looking forward to getting the board and the polytechnic up and running so he can stop fielding so many questions about what they are going to do, and maybe one day, I will try to sit on that board. Right now, pretty soon, hopefully this summer, we are going to see a three-year economic plan for Aurora College, and I hear what the Minister is saying, and that is the building on current programming. However, I feel that the transformation requires new programming; it requires some sort of new courses, new certifications. My question for the Minister is: especially in...