Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if there are you know, I guess, again, if it's an elder, you know I hear the Member. I know of many stories, you know, and I'm not going to deny that this is something that we are aware of. We know this is a gap in our policy, and that is why the medical travel policy is its own target in our you know, in the business plans. And so this is one of the areas that I really want to focus on. I want to use some of the information I will learn probably from the bilateral with Inuvialuit, and also to be able to hear from we have the Indigenous patient...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the I guess, with the midwifery program that we're talking like, I can't speak to what has been done over the 20 years, but I know that Fort Smith was a driver and the history of midwifery in Fort Smith has been kind of the model. So as to when and where, what discussions have happened with Indigenous midwives, I don't have that information here on the floor today but like I said, midwifery, I mean, we want to be able to provide this service where there's no service available to deliver. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not going to commit to that on the floor today as I'm unable to be able to confirm whether we could meet that funding and clinical training requirements as I mentioned in my previous comments. But I'm committed to continue to work with what we can do to expand this program, and if there's ways that we can find other funding to fund this, if we can support it within our system, then I'm always willing to commit to continuing that work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the position there is still a position to support the two communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the positions that are currently in the communities are governmentfunded positions and, yes, I hear the Member of how we would use a midwifery advisory, you know. We have created these positions with collaborations within the department with them and, you know, moving forward this is the thing, is we need to make sure that those positions in the communities that Fort Smith, like I said, and Hay River, which do not have birthing services. Inuvik and Yellowknife have birthing services right now, and so we're going to switch our focus to make sure that we can...

Mr. Speaker, I don't have that detail. Recruitment falls within HR, and whether it falls within that department within that HR team, I'd have to defer that to the Minister. But as of right now, I mean, I can follow up and get back to the Member on that whole process. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, I and I really want to I appreciate the Member for bringing this forward in a positive way because this is a good thing for the Northwest Territories. But I would also like to recognize this is just one program. There are a number of areas that we have been doing increasing health practitioners as well. So educating registered nurses in the Northwest Territories for over 20 years, we've been graduating nurses, licensed practical nurses, personal support workers, ophthalmology technologists. And we hope to again soon to be able to bring back...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, I recognize the importance of the family residency program. And this program began it was launched in 2020 and it provides a way to train and retain potential candidates for permanent family medicine positions in the NWT. Four residents have now graduated from this program. Two newest residents started on July 1st, 2023. However, I do agree with this program and, you know, but when we were taking in account as to ensuring the number of residents that we can support and provide expanding their scope in our facilities, we have to make sure that we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The more support that I put in Yellowknife, the less people that I'm going to have working in the frontline that are actually doing the midwifery program. And so the support that we're leaving in place is to the one position to support the two communities to be able to be effective. You know, if we keep taking away and we put it in Yellowknife, then that's going to be taking away positions or midwives that could be working in those communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, I'm so glad that the Member, you know, in his Member's statement agrees with a lot of the things that I also agree with. And midwifery is near and dear to my heart. So one of the things that what you know, with all of the things that are happening in the Northwest Territories is what we are doing is we are focusing the midwifery on the programs that we currently have. So Fort Smith was the first program. We expanded into Hay River. But currently right now, Mr. Speaker, we are barely filling those positions in those two communities where there are no...