Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I spoke about a consistent full-time mental health worker in Fort Liard. I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services a question. I did raise this issue last fall. I’d just like to ask once again, when will the department be hiring a full-time mental health worker in the community of Fort Liard?
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We invest about $6 million annually in community counselling positions across the Northwest Territories and community counselling services.
With respect to the exact position in Fort Liard, I’m not actually aware of the position in Fort Liard or whether or not it’s vacant, so I will have to have a conversation with the Dehcho Health and Social Services Authority to get a status update, which I will share with the Member and I’ll work with the authority to figure out how to get an incumbent into that position.
I think one of the issues last fall, as well, was a matter of who does the recruitment. I know that we’ve got the Department of Human Resources, but is the health authority doing their own recruitment?
The Department of Human Resources provides technical expertise in competitions but the health authority is certainly involved in every competition for any incumbent of their organization, so it’s a combined effort.
I guess one of the other issues in the small communities and hiring professionals is the high turnover rate. I was wondering if the department has been addressing this, have been looking at this, and finding some alternate strategies in order to keep longer term employees in the small and remote communities.
During the last fiscal year, the Department of Health and Social Services took over the health human resources unit from the Department of Human Resources. That unit is now in the department and they’re developing a comprehensive human resources plan for the department and working with the authorities, as well, so we’re hoping to come up with some useful and beneficial programs that will help recruit and retain Northerners throughout the Northwest Territories, whether that’s training people or bringing people in, it should include both of them. We are going to be coming forward with that strategy.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Is that something similar to what Human Resources is doing with the Regional Recruitment Strategy? Is that what the Department of Health and Social Services is looking at right now?
We’re looking for ways to recruit and retain health and allied health professionals throughout the Northwest Territories that may involve a variety of programs. We haven’t really determined all the details at this point. But the Regional Recruitment Program is available to all departments, boards and agencies, so if we have positions that don’t have a statutory requirement, we could certainly engage the Department of Human Resources to utilize the Regional Recruitment Program as it stands now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
