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 federally and regionally accredited institution as a doctor of naturopathic medicine cannot be called a doctor. My colleague Mr. Bromley is a doctor. I am curious how this title being protected is sort of captured in the Minister’s statements. Can we not use the title doctor for individuals that have graduated as doctors regardless of whatever field? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am happy to advise the House that Dr. Bob Bromley can call himself Dr. Bromley and if MLA Abernethy were to get a PhD, he could call himself a doctor. However, Mr. Speaker, Section 82 of the Medical Profession Act of the NWT prohibits anyone from using the title doctor, surgeon or physician that may lead people to believe that she or he is a medical practitioner licensed under the act. Individuals are free to practice as a naturopath practitioner but may not refer to themselves as a doctor or a physician. This is based on legal advice we received from Justice. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I am really actually kind of glad the Minister read that because that is the point I was trying to make. These individuals are not calling themselves medical doctors in any way, shape or form. If you look at where they are licensed, they are licensed as NDs, naturopathic doctors, which is a completely different education. These people are highly educated. They would never suggest to anybody that they are medical doctors. This goes exactly to the point, Mr. Speaker. There is uncertainty out there, but what these roles are and these individuals do, we need to get legislation in place. The NDs, the naturopathic doctors are requesting it to protect their title so that people understand their role and so that patients of these individuals, people receiving services, are safe.
This is a safety issue, Mr. Speaker. This is about public safety. This is about safety of the provider. The Minister doesn’t seem to be getting that by saying, hey look, everybody can practice, yes. Anybody can practice. Anybody can go up to the Northwest Territories and say congratulations, I am a naturopath, and open their doors and provide any kind of service with no licence whatsoever, with no parameters of scope of practice. How are we going to address this concern? How are we going to get these individuals covered for the public safety and for the professional safety of residents in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I want to assure the Member I get what he is saying. I get what the Members are saying, Mr. Speaker. This is about a capacity issue. It is about a priority issue. It is about the traffic jam we have with the legislative office.
Mr. Speaker, we have, as I stated, outstanding that we have been working on to regulate licensed nurse practitioners who we need to regulate. We need to regulate psychologists who are numerous in numbers who do a lot of work in the Northwest Territories. We need to regulate emergency responders and we need to regulate chiropractors. I said, and I will say it again, I get it. I am saying that we are reviewing the possibility of including that. I fail to see the issue here. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
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 to a list of five or six.
The Minister keeps saying that there is too much baggage for this airplane. We want the Minister to commit. Will the Minister commit to, rather than just talking about it, adding it to the list and including it in this umbrella legislation? Two more positions: RMT and naturopathic doctors.
Mr. Speaker, I repeat, we are reviewing the situation. I want to assure the profession that they are allowed to practice in the meantime with the licence they have, we are looking at that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
