Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe that there are about 65 funded community health nurse positions across the Northwest Territories, and we run about an 18.5-percent vacancy on those. We are constantly out recruiting and trying to find nurses to come into our community health centres on a permanent basis.
Given that many of our nursing stations are small, with three or four nurses, when one of those individuals is either sick or has to leave on short notice, there are definitely some service impacts on that. When we know that individuals are leaving or coming to an end of a term, we have an opportunity to bring in locums and other individuals to cover coverage, but sometimes we do have, sort of, more surprise vacancies and those types of things. We are doing our best to make sure that the communities are aware. We are providing the information to communities when there are those sudden changes.
We do struggle, Mr. Speaker, with the recruitment of nurses to some of these advanced practice nursing roles. It is a specialty-type position, and we really need individuals with a wide range of skills. There are aren't as many of those individuals as we would like, but we keep recruiting. We will continue to recruit. I have given the department direction to anticipatory hire in these types of positions so that we can bring in as many people as we can. Until such a time as we get the number of nurses that we need with the tenure that we need, we will probably still have to rely on some locum coverage in our small communities. That is not desired, obviously; we would prefer to have a continuum, but it is a challenge. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
How is it decided where to send nursing staff, and what priorities are set?
I am only going to talk about community health nursing, because I believe that that is the focus that the Member has. When it comes to filling community health nurse positions, we are trying to fill all of the positions all of the time. When we know that there is going to be a short-term vacancy between hiring, or for a holiday leave, or one of those things, we try to find locums to go. We have a pool of locums who have identified that they are willing and are available to us, so we can bring those people in.
We don't prioritize one community or one region over the other. We want all of these community health nursing positions filled. Some of them are challenging. We have some of our locum nurses who have indicated that they prefer one region over another, and that can be challenging when the vacancies are in a different region. We are always looking to find more of those individuals who might be willing to come up on the short-term placements, but our ultimate goal is to fill all of the positions on an indeterminate basis.
The Minister touched on this a bit earlier, but I will ask: what is the vacancy rate for nursing staff in the Beaufort-Delta Health and Social Services Authority?
Off the top of my head, I can't tell you what the vacancy rate is across the entire system, but with respect to community health nurses in the 65 positions that we have established, we are running at about an 18.5-percent vacancy. Many of those are filled by short-term locums to ensure that we have full coverage in communities while we continue to try and recruit on an indeterminate basis. We have fantastic health professionals out there. Some of them do choose, for any number of reasons, to move on to different opportunities, so we have a constant turnover. We do, and we will continue to, recruit and try to find individuals willing to commit some time to help us with our continuity of care.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What is being done to address chronic staff shortages that severely limit healthcare and treatment in small communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We are not in this one alone. We work with Aurora College, who runs a really fantastic Nursing Program here in the Northwest Territories. We are also working with Aurora College, who is delivering, on our behalf, what is referred to as, I am going to get the title wrong, but it is basically a rural and remote recruitment program or a training program for nurses, to help those nurses who live here develop the advanced practice skills that they need, things like diagnoses, assessments, suturing, setting bones, and those types of things, so that they can actually do the work of the community health nurses. We are working with them to get local individuals trained so that we can accommodate them and move them into the communities. Also, as I have indicated, I have already given the department direction to go out and attempt to proactively recruit some of these positions and do some anticipatory hiring.
There is what I would consider a national shortage of individuals who have this skillset. Most of them are employed in other jurisdictions if they have this skillset, so we have to entice them up here. We have one of the best compensation packages, highest salaries, great pensions, extensive benefits as far as leave packages, available. We are trying to make sure that people understand the real benefits of coming here and providing this incredibly valuable, rewarding work for the residents of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In response to some of the questions that I had the other day for the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, he noted that the current Riverview Lodge seniors' complex in Hay River will be rebuilt at a different location, and I just have some follow-up questions about that. The Minister mentioned that it would be in the next few years. Could he provide us with some details about when construction is expected to start and, hopefully, be completed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In regard to the questions that the Member had previously asked, I had mentioned that we do know that the building is now over 40 years old. It is something that we are going to be looking at, obviously, considering replacing within the next five years. We will be consulting with the community, obviously, the stakeholders that are in the community of Hay River, on how to address this.
As Members know, I did table a Seniors Planning Study during this session, ensuring that options are out there in terms of what kind of a building we will be constructing in the community of Hay River. We are also working with the Town of Hay River on how we can move forward with the community housing plans, something that I have said over and over in this House. As the project progresses, I will keep both Members from Hay River apprised of the work and the progress moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the Minister for the many answers that he gave. The current lot that the Riverview Lodge sits on is a beautiful piece of property. It's right downtown. It's right on the river. Does the Minister have an idea yet of what is planned for that piece of property after the new lodge is built?
As the Member has mentioned, whether it was in committee or it was just discussions that we have had together, the existing lot will be used for future development by the NWT Housing Corporation. We are also looking at assessing land availability options to support its future capital planning requirements through the NWT Housing Corporation, and as I have mentioned to the Member, we are working with the Town of Hay River and encouraging that discussion to keep going, to see how we can address some of the housing needs and concerns with the Town of Hay River.
I was at a meeting in Hay River a while back, and it was at the Whispering Willows, which is sort of a seniors housing unit. Officials from the Housing Corporation showed up to talk about the survey that they did, the seniors housing survey, and it was a great meeting. They solicited a lot of feedback. There was great community engagement, and I appreciate that. I was wondering: before this unit is built or even designed, would the Minister commit to engaging, again, with the Seniors' Society on the design of the building, the amenities in the building, as well as the location of the building, because, like I said, right now it is right downtown, and when you are older and you maybe can't drive anymore, it's great to be right across from the drugstore, right across the street from the arena. You are close to everyone, and you can walk everywhere, and I know a lot of people appreciate it. So will the Minister commit to consulting about the design and the location of the building?
Yes, we will be looking at engaging with the relevant stakeholders in a project such as this. As I mentioned with the community housing plans, we will want to be engaging with all of the stakeholders in the Town of Hay River, but also having that discussion with the municipality in terms of what lots are available, what land is available. As they become available to the municipality, we will be looking at creating a better partnership in addressing the housing needs in the municipality of Hay River. So, yes, we will be engaging with the stakeholders.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
I sense it is still early days on this project and that there are not a lot of details hammered out, but I appreciate the Minister's answers. Now, this is something I talk about all the time in this House. It's about the need for more skilled labour in the territory and how we need to start utilizing all of our infrastructure projects to help develop skilled labour. Could the Minister talk about the plans, how this project will be used, to do just that in terms of training, apprenticing, and how he is going to connect with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to ensure that all of that happens?
First of all, we always use an open and fair, transparent public procurement process. When we work with our contractors, we want to make sure that they are meeting the needs of Northerners and ensure that they meet their contract obligations by using local and northern labour as well as businesses. I will be working with the Department of ECE to look at how we can address the apprentices. Not only just in Hay River, but right across the Northwest Territories, in terms of the community housing plans that I have discussed, it is something that we are striving for, to get one in each of the communities across the Northwest Territories. I am sure that apprentices, training, and development will be something that is going to be on their priorities, as well. I appreciate the Member bringing up the questions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. In my statement today I spoke about screening brief intervention and referral as a cost-effective way for healthcare providers to talk to their patients about the harmful effects of alcohol. This was also a recommendation of the report I spoke about in the House last year. My question is: has the Minister looked at developing guidelines, or adopting them from another jurisdiction, to provide for screening brief intervention and referral around alcohol consumption? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department is actually very familiar with the screening brief intervention and referral process. They are familiar with both the practice, and they have done some research. In fact, they did utilize that tool here in the Northwest Territories dating back to 2014. It was actually used as part of an approach to work with youth, and it was done in conjunction with some screening tools, including motivational interviewing. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, I have confirmed with the department that there was not a lot of uptake by practitioners. Practitioners like physicians, counsellors, nurses, who we were encouraging to use that tool, there was not a significant amount of uptake. However, we still think there is some value in it. After the Member shared me the article in the report, I did share it with the department. I asked them to look at it. The new interdepartmental problematic substance-use task force that we will be establishing under the draft action plan that we were discussing earlier today, I have directed them to share that information with them so that they can dig into that a bit more and find out how we could better utilize that tool here in the Northwest Territories for the benefit of residents.
The report writers were apparently unaware that this tool is used because the scoring for the NWT as a whole was an F, and for the tool use it was zero. Moving onwards, 71 percent of Canadians on average have had conversations with health practitioners about smoking in which they received information about the health risks of smoking and they are encouraged to quit and given ways to quit. Is there a parallel that the department can use to create guidelines that would be as effective for alcohol as they are for tobacco?
Just to be clear, we have utilized this tool in the Northwest Territories, and we did make it available, and we did provide resources so that people could use it. Unfortunately, there was not a lot of uptake, and I think that's important to remember. Although it has been available, there was not a lot of uptake. With respect to the tools that have been developed around alcohol, in the new wellness plan, the draft wellness plan, which I just want to be clear is still only draft format, we are waiting for feedback from committee on how we can make it stronger, we are creating an interdepartmental problematic substance-use task force. We are also creating an advisory committee of individuals with lived experience to help inform how we move forward to get positive messaging out, encourage people to drink responsibly, and understand the impacts of over-drinking and those types of things. I feel, and I will certainly reinforce that message to the department, that what the Member is talking about is something that we are actually trying to do within the action plan, but I will reinforce that message to them and let them know that this is something that this Assembly would like to see.
Thank you to the Minister for that response. I am concerned that this issue is fairly straightforward and that there are a number of sets of guidelines available to review from across the country, including from the College of Family Physicians, and I feel that it would be possible to move directly to implementation without streaming everything through additional studies. I guess my question for the Minister is how to improve uptake by medical practitioners to use some kind of screening brief intervention and referral tool.
This is what this advisory group is going to help us with. We are not looking to do more planning. We are not looking to do more studies. We have the resource in front of us. We know there was not a lot of uptake. The Member even, in her Member's statement, mentioned that there has not been a lot of uptake with this program and this tool across Canada, so there are clearly some challenges with acceptance of this tool by practitioners. We see that there is some value, and we are going to get this group to work with us to help us figure out how to get more buy-in and utilize this tool as necessary, recognizing that some practitioners do have a scope of practise and they do work within that scope of practise. Some may not want to use this tool. They might have other tools they want to use. We are going to promote this tool within the government.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I feel that the launch of the Cultural Safety Action Plan sets the scene for more effective conversations about alcohol abuse because there will be strengthened relationships between healthcare practitioners and their clients. Having said that, there are also different approaches to doing screening intervention and referral. It can be done online, which is the case in a number of different provinces. Has the Minister considered a different approach to delivering this, that is online?
We did obtain some dollars from the federal government, focused on helping us get a message out about the use of cannabis and encouraging people to use responsibly and to understand the health ramifications of using it. This money we are also going to be using to do more of a polysubstance approach, trying to get messages out there both online and at a community level, using different sources and technology to get this information out. So, yes, Mr. Speaker, this is something we are aware of. This is something we are trying to do. We are trying to be creative. We are trying to tailor the message to the audience in different communities throughout the Northwest Territories, and we are getting communities involved to help us. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Throughout my term as a Nahendeh MLA, I have had the opportunity to hear stories, positive and negative in nature, about the service in the health system. Today in my Member's statement I talked about the great service that some of our residents have received at the hospitals here, so today I would like to ask some questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services about staff that go above and beyond. This type of service has been credited to people having a faster recovery time and living through difficult situations. I have had, actually, constituents say thank you, that, because of that service, they are alive today. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister explain what he and/or the department does when they receive positive feedback for the work that staff do? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member for his Member's statement earlier today. I think that it is important that we do recognize the incredible work that many of our amazing professionals provide throughout the healthcare system here in the Northwest Territories. These individuals are dedicated. They are committed to doing the best that they can for residents of the Northwest Territories in trying and challenging environments.
The authority does take significant effort to ensure that they are sharing these positive stories with their staff, and there are many different ways that this information comes in. Sometimes the individuals share their positive results or positive experience directly with the practitioners, which is fantastic. Other times, we know that managers or directors get information, and the managers and directors do their best to share that information with the individuals who actually were the ones being highlighted or applauded for the work that they did.
Also, Mr. Speaker, in the authority, when positive stories are brought forth, that can be shared, and I will touch on that in a second. We do try to get that out throughout the entire authority using different communications processes, such as weekly updates, our website, and our blogs. This information is how we get some of these positive stories out there.
I will note, Mr. Speaker, that, in all things that we do in Health and Social Services, we are bound by the Health Information Act, and there have been situations where individuals are really positive about their experiences, so much so that they share more information than we can, in turn, share. Sometimes we have to take out some of the specific individual context, but we do still try to share the overall feeling and intent of those messages with staff. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Minister gave a very long answer, and it actually took some of my questions on the way. I know that I can't ask any more, but I will anyway. With this feedback that they have received, does the department develop it to help promote best practices to help train other staff or even new staff coming in?
We are trying to evolve and continually be an organization focused on quality improvements. When we do get these positive stories, if there are recommendations in those letters or those e-mails or wherever the individual is sharing their information from, we try to use that data to help address quality improvement issues -- "this works"; "this doesn't work"; "we have got positive feedback on this type of subject" -- so that we could share those information so that could be part of a whole learning experience.
Yes, Mr. Speaker, we do try to learn from them. We do try to get them through our mechanisms, through our tools and our resources, to make sure that those experiences are shared and highlighted for developmental purposes as well.
That is great to hear, because all we hear sometimes in this House is about the negative stuff. Even when we have concerns, it seems that we bring to the Minister or the department our concerns. Sometimes, when they are doing some great stuff, that, to me, is just as great a learning opportunity. I am glad that the department uses that as a way to help the staff. Does the department have an in-house newsletter that focuses on new changes and compliments and recommendations moving forward?
I am not going to talk about what the department is doing. I think that the Member is more referring, I believe, to the what the authority itself is doing. The NWT Health and Social Services Authority has launched an internal website that is available to all staff within the authority. The website itself focuses on many areas, including highlighting our own employees and the incredible work that some of our employees do, communicating change, promoting awareness of different programs and services, and when appropriate, highlighting some of the positive feedback that we are receiving, as long as it doesn't breach any health information legislation.
Content from the Stanton Territorial Hospital is included in communication through the territorial authority on their website, which, in a sense, Mr. Speaker, actually acts as a digital newsletter. In short, yes, it is there.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I greatly appreciate the Minister for all of his answers to this point. I just have to share one compliment that I just received yesterday from a constituent who said, "We have got to be thankful that we have these world-class services available to us." Again, to the staff out there, thank you very much for the work that you are doing. With this website and that, is it available for the public, or is it just internally? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I will make sure that I ask the department to take this section of the Hansard and share it with the staff in the territorial authority so that they understand and can hear the message from the MLA from his riding. The website is actually an internal website for staff only. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There was a recent proposal brought to Yellowknife City Council for establishing a cannabis production facility here in Yellowknife. Part of that proposal is 10 to 12 full-time jobs, 15 to 25 part-time jobs, and the confidence that this would be a viable way to solve some of our supply issues in the Northwest Territories for legal cannabis and also to be competitive in pricing.
There is some concern that was raised at those meetings by councillors that this initiative might require support from the GNWT, support that might not be forthcoming. I was wondering if the Minister responsible for our cannabis regime, the Minister of Finance, can speak to these concerns and give certainty as to what steps that anyone interested in starting a production facility needs to follow if they want to open for business in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The establishment of grow-ops or production is licensed by the federal government. We are not involved in the regulating of an establishment or operation of this type of business. There are a number of things that they would have to meet, obviously, with some of the city bylaws, as well as the territorial government regulations, but as for the actual regulating of an establishment, that goes through the federal government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Minister. I know that production is a federal power. It is very complicated. There is a whole lot of regulatory process. Can the government provide support to people who are interested in getting into the market with production? Can they give them support as a pathfinder, to walk their way through the system and understand exactly what they need to get started?
