Thank you, Minister. Mr. Cooper.
Madam Chair, yes, indeed. We did have one-time funding that flowed to the nurses association to support work towards the one regulatory body. We are currently still working with the RNANT/NU to update the Nursing Profession Act so that we can move towards regulating all nursing professions under one regulator. This work will continue through this year that we are heading into. I don't have a firm date on when we will be back, given some of the adaptations we have had to make to work, planning around what we are obviously going through right now, but we are certainly working to consolidate legislation and have all nursing professionals' credentials managed and monitored by the one regulatory body.
Thank you Mr. Cooper. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. That is good to hear and understandably delayed probably as a result of COVID. Is this, dare I say, some sort of almost a co-drafting process, where the associations are involved in drafting the legislation or giving feedback, having an opportunity to review drafts or whatever? How is that working? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. While we are on the topic, I will get Mr. Cooper to answer that, as well.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Cooper.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, it is a process of co-designing. I wouldn't say necessarily the co-drafting component, but, certainly, we are working to ensure that we align our legislation with the best practices and working in partnership with the association to do so.
Thank you, Mr. Cooper. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. That is good to hear. I think that is the way that we need to approach this. I am glad to hear that that is being done. This is, I guess, the place where health and social services authorities' funding flows through. I have raised this in the past. I am wondering if we are making any progress on some sort of consolidated reporting of features of our integrated system now. The health transformation system was supposed to allow for reporting of things like wait times for key medical services. Look, I understand folks are working flat out in terms of pandemic preparation and all of that, but have we started to make any progress in this consolidated reporting of things like wait times for different kinds of medical services so that the public understands where focus might need to be better made or even us as legislators? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Madam Chair, in terms of increasing information systems, one of the things the department has done just recently is to incorporate our financial system, SAM. This is something that we are looking at in terms of putting all our systems into one place. We have done it with our financial. We recognize that there is need for improvements in terms of putting all our other systems together. That is something that the department is looking into.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Yes, thanks, Madam Chair. That is good to hear, but I have raised this for, I think this is probably about the third or fourth year in a row now. When are we going to be at a point where we can have public reporting of wait times for a variety of medical services? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The information that we have, we do track wait times in many of the different services that we provide. This is something that the department can look into, because we need to improve wait times for any of the different services that we provide here. There is room for improvement. I understand that, and that is something that we can look at. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Is there a schedule, though? When could we expect to see public reporting on an annual basis, even, of wait times? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I will turn it over to Mr. Cooper.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Cooper.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, the department and the system has been working and certainly recognizes the importance of reporting on wait times in a variety of areas. We have some areas where we are already reporting wait times. There are other areas that we are developing as part of the bilateral agreement with the federal government. We have an obligation to do public reporting on wait times around homecare, mental health, and performance indicators around that. We have been tracking wait times for audiology services, rehab services, and so, this is something that we are very much committed to. It's going to take us several years to get to a place where we have a robust wait time reporting process, but we are at a place now where we do have wait times available by programs, others that are coming on stream, and programs working away to try to do better in that regard. We can certainly make that listing available if MLAs wish to see a more fulsome briefing on that issue.
Thank you, Mr. Cooper. Member for Frame Lake.
Yes, thanks, Madam Chair. I would very much like to see that list. Can the Minister confirm that that would be provided? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, that is something I can provide to the Member. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess one of the other big issues system-wide is recruitment and retention. I'm just wondering if I can hear if we're making any process on recruitment and retention of healthcare professionals across our whole system. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Recruitment for health professions is one of our priorities in the 19th Assembly, and this is something our department is looking at doing. As a result of COVID-19, we were able to repatriate a lot of nurses coming back from outside of the Northwest Territories, which is very promising, because we were able to then possibly even keep them. That is something that we are looking at. We need to meet our target. Our Assembly identified a target for the 19th Assembly, and that is something that we are working at. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Madam Chair. My questions are related to RNANT/NU, the Registered Nurses Association of the NWT and Nunavut. I am aware that they are a governing body that governs registered nurses or nurse practitioners in the Northwest Territories. That whole body seems to be separate from the whole health department. I know that people before me have filed complaints to them. I think it goes to several other places, too. It could be to the leadership council chairman. It could be going to the department of health, but the majority is funnelled to RNANT/NU.
I even filed a formal complaint for three or four people back in November regarding problems with misdiagnosis, different causes, inappropriate comments to our Dene people. Those were being made in our health centre, but we weren't receiving responses. I asked those other people, too, who filed some back in May of last year, and they said they have never ever once received anything back from anyone to even acknowledge that they received their complaints and stuff like that. I am just wondering: what's the relationship between our health department and this governing body? If you could try to paint me a clear picture of what has happened there, I would appreciate that. Mahsi.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The complaints process is not straightforward. I'm going to maybe ask Mr. Cooper if he can talk about the process in detail.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Cooper.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Two points to make on this. The first is that, as a regulatory authority, RNANT/NU has been granted, obviously, by this legislature, the right to self-regulate and the obligation to ensure that they have a complaint investigation and disciplinary process established that meets the rules of natural justice so that there is a good and fair complaint investigation process put in place. These things normally do take place behind a bit of a veil of confidentiality, as, once a complaint is laid, there are sometimes issues that might occur that might make it difficult for people to know everything that's happening. I guess the point here is that they are a standalone entity with their own professional regulatory investigation processes. Certainly, we are aware that there are many investigations that take place, but we do not receive reports about the status of investigations because of the independent nature of their role.
Thank you, Mr. Cooper. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi for that. It's still muddied, that whole process, because now we're dealing with an independent body, and a lot of times, when you deal with independent bodies, you're always having problems, because we're not totally regulated by something under the GNWT umbrella. We get answers there, right now. Here, we don't. I believe you guys look after recruitment and retention, and you're sending them over there. You're cutting the ties, type of thing.
We do have a lot of legitimate complaints out there, and we haven't resolved them. Like I said, some were back from May a year ago. We're still here with no answers. There is a big disconnect and a problem there. I would really like the department to look at tightening or strengthening the relationship that you have with this group, in order that we get some timely responses to formal complaints. Right now, we're just not getting anywhere. My community, a year later, we're still up in arms.
I think we may be requesting to meet with the Minister of health in our community in the near future to really discuss this issue with RNANT/NU and a complaint process. We need to do better than that and not just say, "Well, they're a regulatory body. They're on their own." We're hiring the nursing profession in there. Those are just comments on that one.
Recruitment and retention that my colleague brought up there is another one, too, because I know we've had a person or two go through the nursing profession from our small communities now and again. Now, it's just gone by the total wayside. I'm wondering if the GNWT, the department of health, would consider an aggressive recruitment program in high schools and going out to all the small communities to speak to them because I think there could be some very good people in there who would be interested if somebody were there to talk to them about it, maybe an actual nurse, too, to pique their interest, and that may be where our youth might take that up. It's a profession. We've got to get into their faces. I would really like to see that happening. That's just another general comment. Mahsi, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Deh Cho. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The Member is correct. The recruitment piece is essential. Right now, we're pulling people in from outside the territories and it shouldn't be that way. We should be able to have training here in the Northwest Territories. We have many institutions that we can be able to provide health training. I agree with the Member's comments about having the careers in earlier schools, so that way students can understand that they need certain courses in order to get their grade 12 and carry on into a nursing profession. I agree, and that's something that the department of education, culture, and department of health can have a look at to start to capture students at earlier grades so that they can take the appropriate courses so that they can go right into college for a nursing profession. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Are there further comments to this section? Member for Monfwi.
Masi, Madam Chair. I'm looking at page 168, the French language services, $970,000, which stands out. As you know, the population of the Northwest Territories, the majority is Aboriginal-language-speaking people. Is that due to the course of a federal contribution towards the French language services? Is that why it's identified on its own? That would be my first question. Masi.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Yes, that is correct.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Monfwi.
Masi, Madam Chair. If that's the case, I think we, as a territorial government responsible for Stanton, territorial government needs to push more to identify similar to French language. I know that the French population is aggressive. We need to be aggressive, as well, Aboriginal-language-speaking people in the Northwest Territories, because a majority of our communities speak the language, but it's not identified here on its own. I would like to see that even more. I guess a direction to either the Minister or the department to push that with the federal government. I know the federal government increased Aboriginal language funding to ECE just recently, not too long ago, so they've identified the importance of Aboriginal language. If we can identify that here as part of a line similar to French language services, with identification of funding, that would be very much appreciated. Is the Minister willing to push that from her end with the federal government and her colleagues from Nunavut and the Yukon territory, as well? Masi.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you. That is absolutely something we should be looking at. The Member did identify that, here in the Northwest Territories, we have the majority of our residents Indigenous, and the language piece is so important. I spoke earlier in the House about the translation and how important that is for patients coming in and to be able to have those services available to them. That is something that we would look at. That's a key part of the services, is to be able to have that language aspect, so that's important. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member.
Masi, Madam Chair. Obviously, whenever we're in session, the federal government is listening to us, looking out for our discussion here. Clearly, this is of importance to the Northwest Territories. We have 11 official languages, and the federal government only recognizes two. We recognize our 11 official languages, and we have to stand firm to say, "These are our own Northwest Territories. We identify nine Aboriginal languages." We need to identify that as part of our budget going forward.
In the previous terms when I was education Minister, I spoke my language to the federal government, and they always put their earpiece on. They had no idea what I was saying, but I was making a point to them, that we do exist, and there are Aboriginal languages out there. I'm glad the Minister is willing to pursue that with the federal minister, but it will take time, but we've done it with ECE. There's been an increase on federal. I don't see why Health and Social Services, I'm sure we can do that, too. It has to take a firm approach from all of us, and I just want to highlight that, Madam Chair. More of a comment, but it's the importance of the language to be identified in the budget. Masi.
