Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During my campaign last fall, I took time out from door knocking to attend the Yellowknife International Film Festival to support local NWT filmmakers. I personally love film shorts and was pleased to attend the northern shorts program, which was world class.
One of the shorts screened that night was "She Gives Birth", a film that lays bare the antiIndigenous racism in health services faced by many smaller communities across the North. When MLAs were briefed on the budget and told the midwifery program expansion was coming to a close, to better support our smaller communities and their needs for birth work, I was excited, Mr. Speaker. What was not relayed is that the program expansion coming to a close means the whole program in Yellowknife is theoretically done.
While this funding is targeted to provide services in the Yellowknife area, it ultimately makes midwifery services stronger across the territory by stabilizing a system that is currently fragile and offering viable options for local NWT midwives to be trained in a center with many births and to retain them over the long term. Midwifery services in Yellowknife were planned out for the next three years to provide outreach to small communities and support opportunities for Northerners to pursue midwifery education.
Mr. Speaker, no midwives were consulted on this decision. The program currently has two summer students, both of who are studying outside the territory to become midwives and desire to return to Yellowknife to practice. They told me on the weekend, quote, "if this program is cancelled, I'll have to work elsewhere and likely leave the NWT", end quote. They're also concerned that this means that they will have to pay back the funds they received from the NWT Health and Social Services bursary program.
Mr. Speaker, in less than 24 hours, the NWT Midwives Association had close to 70 responses to their survey seeking feedback from Northerners on midwifery services.
Mr. Speaker, why are we making shortsighted decisions that reduce service to folks who are giving birth and reducing options for students who began their studies in good faith that their work would help their fellow Northerners? I will have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services at the appropriate time.
Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Members' statements. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
