Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on my statement earlier today, I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services about her plan for the expansion of midwifery services and extension throughout the Territory.
When we recognized midwifery as a regulated occupation in 2005, we laid the foundation for the establishment of this service throughout the NWT or in the NWT. Initial and important steps have been taken but they haven’t kept up with demand. The Minister points out that midwifery practice is essential to the integrated service delivery model and that there are special requirements for meeting the Canadian standards of care. What is the Minister’s vision for the future of midwifery service in the NWT, a vision that accommodates these challenges? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Member for the question and I do look forward to receiving those petitions, which I am aware of.
Mr. Speaker, the department is engaged in doing a business plan analysis for expansion of the Midwifery Program across the Territories. The business case analysis would also include the more traditional midwives use that has been used in Nunavut, which is in line with what the Member spoke about, about bringing back the traditional knowledge. We need to look at the training options and obviously this is part of the Foundation for Change action plan. We are doing the analysis. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, midwives have been a vital part of our families and cultures for thousands of years. Obviously we have moved away from that. Meeting the advanced accreditation licensing training requirements, as the Minister mentioned, will need to be part of an integrated plan, especially for extension of services to regional communities. Will the Minister commit to working with the Minister of ECE and consider, in any review, the opportunities for training, employment and cultural support that expanded midwifery offers? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I will make sure that that is part of our review process. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the commitments of the Minister here. I would like to refer specifically to the Yellowknife situation where we are not meeting the Canadian standards for care, having only one midwife. Will that commitment be made to bump this situation up to what is required by our Canadian standards? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, the plan we are working on is a territorial-wide model. While we have a situation that we have in Yellowknife as the Member described, I also believe that greater benefits could even be had by having some midwifery assisting with delivery of babies in many of our communities where there are not permanent doctors or doctor services. It is one that we need to look at from a territorial-wide perspective and our business plan analysis is looking at that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once again, I appreciate the Minister’s comments. Will the Minister commit to working with our public partners to mine the best ideas they have and contribute that to the analysis for improving this service? We have a number of partners out there that are experienced in this area. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, yes, we would obviously do that. I would commit to do that. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
