Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services about the naturopathic medicine practitioners and doctors. Naturopathic medicine blends modern scientific knowledge with good traditional and natural forms of healing. Research has shown that they provide a bridge of appropriations between traditional healers and conventional medicine. Does the Minister see a role for naturopathic medicine doctors or practitioners in assisting the department in meeting the health needs of our indigenous constituents?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I absolutely see the role of naturopathic practitioners and they are allowed to practice as they are now under the licensure they have with other jurisdictions. There’s nothing absolutely stopping them from practicing their field. I want to tell the Member that I’ve no problem seeing them practicing here.
The issue here right now -- they don’t need to be regulated to practice -- is that they want to be called a doctor. Because there might be some confusion in that the people might feel that they’re medical doctors, that’s the only thing they’re not allowed to do. They are totally allowed and they are encouraged to practice.
Qualified naturopathic doctors practicing in the Northwest Territories have requested legislation regarding practice to ensure public protection. Given that the naturopathic doctors have a high level of education and training on par with family doctors and are recognized in nine jurisdictions with the legislation working in the health field, I want to ask the Minister, she said it’s possible that these naturopathic doctors or the medicine can be legislated in the future. I want to ask why not include it with the four others that she indicated? Why not for a short trial period?
Once again I need to state, the naturopathic practitioners are allowed to practice their fields as they are now. So there’s nothing that needs to be done to have them practice. They are allowed to practice that now. I have stated earlier that we are reviewing this. I want to say again that I just don’t want to load so many things onto this umbrella legislation that it doesn’t make it off the ground. It is really important that we regulate chiropractors, psychologists, licensed nurse practitioners, as well as emergency responders. Those professions have been at the front of the line and they have the level of complexity and the meeting there that we need to work through, and we believe that once we work through the other professions that come on board, they could be added more quickly and more readily because we would have had the frameworks done. So, Mr. Speaker, I just want to state again that we are considering other professions that could be added.
Thank you. Given that the regulated scope of practice of naturopath doctors is similar to a standard doctor, a profession that is in short supply in the Northwest Territories, does the Minister not see the value in regulating a profession that is already and will continue to fill a need for those Northwest Territories who do not have access to a family doctor without the expense of the health care system?
There’s nothing that we are doing or not doing that is stopping this profession from practicing. There is nothing that stops them from practicing. They are allowed to practice. They’re like physiotherapists, occupational therapists, massage therapists, acupuncturists, Chinese, Asian doctors or whatever. They can practice. I don’t mean Asian doctors, I mean Chinese medicine. So, Mr. Speaker, they are allowed to practice. We see the role of their profession and we’re just telling them it’s going to take time to bring them all on board, but in the meantime, Mr. Speaker, they’re absolutely welcome to practice here.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you again, Mr. Speaker. With the naturopath medicine practitioners/doctors, they blend the western with the traditional, again, to save costs in the health care system. Does the Minister not see that this is a value-added incentive to people in the Northwest Territories, to regulate the naturopath medicine, practitioners/doctors? I don’t think it’s going to be a disservice. There are already four on the list. Can the Minister look at this and say this is a priority and we’ll add it to the list? Thank you.
Thank you. I need to remind the Member also not to compare this profession as medical doctors, just because we have existing legislation that protects that word “doctor” just for those who are practicing medicine. So let me just say this profession is allowed to be practiced here. The practitioners are allowed to do their work and there’s nothing that we’re doing or not doing right now that prohibits them from doing their work. Like my colleague Minister Miltenberger just said to me, it’s like a float plane and we want the float plane to take off and if you load way too many things on there, it will never get off the ground. We want to start with this floor so that we make something happen.
