Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to follow up on my Member’s statement of earlier today on naturopathic medicine, in particular naturopathic doctors. I know the Department of Health and Social Services is working on some regulations and some legislation now for kind of an umbrella legislation to cover a wide variety of professionals. I am wondering what it would take to get the naturopathic doctors included in that legislation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is right; we are considering an omnibus legislation on various health or allied health professions and it is possible that this could be inputted in that. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I am glad that it is possible that it can. I am wondering what it would take to get it included in the first round. Can we actually get the naturopathic doctors included in this legislation that will be coming forward at some point either later in this Assembly or early in the next one? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I need to caution the Member and anybody else who is discussing this naturopathic medicine, that we do not refer to anybody as a doctor. That is actually the issue in question, because under the NWT legislation, no one other than a doctor, physician or surgeon is allowed to call themselves a doctor. Naturopathic doctors are not recognized as doctors in the Territories and of they were to call themselves a doctor, that is illegal. That is an issue here. I need to let the Members know, and the public know, the naturopathic medicine, people can practice that right now without regulation, it is just that they cannot call themselves doctors. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister nicely gave us the reason why we need to get these positions in regulation. There are naturopathic doctors in at least five provinces in Canada. There is a Canadian Association of Naturopathic Doctors and these people that we are referring to do take a significant amount of education, often degree based. So, clearly, we need to get them into regulation which would protect their titles and would allow them to use the titles that they have worked so hard to get over the last couple of years or over the years.
In the regulation, Mr. Speaker, I am hoping that the regulations that are going to be covered through this legislation will cover things like scope of practice so we know what kind of practice these individuals can legally do in the Northwest Territories. Right now, the individuals she is talking about, their scope of practice is undefined. Would the Minister commit to including the naturopathic medical providers in the legislation and include a scope of practice so everybody can have a sense of comfort as to what these people can provide in the Northwest Territories?
Mr. Speaker, I would like to just reiterate that the department is reviewing the possibility of including this group of practitioners into omnibus allied health professional legislation. Each of them have very, very few numbers and this has been in the works and it will take some time to develop, but it is under review.
Secondly, it’s the Medical Profession Act in the Northwest Territories that defines who are doctors and who can call themselves doctors, so there is conflicting legislation that we need to work through.
The third thing is what is important is that for those people who are practicing naturopathic medicine, they are allowed to practice that as they exist now. So no one is interfering with their practices. They could have clients, they could do the work, because I have been getting lots of letters from the general public who would like to continue to have that practice offered to them. I want to assure them that they can continue to have that. It is just that those people who are practicing this field cannot call themselves doctors. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once again she is explaining so clearly why we need to get this into regulation legislation. It’s my understanding that this legislation, if it comes through, will protect titles, it will require people to have a licensure in another jurisdiction and those types of things, but it doesn’t talk about scope of practice. The Minister does say that they will be able to practice here in the Northwest Territories, but what comfort do both patients and providers have that their role is understood and they have to operate within some set parameters?
We need some scope of practice work done on this as well. I was wondering if the Minister could commit, as they move forward with legislation, that will include these naturopathic medical providers. Will it include some definition around scope of practice for the safety of our residents and the providers? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I think the Member is drawing a clear picture of the complexities involved in this. Our staff has met with the people that practice naturopathic medicine in the Territories. They were advised that they should continue to keep their licence in other jurisdictions, then they can continue to practice naturopath medicine here. They can continue to provide services to their clients. It is just that they cannot call themselves a doctor. In order to do that, we need to do some more work. We will continue to do that, but this will be something that would require more work and it is under review. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
