Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about the need for legislation that comes forward that’s comprehensive and reaches out and provides support and regulation to alternative therapies. As a Member of the Legislative Assembly here, I feel strongly that our job is to make sure that we develop legislation that protects our citizens, and legislation that is developed for alternative therapy I think is the way to go.
Listening to the Minister’s responses to some questions earlier, I’d like the Minister, maybe for the House, to define and elaborate on the scope of what the draft of that omnibus legislation is going to cover and when can we expect that type of information or that draft legislation to be out for the public to get a sense of what’s happening?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The legislation that we are working on is going to be Health and Social Services umbrella profession legislation and it will start with including four large professions: licensed practical nurses, psychologists, emergency medical service providers and chiropractors, because they have been identified as the four we need to work on right away. There are several other professions that have asked to be included and they could be included as we go forward.
There is lots of research and background work that we need to do to establish this umbrella legislation and this has been in the works for a very long time. We believe that once the framework is in place it would be more doable to include other professions.
I outlined a number of them in my Member’s statement, which is massage therapist, naturopaths and acupuncturists. There are other alternative medicines out there, and I use the word “alternative” in the sense of option. A lot of people think that there are many solutions to getting healthier and it’s not necessarily driven by just taking a pill. Many people like to take a natural approach. What would hold the Minister back from including these alternatives and other suggestions I’m providing here today? What’s holding the Minister and the department back from including these options in the development of this omnibus legislation?
I think it’s important for the Members and the public to know that professions like massage therapist and naturopathic practitioners can continue to practice their fields. They do not need the legislation to practice those. As I stated, unregulated professions pose certain regulating challenges such as small professional numbers and significant licensing differences throughout Canada. It does require tremendous research to determine how best to accommodate these unique circumstances. We believe that, as a department, by finding a framework for the most challenging and complex professions, the four that we have stated, that we will be able to accommodate future professions under the act.
Mr. Speaker, we are making progress in this area. We feel that it will really ground the work to a halt if we were to include everything at once. We are interested in moving forward in the four and that will set a framework for the other ones to be added. I want to note again that nothing right now will stop massage therapists and naturopathic practitioners from practicing their fields. They can continue to do that. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, there is a clear expectation from the public that certain industries are regulated for a lot of reasons, but certainly safety is particularly one high on their list. There’s an expectation that with legislation there are things like registering and licensing of these types of therapy groups happens, but as the Minister said -- and I won’t disagree -- that the people can practice these particular options outside of any legislation.
Mr. Speaker, legislation would help these therapy groups define their scope of practice as well as their standards, ethics and certainly bring much needed competencies and ensure the public is protected. Is there a resistance from the Minister to consider these options, as other provinces have proceeded, to move forward in creating legislation? Is it a resistance built into the department or is it just a lack of willingness to take the time to include them? Thank you.
There is no resistance or lack of willingness or any of those negative connotations, Mr. Speaker. The department has a number of legislations in their workload, and as the Member is well aware, we have a little bit of a traffic jam with legislative process. We, as a government, have a whole list of legislation, I would say upwards of at least 50 that have been in the works for many, many years. We are all in the same traffic highway on legislation.
We recognize the importance of regulating some of these professions and the ones that we have most urgent need is the licensed practical nurses, chiropractors, psychologists and emergency medical responders. Those are identified as being a priority and we believe that once those are set, it would make it easier for other professions like the massage therapists and naturopathic practitioners, which have come onboard later than these other guys, to get one. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Mr. Speaker, I think the Minister is missing out on an important component of this particular option before us here, is the fact that we have industry who wants to be regulated to ensure that they’re providing the best services, qualified services, trained services to their patients. Mr. Speaker, they’re speaking to their own, sort of, code of ethics that they go out. You know, naturopathy takes a significant amount of education. Massage therapists, if I understand, take at least two years of instruction and certainly with practical experience there are a lot of people developing significant competencies to ensure that they are qualified.
Mr. Speaker, what will it take for the Minister to recognize that these calls for action need to happen and what would it take to develop a stream to get them into a process so legislation could be developed for these types of industries that are actually for it that would protect our citizens? Thank you.
The Member’s line of questioning in itself is questioning the competence and the quality of the people that are practicing. I want to say that those that are licensed to practice as a therapist and naturopathic practitioners and even acupuncturists, all those professions are allowed to practice in the Northwest Territories. They just cannot call themselves a doctor. That might give an idea to the public that they are practicing medical doctor medical practices. That’s clearly defined in our legislation.
Mr. Speaker, let me just say once again what I said to MLA Abernethy, which is that we are working on the umbrella Health and Social Services Professions Act. We’re going to modernize the legislation, and this is long overdue, and we are giving due consideration to other professions who could be included. There’s no lack of will or resistance whatsoever. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
