Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The North is a wonderful place and despite our struggles, it's a wonderful place we all call home. Now, the NWT isn't a wealthy territory in comparison to places like Ontario or even Alberta, you know, but we are wealthy in hearts and opportunities and resources and people, just poor in cash. Now things change over time, and sometimes we identify that as wisdom. But, you know, so when you're young you're adventurous at hearts and, you know, wanting to live in the fast lane, but as you get a little bit older, like people in this room, your priorities of riches change, such as family and health. That said, now that brings me to the issue of why I want to focus on today is on health.
Mr. Speaker, it should come to no surprise but rather more of an embarrassment that in Canada, it's so hard to believe that one in five people do not have a family doctor. So, Mr. Speaker, if you're planning a family, you're having health challenges, you're aging, you know, you really need that very critical and important relationship with a family doctor because having a doctor matters. So let's put a territorial lens on this, if I may.
Mr. Speaker, the bureau of stats recently published that there were 44,760 people in the Northwest Territories as of October 1. Now that's all post fire evacuation so things may have changed, but we're going to use that number for now. The bureau estimates that over that period of time now things may have changed, but we're going to work with what we've got.
So if you take the bureau's number, one in five, now that's 20 percent for those nonmath people by the way, we have a rough underserved population of around 9,000 people. Now to be precise, for argument's sake, that's 8,955 people without a doctor. But I'm going to use 9,000 because it's an easier number to talk.
So putting it into perspective, now 9,000 people of our combined population do not have a family doctor. That's equal to the combined regions of the Deh Cho, the Sahtu, and even the Tlicho. Could you imagine what type of scenario that is, all of those people combined? I'm talking about a number of people without a family doctor.
Mr. Speaker, I hope this is sinking in about how many people don't have a family doctor. This truly is a serious problem that needs a serious commitment that should be repaired because primary health, if neglected, can delay diagnosis in a very complex system. Mr. Speaker, the everyday family can only solve their problems on WebMD on their own for so long. I'm doing a call for action, and we can and need to do better. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member. Members' statements. Member for Thebacha.
