Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I want to share a story about health care staffing that's a good news story for a change our family medicine residency program.
Since 2020, the program has accepted two doctors in training each year. They train as residents in Yellowknife with mandatory rotations to Inuvik and Nunavut. This is Canada's first ever family medicine residency training site north of 60. It's a partnership between the university of Alberta and the three local health authorities in the NWT, and the program was dropped with advice from the Indigenous Advisory Committee. It includes critical education on the importance of cultural safety in health care in the NWT.
So having these family medicine residents present in our system has decreased appointment wait times for some teams by as much as 60 percent. It's improved primary care screening and helped us continue offering medical services at critical times like during the height of the pandemic. As of summer of 2024, six residents will have graduated from the family medicine residency program. One of the very first graduates was YK North constituent Thompson Gaunt who is Metis and born and raised in Yellowknife. Importantly, all of the graduates have gone on to practice medicine in the NWT. That is because young people who spend time living and working in the NWT for an extended period of time, and they get involved in community life and the diverse cultures and experiences the territory has to offer, are more likely to identify themselves as a northern physician and want to stay here and work.
So a very defeatist narrative that keeps popping up is that we'll never be able to fully staff our health care positions locally because health care workers just don't want to live in the NWT. Mr. Speaker, that is just not true. And this program shows that. The NWT Family Medicine Residency Program is one of the most popular residency programs in Canada. It has been very successful at attracting students. It even won the Premier's award for excellence in 20212022.
The NWT Medical Association recently wrote a letter to Ministers recommending that we work towards expanding the Family Medicine Residency Training Program from two to four residents per year. Mr. Speaker, I ask for unanimous consent to conclude my statement. I'm so close.
So close, but not there yet. Getting better.
---Unanimous consent granted
Okay. So expanding the program would help ensure a steady pipeline of new northern trained physicians who understand our system and our patients into our health care workforce. So I'm eager to see this government heed that call and build on this shining success story. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Members' statements. Member from Great Slave.
