Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
WHEREAS nurses and healthcare workers deliver essential healthcare services to residents of the Northwest Territories, including in rural and remote communities that present challenging operating conditions;
AND WHEREAS the delivery of quality health care in the Northwest Territories depends on a stable, well-supported workforce of regulated healthcare professionals, including nurses and allied health workers;
AND WHEREAS healthcare workers are suffering from increased workloads and staffing shortages that contribute to low morale, burnout, and reduced staff retention which in turn leads to disruptions in continuity of patient care;
AND WHEREAS management practices of the Northwest Territories healthcare system are currently under review through the appointment of a public administrator;
AND WHEREAS recruitment and retention of nurses and healthcare workers remain a serious challenge and require proactive review of management and labour policies to ensure fair treatment, safe working conditions, and adequate professional support to improve working conditions and job satisfaction;
AND WHEREAS access to health care and addressing the effects of trauma is a priority
of the 20th Assembly;
NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the Member for Monfwi, that the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly undertake a comprehensive review of healthcare management practices, bargaining structures and labour policies, in consultation with nurses, labour unions, independent professional associations, frontline healthcare workers, and other key stakeholders to identify and recommend measures that:
(i) reinforce workplace protections for nurses and healthcare workers, including improved work-life balance initiatives, competitive compensation, and mental health supports;
(ii) address management practices that contribute to low workplace morale, fostering a supportive and collaborative working environment;
(iii) strengthen recruitment and retention strategies for nurses and healthcare staff through focused incentives and stable workforce planning;
(iv) increase accountability in the administration of health care in the Northwest Territories to ensure that policies reflect the realities of frontline work and lead to real improvements in working conditions in all healthcare settings including hospitals, health centres and health cabins;
AND FURTHER, that the Legislative Assembly engage thoroughly with labour unions, professional associations, health agencies and Indigenous governments to ensure that these measures accurately reflect the needs of healthcare workers in the Northwest Territories;
AND FURTHERMORE, that the comprehensive review of health care management practices, bargaining structures and labour policies be referred to the Standing Committee on Social Development for further study.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. The motion is in order. To the motion. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I want to thank the Member for Monfwi for seconding the motion, and I want to thank the Member for Range Lake for coming up with the idea for this motion in the first place, as a way to show nurses and healthcare workers that we see their struggle. We see the pain that they endure amidst staff shortages and increased demands trying to keep our healthcare system afloat and do right by the patients that they try to help day after day after night after night.
Mr. Speaker, we cannot run a good quality healthcare system if the majority of our nurses and doctors are temporary contract workers. We need a stable workforce who live in our communities, know their patients, understand cultural safety, and understand who else to reach out to within our health and social services system to make referrals and help patients access the more wholistic supports they need. Temporary workers just can't do those things well.
Now, we've spoken many times in this House about the need for healthcare worker recruitment and retention. We've talked about policies and strategies and statistics, the cost of agency nurses and contract workers in terms of our budget and the health authority's deficit, but we rarely put our healthcare workers themselves at the centre of the solution. We rarely give them a platform to have their voices heard, to have their ideas considered, to let them be co-designers of the system we want to see, to empower them to be leaders in healthcare system reform.
Mr. Speaker, I am a Member of the Standing Committee on Social Development -- I am the seconder of this motion -- the Member from Monfwi is the chair. And the committee has already identified it wants to broadly examine how to make our entire healthcare system more sustainable.
This motion is asking the committee to take a deeper dive into examining healthcare recruitment and retention from the perspective of its workers, to hear from them directly so that our recommendations better reflect the realities of frontline workers.
The committee, of course, should focus on the things that we as MLAs have some control or influence over - our government and health authority's policies and management practices and our own government's legislation, including how we legislate bargaining structures and regulation of health care professionals. I look forward to hearing from my colleagues on how they envision this Assembly and our committees moving forward to address this important issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Member from Great Slave.
