Thank you. I would like to introduce a bill to amend the Nursing Profession Act, Bill 20. The purpose of the proposed amendment is to facilitate the recruitment of qualified nurses to meet the needs of the Northwest Territories health care system and to allow the board of directors of the Northwest Territories Registered Nurses Association to monitor more closely newly recruited nurses. The Nursing Profession Act authorizes the Northwest Territories Registered Nurses Association as a self-governing professional body for registered nurses in the Northwest Territories. The board of directors of the NWTRNA is responsible for evaluating the academic qualifications and the practice experience of applicants, for examining applicants for membership in the association, and for issuing certificates of registration which allow nurses to practise in the Northwest Territories as registered nurses.
The act provides for the board of directors of the NWTRNA to grant a temporary certificate of exemption from registration to a qualified nurse who is registered in another jurisdiction and who is in the process of becoming registered in the Northwest Territories. This temporary exemption certificate allows a nurse to be employed as a nurse in the Territories while preparing to take the qualifying examinations of the Canadian Nurses Association testing service and having her or his qualifications reviewed by the NWTRNA's board of directors. The proposed amendments will permit the NWTRNA board of directors to decide the term of a temporary exemption certificate and to renew a temporary exemption certificate up to a total time of two years. The act now authorizes the board to issue a temporary exemption certificate only for a fixed term of two years and does not permit the board to grant a temporary exemption certificate for a time less than two years nor to renew a temporary exemption certificate.
The amendment will also allow the NWTRNA board of directors to attach any terms and conditions to a temporary exemption certificate that the board considers appropriate.
In addition, by removing the requirement that the NWTRNA seek the Commissioner's approval for the association's bylaws, the proposed amendments would bring the act into conformity with the general practice that self-governing bodies assume responsibility for their by-laws.
Those are the opening statements, Mr. Chairman.