Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to announce that this morning, my Financial Management Board colleagues approved significant increased funding to support full implementation of the Recruitment and Retention Plan for Health and Social Services. This investment allows us to further our work with boards and other partners to address, in a sustainable way, recruitment and retention of nurses, social workers, physicians and other health and social service providers. Significant work has already begun to support recruitment and retention initiatives.

A recruitment and retention specialist began work in June. This individual has more than ten years experience with northern health and social services as a frontline worker. The Recruitment and Retention Support Specialist takes a very proactive approach to identifying and encouraging potential employees. I believe her experience and network of contacts is very helpful to the boards.

Mr. Speaker, there are many northern students currently in health and social service programs. Statistics from the Department of Education, Culture and Employment indicate that 187 students are enrolled in these programs. The financial support approved today will assist us in recruiting these students and encouraging them to return to the north. Financial support has been provided to boards to ensure on-going access to professional development and interaction. Professional development funds, administered by the boards, have many direct and indirect benefits, including:

- increasing skills in a particular area;

- creating opportunities for interaction with peers;

- creating opportunities to refresh a professional dealing with daily stress;

- highlighting the importance of self-development and self motivation; and

- acquiring new skills.

Access to professional development will be reviewed on an ongoing basis at the board level to ensure the needs of staff are being met.

Mr. Speaker, one of the biggest drawbacks in recruiting and retaining health and social service professionals in most communities is the isolation from colleagues and the on-call expectations. Therefore, some means of providing relief is necessary. Extensive efforts have gone into developing a pool of nurses, doctors and social workers who can provide relief and locum services for boards. The pool is small at this point, but is growing.

Mr. Speaker, we know that if frontline workers are going to give care to community residents, they must be healthy themselves. Our plan stresses the need for support of health and social service workers. Boards are encouraged to make a conscious effort to develop and monitor structured employee support. These efforts will help to ensure that employees feel valued and want to remain in the organization. I believe that we are addressing recruitment and retention issues. The funding approved today will allow us to continue this work. In view of the serious nature of the problems that we are addressing with these initiatives we will need to be very proactive in implementing our plan. We will also need to remain flexible and open to new and creative ideas for dealing with recruitment and retention of health and social service workers.

We are not alone in facing these difficulties. In fact, recruitment and retention issues have been central in recent federal/provincial/territorial Ministers meetings. These are issues that my counterparts are dealing with as well. These meetings provide opportunities to share ideas and strategies that have worked for others. I have taken the opportunity in those meetings to discuss the difficulties we face in our jurisdiction and to learn from others facing similar problems.

Mr. Speaker, our plan does not contain all the answers to the difficulties that we have to deal with, but we believe that it provides a solid foundation for incorporating good ideas and creative thinking that will allow us to tackle these issues head on. I invite Members to provide us with the benefit of their knowledge of their own communities and put forward ideas, strategies and initiatives that they believe would work for them in serving their communities. We also plan to talk with, and more importantly listen to, frontline workers and managers in their communities to determine what they see as possible solutions to their problems. I believe that community perspective is absolutely necessary in finding and developing

the most satisfactory answers.

Mr. Speaker, the problems that we face today are not problems that will be solved overnight. In fact, it will take time, hard work and dedication to develop and sustain a strong health and social service workforce. I ask Members to join me in recognizing and thanking the nurses, social workers, physicians and other frontline workers who are providing important services to NWT residents.

To all health and social service workers, I would like to say, "We know you are coping with difficult situations. I ask for your patience while we work with you to develop solutions. Your dedication and professionalism are greatly appreciated. Thank you."

--Applause