Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think all of us in the House are aware of the crisis in staffing nurses and doctors throughout the North. In my region, the Dogrib Community Services Board is responsible for operating and maintaining the health system for the North Slave.
The board receives funding for their programs from the Department of Health and Social Services. In November, the board wrote to the Minister of Health and Social Services outlining a realistic plan for ensuring that a basic level of health care is provided to the outlying communities.
They suggested increasing the role of community health representatives, lay dispensers, and adding paramedics to the standard mix of community health centres. In this way, local people could be trained now for these positions. We would be strengthening our human resource base, increasing local employment and improving our health care system in a feasible way.
By training local people, we would also ensure that most day-to-day health issues in northern communities are dealt with effectively. I would like to point out that by addressing health care in this way, one of my communities would benefit tremendously.
Currently in Wekweti, there is a half-time lay dispenser who cannot even begin to meet the health care demands of the community. This position cannot be expanded unless the board receives increased funding from the Government of the Northwest Territories. This would be a worthwhile investment given the shortage of doctors and nurses. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
-- Applause