The nurse practitioner program
in the Northwest Territories has been in place for 11 years. We have seen much progress in Yellowknife. The positions I think the Member may be speaking to, at Stanton.... Those NPs were informed of the
fact that there were no permanent positions there. I think it’s incumbent on the employer and employee to work together to see if those positions could be re-profiled to make them available.
If not, as I stated earlier, we as a government want to accommodate NPs to be employed in our Territories, but we couldn’t guarantee employment in a specific setting, in a specific office, doing specific things that specific NPs feel they ought to do. That would be enormous and unreasonable limitations on the employer, the hospital authority, or even this government. It’s a commitment we could not meet. But I want to advise the Member that I believe progress has been made at Stanton. They are looking at all possible options to see how these NP positions could be re-profiled, and it’s the responsibility of the new public administrator to do that.