Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to talk about something that I consider to be an incredibly positive step that the Department of Health and Social Services, Aurora College, and the Registered Nurses Association of

the NWT and Nunavut are taking to enhance the role of nurse practitioners in the Northwest Territories. Specifically, the establishment of a PLAR process for registered nurses in the NWT. PLAR stands for Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition and is defined as a process of identifying, assessing, and recognizing skills, knowledge, or competencies that have been acquired through work experience, unrecognized training, independent study, volunteer activities and/or hobbies.

In the nurse practitioner PLAR program, northern nurses who feel they have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform competently as primary health care nurse practitioners will have the opportunity to have their existing education and experience assessed, complete some required mandatory courses, complete necessary case studies for assessment purposes, validate their competencies, and then write the Canadian Nurse Practitioner Exam. If these nurses complete the program, they will be registered as primary health care nurse practitioners in the Northwest Territories.

This is a one-time opportunity for northern nurses and in total seven northern nurses entered the process and are currently in Phase 2, which involves the completion of mandatory courses and the beginning of some of the case studies. This is a great program and three partners -- the Registered Nurses Association of the NWT and Nunavut, Aurora College, and the Department of Health and Social Services -- should be applauded for the hard work and commitment to nurse practitioners in the Northwest Territories.

The Department of Health and Social Services is providing financial assistance to the nurses as they go through this process. This is good and I support this direction. They’ve provided financial assistance for NP students in the past and I hope they do it again in the future.

My concern is that in the past, when northern nurses have completed their nurse practitioner training where the department provided full financial support, some came back to work and were told that there were no nurse practitioner jobs available for them. To me this was a bit short-sighted. Investing all that money and time and not utilizing the skills when the nurses returned was a poor use of resources.

Fortunately, Members on this side of the House raised concerns and NP jobs were created and maintained. In the end all were offered NP positions in the Northwest Territories. Unfortunately, it did cause a significant amount of stress in all of those involved. I don’t want this confusion and uncertainty to happen again.

Prior to the completion of their studies, the department must ensure that a proactive plan is in

place to ensure that all of these new nurse practitioners are placed into nurse practitioner positions in the NWT.

I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted.