Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, want to speak for the small communities I represent in the Sahtu.
Mr. Speaker, the community of Colville Lake, like Tsiigehtchic, Gameti, Sachs Harbour and some other smaller communities in the North, is in desperate need of fair services in their community. Mr. Speaker, I was reading a note this morning from Colville Lake from last year, and these elders were talking about fair access to nurses in health care centres. These two elders stated that when they went to the hospital, because these other people in the community that are trained mainly as the CHRs are less qualified, they gave them apples and oranges and told them to come back when they
were feeling better. Later on the nurse came in from Fort Good Hope and they looked after them.
They’re saying why is it that we can’t get a nurse to spend a week or longer, because these other people, they’re not qualified to go any further than dispense Tylenol or other kinds of pills, and they really can’t diagnose any type of sickness.
My people need help in our communities. We need to start there. First things first with our education, with our justice, with our health; we need to start there, Mr. Speaker. This government needs to know that there are about 10 communities without an RCMP presence in their communities. We have other communities that have RCMP so it’s not an issue for them. In the Sahtu we need nurses. It’s an issue. We need midwifery in our communities. We’ve done that before and we can do it again. Let’s go back to our people and let’s show them that they’re the ones who take control. Let’s help them.
I will have questions for the Minister after, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.