Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister of Health, Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For the 2015-16 fiscal year, $1.97 million in core funding was allocated for midwifery services in the Northwest Territories. Of that $1.97 million, it funds two midwifery positions in Fort Smith – both of which are now full – and the program costs. It also funds two midwifery positions in Hay River and also the program costs. Those positions are also full.

It also funds an NP position which is providing midwifery-type services for pre-birth throughout the region through community health nurses who is part of the MORE OB program up in the Beaufort-Delta. It was a desire of the region and of the people to move in that particular direction, recognizing the award winning MORE OB program in the Beaufort-Delta. That left some money available to move forward with the territorial Midwifery Program of the $1.97 million. This fiscal year, we got permission from committee to use $453,000 of that to move forward with the development of a human tissue and organ donation registry with the Government of Alberta. We are continuing to move on that.

The rest of the money for this fiscal year, 2015-16, was intended to be used to hire some midwifery consultants in the department to actually begin a design. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, it took longer than had been hoped to find the midwifery staff who can actually do that work. But I am happy to say we have now filled both of those consultant positions. Now that we have those positions filled, meetings with the NWT Advisory Committee on Midwifery are going to be resuming this month and the design is going to continue to move forward with a territorial program that will be based here in Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks to the Minister for providing that clarification. The original midwifery report, NWT report, identified Inuvik as one of the four locations of interest, but Health has now decided to support doctors with obstetric skills instead, plus the one position. I am hearing concern about lack of consultation leading up to this decision in the Beaufort-Delta. It seems prudent to ask the public for their opinion before opting for a very different model that does not include midwives.

I ask the Minister who was consulted in the Beau-Del and what public engagement was conducted before the decision to scrap the midwife program in that region. Mahsi.

When that number or that decision to put a midwifery program in the Beaufort-Delta was originally decided or originally included in the report, a number of realities were quite different. We actually didn’t have stable physicians in the Beaufort-Delta providing birthing services. They had not implemented the MORE OB program in that particular region and the birth numbers were quite high.

Since that time and prior to this decision, birthing rates in the Beaufort-Delta had stabilized. We had full-time, stable physicians in the community who had actually gone out and put in the MORE OB program in the Beaufort-Delta. It’s actually a recognized and award winning program in the Beaufort-Delta.

Based on discussions with the physicians, practitioners in the community and some other stakeholders who had a vested interest, it was determined, given the low number of births and the desire of the physicians to still be involved in birthing that it would be more appropriate to focus on the front end part of the Midwifery Program, which is the education and working with the community health nurses. As a result, the Beaufort-Delta decided to take a slightly different direction, w

here they brought in a nurse practitioner to work as part of the MORE OB team to provide some of the pre-birth work that a midwife would actually do. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister. Yellowknife had a midwife before we embarked on a territory-wide program. Now we don’t, but we now have two coordinator positions apparently with a goal of developing a territorial Midwifery Program based in Yellowknife and expanding into areas such as the Deh Cho and Behchoko.

I’m wondering: how does this affect the future of having practicing midwives in Yellowknife for Yellowknife, Ndilo, Detah and this region given the need for program delivery staff who support the territorial model. Mahsi.

The Member has been around long enough to remember that the midwifery position that was at the Yellowknife Health and Social Services was a completely unfunded position. There were no dollars allocated to that midwifery position. The Member should also remember that the authority chose to put in a Midwifery Program with one NP, which is basically a recipe for failure. There’s no way that one incumbent can actually provide midwifery services given that it’s a 24/7 operation. As a result, the incumbent did choose to leave.

Moving forward, we have the money that will not be utilized in the Beaufort-Delta for their program. They are still requiring some funds, of course, but we anticipate creating a territorial Midwifery Program based out of Yellowknife and the expectation is although they’re providing consultation, advice and support to regions that don’t have midwives, they will also be able to facilitate some midwife-supported births here in Yellowknife. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. So, when will consultations start here? When will we see midwifery here and what the heck is the NWT Advisory Committee on Midwifery? Thank you.

Midwifery services, as I indicated in the business planning process and the budget planning process, there will be planning that will take place during the ’15-16 fiscal year and into the ’16-17 fiscal year. We’re hoping by the end of the ’16-17 fiscal year we should be in a position to have a real solid plan of how many midwives we need and begin the staffing process. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I’d like to follow up on my statement. In my statement I referenced a review of the Junior Kindergarten Program that was to have been completed in July of this year. There’s been no indication that that report is anywhere near completion.

I would first of all like to ask the Minister if he could provide an update to me and to the House with an update on the review of the Junior Kindergarten Program and when we might expect to see it. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Minister of Education, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. It was agreed upon in this House in October 2014 where GNWT Members agreed to put the JK rollout on hold until such a review was undertaken, which is before us now, and that it will be brought back to the 18thAssembly. So that’s what we’re doing. We’re at the final stages of the review and it will be brought forward to the 18thAssembly government. Mahsi.

In October of ’14, we were advised that the report would be completed in July of 2015, which gave the current 17thAssembly Members, particularly the Standing Committee on Social Programs, an opportunity to review that report.

I’d like to ask the Minister, when was it decided that this would be punted to the 18thAssembly? This is news to me. I had fully expected to see this report before the end of this Assembly. Thank you.

Mahsi. The decision that was made in October 2014 by this government and also Assembly Members that we were going to put on hold the JK programming rollout until such a comprehensive review was undertaken, which, again, is happening now. At that time the decision was made that the comprehensive review will be undertaken by the 18thAssembly government, which we are doing. We are at the final stages. Mahsi.

I’m laughing because it’s ridiculous that a report generated by the 17thAssembly has been delayed almost by three months now, such that anything that’s in that report is now being sent off to the next Assembly. In my mind it’s ludicrous. That’s why I’m laughing. I’m not quite sure where to go from here.

To the Minister: If this is being sent off to the 18thAssembly, what does he expect in terms of an impact on the Junior Kindergarten Program? Not the details, but when does he think there’s going to be any kind of an impact on the Junior Kindergarten Program? Obviously, not for the school year ’15-16, but is he expecting impacts in the school year ’16-17? Thank you.

Mahsi. The Member is asking for my opinion. That will be up to the 18thAssembly government. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I can’t go there. When this report comes out, I’d like to ask the Minister, if it’s going to go to the 18thAssembly, will it be made public? Will it be available to the teachers’ union, the NWTTA? Will it be available to Members of this House, or is it simply going to be a report that is going to sit in the department? Thank you.

The final report, we’re at the final stages of a comprehensive report that Members of this House, this government agreed to. We are preparing that for the 18thAssembly government.

I can’t speak for the 18thAssembly government. We are the 17thAssembly government. We’re doing our due diligence. We’re providing the document as a recommendation to the 18thAssembly government for them to decide. So if they decide it is going to be public information, by all means the 18thAssembly government will decide. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Inuvik, Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions following up to my Member’s statement earlier dealing with chronic disease management specifically around the diabetes. I had mentioned there is an expected 200 new diagnosis every year of diabetes in the Northwest Territories. So, under our watch for the 17thLegislative Assembly, we had about 800 residents, NWT residents who were diagnosed with diabetes that could have been prevented under our watch of this government. Moving forward, when the 18thAssembly gets up and running, you’ve got to give them the tools, the knowledge and everything in order that we don’t have 800 more residents or 200, even, in the first year being diagnosed with diabetes.

I’d like to ask the Minister, what’s his strategy in terms of diabetes prevention, management and screening going into the 18thAssembly? What are we currently doing right now? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before I get into some of the things that we’re doing, I just want to make sure that we understand that the expected 200 per year increase is still just a preliminary number. We’re actually working on a prevalence study right now that’s going to help us have better numbers and feel more confident in the numbers. It could be higher, it could be lower, but I just wanted to be clear that that’s still just a preliminary number.

We are doing a number of different things. With respect to prevention, we’re focusing on education in two streams. We’re trying to get information out there. We’ve actually, through the BETTER project, developed a number of videos that we have sent out throughout the Northwest Territories, talking about food, exercise and other issues to encourage people to understand and become aware of healthy eating and healthy living to help prevent diabetes. We have, also, with respect to effective screening, put in the new Diabetes Screening Tool Diagnosis Clinical Practice Guidelines and those have been spread out throughout the Northwest Territories to our practitioners, and our practitioners are using those now. We’re getting really positive feedback from the practitioners and the people who have been assessed. That’s one of the ways that we’re helping to do effective screening.

With respect to management, some of it is still one on one because every case is unique and every case is different, but we are working closely with patients to manage them through their process and ensure that they are getting the treatment that they deserve. Thank you.