Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There already are a number of midwifery positions that exist in both Fort Smith and Hay River. The new positions that are being established, there are 2.5 positions in total. One of the positions is going to be the territorial midwifery clinical specialist position, and this position will provide some coordination and consistent program guidance midwifery services that exist across the Northwest Territories. They will also be responsible for engaging the clinical governance and quality assurance activities within the authority and liaise with the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority for this exact same purpose.

We also are establishing a 0.5 midwifery position in Hay River, and this position is going to be added to the existing complement, and this position will ensure the sustainability of the current services in Hay River, but will also do some of the groundwork for rolling out midwifery services and supports to communities like Fort Resolution and other communities in the Deh Cho. We also have a 0.75 position that we are establishing here in Yellowknife, and this position will work with the territoral midwifery clinical specialist and other primary health practitioners to lay the groundwork for integrated midwifery services here in the capital, but also for rolling out midwifery services throughout the rest of the territories as part of the territorial model. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I want to thank the Minister for that and I am certainly interested in finding out more about how the services are going to be expanded to all our communities. I am not aware of any plans to monitor and evaluate the new Northwest Territories midwifery program and publicly report implementation and overall progress. Can the Minister describe how the NWT midwifery program will be monitored and evaluated, and how the results will be publicly reported?

The department has received approval for a monitoring framework that outlines a plan to monitor the assurances at the following three levels, at the three levels we are doing our work; the Legislative Assembly on behalf of the public of the Northwest Territories, the department, and the authority.

At the Legislative Assembly level, monitoring involves indicators of interest to the public, such as increased access to safe, qualified midwifery care as close to home as possible, and reporting at this level will be made public through the Legislative Assembly and through the Minister's office. Department-level monitoring involves indicators that show the territorial midwifery program is meeting best practices and standards as well as in-existence regular auditing mechanisms, and then the authority-level monitoring involves indicators that inform authority leadership on how to improve the quality and efficiency of programs. So there are multiple things that are being done to monitor the effectiveness of this program to ensure that any enhancements and changes are evidence-based and in the best interest of the residents and the programs.

I want to thank the Minister for that, and I would encourage him to share that framework with the standing committee. Families have been advocating for midwifery for years, mostly mothers such as Leslie Paulette, Wendy Lahey, and Joanna Tiemessen. How will the role of these public partners be continued as we roll out these services and evaluate their delivery?

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that information and his good work on the file. Lastly, I think I have done my part in trying to share some of the good news about a Northwest Territories midwifery program, but I think that a lot more could be done to promote this significant achievement, so can the Minister tell us what plans his department has to communicate and promote a Northwest Territories midwifery program? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

A communications plan will be developed in collaboration with the health authorities to inform the public and other stakeholders of the expanded services and how this change will gradually increase access to services during the first few years of implementation. I do want to point out and note that expansion of midwifery services is envisioned as a process that will be phased in over several years. This is year one of a multi-year rollout, and of course, it is going to be incredibly important that, as we roll out different phases and steps, we make sure that the public understands what these services are, how to access them, and what benefits they will bring. So that will all be incorporated in the communications plans as we roll out over the next several years. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.