Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, to identify where we need to go, we need to be honest about where we are. I acknowledge that this can be hard to hear, but high-stress shift work GNWT environments have systemically struggled before with workplace morale, safety, and employee satisfaction, and the GNWT has a responsibility to address this.

Mr. Speaker, past and present NWT nurses shared the following reflections on Stanton obstetrics: Requests for change through meetings, surveys, and workplace assessments go unaddressed. OBS asked for a fourth shift nurse. Management denied this because lower birth rates. Still, nurses feel this does not acknowledge the impacts of global increases to patient acuity and chronic illness that require higher levels of care or the non-nursing duties expected during a shift.

OBS nurses have an extensive certification list compared to nursing specialties and unlike other units do not have designated education days to complete them. Nurses are being denied mandatory courses due to operational requirements and, as a result, some work with expired certifications. All other Stanton nurses have flex days with no patient care responsibilities to complete this work.

In addition to nursing duties like assessing patients, providing NICU care, doing inductions and C-sections, and providing phone advice, these nurses are also expected to stock patient rooms; print parent forms, leaves with medical travel, boarding homes, and pharmacies; do patient charts, admit patients, coordinate dietary needs, and maintain certifications.

I can't believe I just licked my finger, sorry.

Nurses are routinely denied vacation because there is no staff to cover them. They are denied part-time positions until the full-time positions are filled, and this lack of family vi -- sorry, family balance is driving nurses away from frontline shift work. 12-hour shifts mean children aren't awake when a parent goes to work and are already in bed when the parent returns. Nurses are tired, overwhelmed, and feeling unheard.

OBS is in crisis because of, quote, "un-supportive management that feels more concerned about me drinking water at my desk than unsafe working conditions putting patients at risk. We were treated like we were replaceable, so we left, and now no one can replace us."

Mr. Speaker, sometimes we become so focused on the science of operations that we lose sight of the heart. Nurses consistently identified four potential solutions:

• Four nurses per shift;
• A ward clerk to help with non-nursing duties;
• Time to complete certifications; and,
• Access to family-friendly work shifts.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.