Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this past budget session, regular Members negotiated $600,000 to implement phase 2 of the NWT Midwifery Program. While the GNWT works to expand safe options for community-based birth, it's important that this government also consider how to expand culturally-safe trauma-informed family supports. Healing our territory and supporting the health and safety of Northerners starts before a baby is born, and for some, it starts with a doula.
A doula is a trained professional who provides continuous physical, emotional, and informational support through significant reproductive experiences, like childbirth, miscarriage, induced abortion, or stillbirth. In their most common capacity, they're a source of calm support, information, advocacy to the parent during, before, and after birth.
Mr. Speaker, in the NWT, many Northerners still leave their home communities to give birth. This creates a break in consistent care and takes people outside of culture, tradition, and support networks for childbirth, potentially amplifying the trauma carried by many Northerners. In June 2020, NWT Birth Work Collective acknowledged the potential harm of the health care system to queer and racialized people. The collective formed a plan to support the power of culturally-safe and trauma-informed birth in the NWT. Today is a focus on training and creating space for Indigenous doulas in all NWT communities. But a doula isn't exclusive to the birthing process. In the NWT, where almost 100 percent of children in the care of Child and Family Services are Indigenous, doulas serve as a tool for prevention right from the start. Trusting the same system that apprehends children to offer culturally safe healthcare and support is a big ask, Mr. Speaker.
Today, a handful of NWT communities have doula services. And to expand the NWT's doula network, this service needs the support, recognition, and value of the GNWT. Health supports and advocacy cannot be a service reserved for those with disposable income.
The First Nations Authority in BC, the BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres, and the BC Ministry of Health currently work together to provide $1,000 grants for doula services for Indigenous families living in BC.
Mr. Speaker, it crucial this government continues to increase healing spaces for Northerners and tools that help keep families together. Doulas connect people, tradition, information, power, and safety. Supporting doula acknowledges our history by supporting independent safe spaces for NWT families. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.