Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Bill 80, Dental Hygienists Professions Statute Amendment Act amends the Dental Auxiliaries Act and the Health and Social Services Professions Act to require the Minister to recommend to the Commissioner regulations under the Health and Social Services Professions Act; to regulate the practice of dental hygienists; designate the profession of dental hygienists as a profession; transfer the regulation of dental hygienists from Dental Auxiliaries Act to the Health and Social Services Professions Act, and replace gender-specific language with gender-neutral language from Dental Auxiliaries Act. Our oral health has a significant impact on our overall health. Today, almost half of the world's population suffer from oral diseases and global cases of oral disease have increased by one billion over the last 30 years. The most common oral diseases are tooth decay, severe gum disease, tooth loss, and oral cancers. Poor oral systemic health also directly increases risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, periodontal disease, and highrisk pregnancies.

Every one of these jeopardizes a person's quality of life, may shorten their life, and is a significant financial cost to this government. The operations budget for the Department of Health and Social Services of the Northwest Territories is over half a billion dollars, and the cost of health care is not going down. In fact, our expectations on our health department continue to grow and the associated budget is not keeping the pace. Changes to prevention have the potential to have long-term cumulated impacts on the government's bottom line and the quality of life of Northerners.

Here in Yellowknife, residents have access to dental hygienists depending on financial resources and benefits the individual has. But in remote communities, access to regular dental care is not consistent and treatment is not timely or immediate. Accessing treatment is complicated by the fact that dental services are not insured medical services under the Canada Health Act. Depending on an NWT resident's ancestry, their funding for dental care and the funding contract that potentially bring oral health care to their community come from different funding or benefit pots. And given the current legislation, it makes it hard for contracts to be tendered solely for prevention.

Today, the Dental Auxiliaries Act stipulates that no dental hygienist shall practice dental hygiene except under the direct -- the direction and control of a dentist. In our last session -- or a few sessions ago now -- sorry, Mr. Chair, the health and social services response to Oral Question 1435-19(2) stated, quote, Access to dental services for Indigenous residents eligible for the non-insured health benefits program is funded by Indigenous Services Canada through a contribution agreement with the department.

The department, on behalf of ISC, enters contracts to pay for the travel costs of dental providers to provide dental services in communities. ISC determines the number of dental days allocated to each community and funding is in accordance with this number, end quote.

In reality, how services are delivered on the ground across our territory differs and how they are intended. Yes, there are contracts for dental providers to travel to northern communities but on the ground, this means outside of Yellowknife. Dental providers offer dental services in short blocks of time where services are triaged starting with dental emergencies. This makes sense. If someone needs a root canal or an extraction, this will always be the more emergent case. But this means prevention is routinely pushed back or simply does not happen, and the next visit is more teeth being pulled and perpetuates a cycle where preventative care consistently sits on the back burner.

Separating dental providers to allow the option of dental hygienists to work independent of a dentist is key to empowering dental hygienists to secure their own contracts should they choose, provides Indigenous governments with a mechanism to hire dental hygienists and, in turn, provide more equitable access to preventative oral health care across the NWT.

Mr. Chair, earlier this year, the Standing Committee on Government Operations travelled with Bill 85, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Implementation Act. A resident of a small remote community asked committee if passing Bill 85 would help their community access equitable health care, specifically dental care, because a dentist has not visited their community since before COVID, and the only dental care seen in the community is through medivacs for oral abscess. Bill 80 will help to create this path.

Today, all Canadian jurisdictions, except the three territories and PEI, have legislation to support dental hygienists to be autonomous and self-regulated to varying levels, even those working in remote regions of northern Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador and northern British Columbia.

It is also worth noting, Mr. Chair, that this is also a decentralization and economic diversification conversation given the employment opportunities this will potentially create outside of Yellowknife.

As outlined in my Member's statement today, I believe that expanding the scope of practice of some of our health care professionals will help alleviate some of the bottleneck on the entire health care system. This facilitates one of those pieces.

During review of this bill, the Standing Committee on Social Development received concerns from a stakeholder about the timing associated with the bill. I was happy to collaborate with committee and concur with two motions to expand the timeline of the bill to a deadline proposed by committee. But there are reasons I also believe that having a deadline for this work is important, Mr. Chair. I want to start by acknowledging the significant demand on the Department of Health and Social Services over the course of this Assembly. From the demand during the pandemic and subsequent territorial emergencies to the substantial legislative agenda that still lays in front of this department. But the oral health action plan tabled in the last Assembly outlined multiple timelines for deliverables that came and went in the 19th Assembly. Even with the MLA for Deh Cho, MLA for Inuvik Twin Lakes, and myself championing on the floor, calls for improved regulatory frameworks and improved access to oral health care starting in February of 2020, paired with my ongoing conversations about a Private Member's bill, this work still did not happen.

Health care is a high demand, yet evolving system, and the demands on renewal will continue long past the 19th Assembly. In the past, other GNWT departments experiencing significant demand on employee time and legislative or regulatory needs have tendered contracts for legislative and regulatory drafting to continue to meet its mandate. This is an alternative that health may need to consider to get this work done.

Mr. Chair, I'd like to take the time to thank Mr. Toby Kruger, law clerk, for working with me on this bill. I would also like to thank committee for the work they did reviewing my Private Member's bill, the input from stakeholders, including Nigel Lenny, and share my gratitude with my colleagues for their support in this important work. Thank you, Mr. Chair.