Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. First, what is the Minister's response to the NWT Medical Association's recommendation to expand the Family Medicine Residency Program from two to four residents per year? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, I recognize the importance of the family residency program. And this program began -- it was launched in 2020 and it provides a way to train and retain potential candidates for permanent family medicine positions in the NWT. Four residents have now graduated from this program. Two newest residents started on July 1st, 2023. However, I do agree with this program and, you know, but when we were taking in account as to ensuring the number of residents that we can support and provide -- expanding their scope in our facilities, we have to make sure that we can provide that to each of the residency. So I'll leave it at that. I'll let her finish asking questions.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So given that this recommendation is coming from the NWT Medical Association, which is made up of physicians operating here in the NWT, who would have an intimate knowledge of their capacity to, you know, supervise and train medical residents, does the Minister believe that it could be realistic to aim for an expansion of this program by the last year of this Assembly, 2027? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not going to commit to that on the floor today as I'm unable to be able to confirm whether we could meet that funding and clinical training requirements as I mentioned in my previous comments. But I'm committed to continue to work with what we can do to expand this program, and if there's ways that we can find other funding to fund this, if we can support it within our system, then I'm always willing to commit to continuing that work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that, and one positive aspect is that the program is partly funded by the University of Alberta and other partners, so I look forward to the Minister's analysis on that.

One final question here, does the Minister see any opportunities to transfer lessons learned and the successes from the Family Medicine Residency Program to offer additional on the job training and residency opportunities within our health care system? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, I -- and I really want to -- I appreciate the Member for bringing this forward in a positive way because this is a good thing for the Northwest Territories. But I would also like to recognize this is just one program. There are a number of areas that we have been doing -- increasing health practitioners as well. So educating registered nurses in the Northwest Territories for over 20 years, we've been graduating nurses, licensed practical nurses, personal support workers, ophthalmology technologists. And we hope to again soon to be able to bring back social work, educating social workers in the system. But I believe there's an opportunity to continue to grow our ability as -- to educate health and social services professionals in the Northwest Territories, and I continue to be working with my colleague to ensure that, you know, we can continue to support these things, because these are ideal for the Northwest Territories. You know, when we work together to be able to train people in the Northwest Territories, we're more likely to keep them in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the -- I guess, with the midwifery program that we're talking -- like, I can't speak to what has been done over the 20 years, but I know that Fort Smith was a driver and the history of midwifery in Fort Smith has been kind of the model. So as to when and where, what discussions have happened with Indigenous midwives, I don't have that information here on the floor today but like I said, midwifery, I mean, we want to be able to provide this service where there's no service available to deliver. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister. I realize these are last minute questions, and I appreciate that. I hope she can get back to me on maybe some of the history of what the department has done to talk to Indigenous midwives.

My next question is why have midwives not been considered in the recruitment and retention strategies that have been applied to nurses and physicians? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I don't have that detail. Recruitment falls within HR, and whether it falls within that department -- within that HR team, I'd have to defer that to the Minister. But as of right now, I mean, I can follow up and get back to the Member on that whole process. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, could the Premier update this House on the status of the after-action review of the 2023 wildfires? Thank you.

Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So this is a -- it's a long story. So going back to February, of course, we sat in this House and there was a request for a public inquiry. That came after the decision was made to hold this extensive after-action review where the department would go out -- or hire a contractor to go out, look at everything that happened in terms of the 2023 fire season response, hold public meetings, speak with staff, and then generate a report with recommendations. Because there was a desire to ensure that this was not influenced by government, the idea -- it actually came after a meeting I had with the mover of the motion and the seconder, the MLAs for Range Lake and the Deh Cho, as well as the chair of the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight, we had a discussion and from that I left the meeting and we put together a proposal of creating an oversight committee comprised of Members appointed by Council of Leaders, Standing Committee on Accountability of Oversight, and the Government of the Northwest Territories.

That work has been done. Those appointments have been made. Their role is to actually evaluate the RFPs and choose the contractor that will undertake the work. This will ensure that the government is not handpicking the contractor.

Once the contract begins, that oversight committee will ensure that the contractor is not influenced by the GNWT. All of the reports will be given directly to the contractor -- or to the oversight committee before the government to ensure that there is -- that the contractor's report is not influenced. And those reports will be shared with the three bodies who appointed the Members. So the RFP assessment process by that oversight committee is underway, and we hope to award an RFP next week or the week after. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my preference, of course, is a public inquiry. I still think it's the way to go. I appreciate we are joining the Premier in this process for now. How long until we get this final report and we can see what the contractor learns from the emergencies last year? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One thing I knew coming into this Assembly is that I wanted to work in collaboration with the relevant partners. The other thing I knew coming into this is that collaboration takes a long time. And so if we would have just gone ahead and issued the RFP as government and managed the contract that way, we would have been a couple months ahead but as it is, once the contract is awarded, there will be six months until the final product is to be delivered. So we are looking at a final report in December. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if there is -- this report -- now we have a draft -- we have a draft order on the table, so to speak. The public can see it, Members can see it. If this after-action report is ultimately found lacking by Members of this House and members of the public, is the Premier willing to call a public inquiry? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't want to get into hypotheticals as it's not in line with the rules of the Assembly. But I look forward to seeing what comes of the after-action review, and we'll make our decision then. Thank you.

Mr. Premier. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the contractor undertake public engagements in every affected community or every community that was evacuated during the 2023 wildfires? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't have the list of communities at my fingertips, but the engagement will be robust. I'm happy to get back to the Member with that information. Thank you.