Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the day-to-day operations are going to be -- of running the facility is going to be by the NGO; however, Health and Social Services' role is to support that NGO and the needs of those clients in whatever area that they need to be successful in their recovery. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Monfwi.

Okay, thank you. And also I see here -- okay, the compensation and benefits, this fiscal year for 2023-2024 for the main estimate went down for 2024-2025. Do you know which region is impacted by this?

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think the reductions in this area was part of the sunsetting of the northern wellness agreement related to -- and then there was a reduction in COVID endemic. I don't have the details as to specific which region those were, but we can figure that out and get back to the Member.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Monfwi.

Thank you. Yeah, that's it.

I'm going to go to the Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I want to preface this question with the fact that I've had really good conversations with the Minister on this, and I think where she and I differ on the perspective of this issue is the how, not the why. The why being, of course, that we want to have midwifery services in our smaller communities, especially for our Indigenous folks who are giving birth. So my question, however, is, you know, given that the GNWT has made repeated public commitments to the expansion of midwifery in the NWT, how did it arrive at the decision to discontinue the establishment of midwifery services in Yellowknife and the surrounding communities without consulting the public, the midwives association, the NWT advisory committee for midwifery, or the Indigenous advisory board? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this was part of the restoring balance. And so those conversations happened and so we had to make some tough choices, as many Ministers will speak to some of the tough choices that we had to make as a government. So thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Could the Minister elaborate a little bit further on why midwifery in Fort Smith and Hay River is considered adequate in her mind to base expansion to midwifery in the territory? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, midwifery began in Fort Smith, and midwifery in Fort Smith began with two midwives. And those two midwives did the majority of the births and if not all the births in Fort Smith, and ran the only midwifery program in the Northwest Territories. I don't have exact dates but we have expanded that program over the years. So midwifery expansion happened in Fort Smith to an additional nurse. Then it expanded into Hay River. And currently, they have expanded from Hay River into supporting Fort Resolution, Deninu Kue, and the Metis of that community. As of right now, we've had to suspend that service because of staffing in Hay River. There is a current vacancy there. We have just recently gotten Fort Smith, since February, back online to be able to provide births. Those two communities are very fragile, and we need to make sure that those expansions there are successful in the Northwest Territories before we can expand further. And so the choice was to put the efforts into supporting those two communities to ensuring that those communities that do not have any other choice, don't have any other options of birthing services, to ensure that those programs are stable. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you to the Minister for that explanation. I deeply respect midwifery in both Hay River and Fort Smith as necessary and crucial to those communities; however, the arguments that have been presented to me from midwives here locally is that Yellowknife has a high number of births and the opportunity to be a place where midwives -- Indigenous midwives can learn and seek to become a midwife here in the territory, it's very difficult to get into midwifery school outside of the territory, and to build that capacity up and to cut off the program here at the knees is a little bit frustrating. I mean, I know the Minister knows it's frustrating for these folks. They're being very -- very vocal as is their desire. But I guess is there any desire to continue the Yellowknife program in some form? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want committee to know and I want, you know, the Members to know, and as well as the public to know, that there was actually no program because there was no positions. They're all vacant. They have been vacant. You know, the vision of, yes, making Yellowknife a training ground but, you know, those are just visions. And, you know, and I hear the Member, and, you know, if that was something that was happening, you know, it would be very hard. But with the positions -- this has gone back many, many, many years. It's gone back to -- that there's been, you know, sporadic -- we'll get a midwife and then, you know, it's not successful. We don't have enough. The positions, they're not being filled. And so, you know, here we are now and having to make decisions within this government knowing that, you know, there's areas where we could utilize different, you know, areas of funding. We've heard from the Members loud and clear all of the needs that they want and all the new things that they want and all the new things that I want to do as a Minister to make changes, and so this money has to come from somewhere and these positions that were vacant for many years, you know, this is just one of the areas that we had to seriously take a look at. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Great Slave.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you to the Minister for that. I guess I'd just return the volley and say, you know, there are two student midwives who are here as summer students in the health work in town right now at this moment, and I guess I put back to the Minister, you know, where are you going to recruit from? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we have vacancies in Hay River and Fort Smith. You know, when we look at midwifery and if we're looking at expanding those students, I mean there's jobs throughout the territory that are not always in Yellowknife and they're not always in Inuvik and they're not always in Hay River. And if those are the two areas that we want to train in, sometimes we have to go and move to where those are. And midwifery -- you know, when I look at midwifery, I do support midwifery because I do support it to be there in those communities that don't have any birthing services. So, you know, like I said, there's a vacancy in Fort Smith, and there's a vacancy in Hay River, and so there's always -- you know, there's ways that we can support those nursing students in those communities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Great Slave.