Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's currently ongoing right now. So that's the process, and that's what we're hoping that we will be able to phase out, the use of agency nurses, you know, in that area. And so it's currently -- we had a forced growth submission, and that's in this budget. So we're hoping that, you know, that will support that -- those additional nurses in that unit. But we are actively doing that training and I think recruiting, and I think there are LPNs now being trained into that unit. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

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

Can the Minister be more specific in terms of a target? Like, ongoing doesn't give me much comfort. Ongoing could be 30 years from now. So I'm wondering if we can get a fiscal year that meets the department's timelines, because of course, it can't offer this training indefinitely - there are budgets attached to it, there's staffing attached to it. So can the Minister give us a fiscal year when this -- when the changeover will take place? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this is -- like I said, I'm sorry I can't give you a specific date or time. There are nurses that are going through this and being supported are different levels of where they are. And, you know, it can take up to one to two years for that specialized to be independent in this area. You know, we want to make sure that they have all the training that they need to be independent. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'm going to go to go back to the Member from Range Lake .

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So one to two years, that's, what, 2026? So could the Minister commit to having -- phasing out agency nurses by 2026? Thank you.

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

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I can't commit to phasing them out, and the reason why is I -- you know, I mean, somebody might go on mat leave. You know, somebody might move away. I can't tell the future of what the future of that staffing model will be. You know, we phrased out the -- by utilizing a lot of our education programs, the agency nurses in the operating room but, you know, every time somebody leaves and we don't keep them, you know, there's an opportunity that that service could shut down. And as many -- like as I mentioned in the House this week, is that some of the smaller communities, it's not just Stanton, it's not just Inuvik. It's keeping the health centres open when we've exceeded every other way to try and recruit a nurse to ensure that that health centre doesn't close, and that will impact our small communities significantly if we didn't have an option for them. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. If you look at trends in public health care systems that use agency nurses, private health care, it always starts small. It's always a department here, a hospital there, a clinic there, and they start and it keeps ballooning, ballooning, and ballooning, and soon it's $65 million to provide a service that used to cost $10 million. And this is the case in Ontario, in Quebec, in large centres. It's the case in smaller provinces as well. I am watching the time, so I will wrap up here so the Minister can respond. But if you put an agency nurse into a small community, you will never get any other type of nurse in there because you'll never be able to meet those wages and then we're paying a huge premium for every community health centre. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, you know, I think many of our communities are, you know, we have different models that are going on in our communities. We have job shares. We have term nurses. We have full-time indeterminant ones that have been there for years. The last resort that we want to use is agency nurses. And, you know, as a nurse I know that sometimes, yes, you're frustrated with that model but when you're the only one in there and that's the nurse that's going to come in and relieve you so you're not working 24 hours a day, you're very appreciative to have some time. So I hear the Member. I hear the concerns. What I can do, and I will continue to do for the Northwest Territories, is continue to advocate at the national level that this is a national crisis. Like, this is something that our health care system cannot sustain in the Northwest Territories and it cannot -- our public health system in Canada cannot sustain this. And so I will continue to bring this to the national table when -- at the FPT tables. I am a small territory but I'm pretty loud and I can be pretty strong, and I'll play the room with what I have to do, you know, I mean this takes the country to change. It's not going to be me saying I'm not going to use these five nurses this week, because they will just go somewhere else. And as long as they have somewhere else to go, we will continue to lose nurses here. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

That's me. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, first of all, I thank the Minister and her staff. Monumental task. Huge department. Appreciate the work you guys are doing.

You know I've been an advocate for -- obviously for addictions, mainly for aftercare, and I'll certainly be speaking with the Minister on that come capital budget time and be prepared for that. But I know for now -- I know as I spoke to in my Member's statement today, the Gwich'in have built a wellness centre, are working -- having the wellness centre that they're working on using for trauma and for different addictions. We know that the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation are in the process of building a family centre which, again, will be focused on wellness. So I guess my question is, you know, from the business plan, what was the department been doing or plan to do looking with regards to kind of interaction, cooperation, if any, with these two groups and any possible maybe redundancies there as well that we can probably see as they kind of continue, as the Indigenous governments are doing in my region, and ramping up in all areas and this is certainly one of them. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this is -- you know, I hear the Member. And, you know, we've started our bilateral agreements as a Cabinet meeting with -- you know, we'll be meeting with all of the different Indigenous governments. And this is one of the topics that I'm sure will be on the agenda when meeting with the Indigenous groups in the region and how do we work together. I know that the -- you know, that they have very good leverage on federal funds up to date to be able to do the things that they've done with their centre. How they run programming and how we move forward, you know, I think that's -- we will continue to work close with all Indigenous partners that are running programs. As I said many, many times, and you'll see in the business plan, that we want to be able to have as many wellness and culturally relevant programs to people in the regions. And so this is where I -- you know, I want to make sure my focus is, is how do we work together in collaboration, how do we work together to access as much funds federally together for the operations of not just the program but, you know, Inuvialuit has their program going. I know that the Tlicho has programs that they want to do. Every single government I've heard from, I've spoken to, we all heard from all of the Indigenous governments when we were elected, that they need money and they want to work together on programs for their people in their communities, and that's what I want to do with them. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I thank the Minister for that answer. And, yes, of course, I mean, the funding that they receive to -- for in the Gwich'in -- for the Gwich'in centre to renovate, they got the feds, and I know that the Inuvialuit as well got federal funding to build their new centre. You know, and, yeah, we need their money likely more than what they need ours. But certainly for programming, and I get that. And I know this will -- both these programs will dovetail very nicely into the new aftercare centre we're going to build there next year. So that's great to hear.

So the other thing I wanted to mention -- and I know the Minister's heard me mention this in the House before -- is in our -- it is in the document that AOC has presented, and that's the dialysis machine for Inuvik. And I know we've spoke about this before. I don't think it's a huge cost for the machine and why I bring it up here, likely the CT scan would likely be a little more that's in there. But the dialysis machine, I think it's very important. Hay River has one. Yellowknife has two. I have spoken with people in Inuvik that if they don't need it, they may need it in the near future, and it would just be an absolute shame if someone who's lived in that area their whole life, or for 30 or 40 years, now have to move because they can't get that medical service they need. And I know we discussed this, and I know there's an issue with finding, you know, the right people to be able to operate this machinery, but I can't help but think there's got to be a way to train someone to be able to do that. And I guess, you know, has the Minister and has her department considered a way that we can potentially put a dialysis service in Inuvik? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know that there was a review done I think 2020. We do do reviews on patients that, you know, with renal disease and where they are and what their needs are going to be. I'm not familiar when -- I mean, I can get back to the Member as to when the next planned review will be. I'm sure it's going to be soon, to just find that out. But another area that I -- you know, and this is part of our business plans is the chronic disease management. And this is a chronic disease. And so when we can better know and better control our -- what we -- you know, with our chronic disease management in the Northwest Territories, we'll have a better handle on what supports are needed in the Northwest Territories. And as well as, you know, doing more into the health promotion and, you know -- so we were preventing these things from happening. I know not all renal disease is preventible. Sometimes, you know, there's certain things happen in people's lives that this happened. But I will say that I will commit to making sure that we have another review done soon to making sure that we see what the numbers are in the Beaufort Delta, you know, to require a service like this. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And, again, thank the Minister for her answer. And I must say I was quite impressed as well when she didn't even flinch when I mentioned that the two other programs will dovetail nicely into her new aftercare facility she's building in Inuvik next year. So it's a good sign.

No, that's all from me, Mr. Chair. I realize that, you know, we also have a CT scan in there. I know we're going to have a conversation around that, but. So I have no further questions, just to say thank you and keep it up. It's not easy.

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