Mr. Speaker, that's not a yes or no. So just to clarify, the Arctic Energy Alliance has created a -- we'll call it an ad hoc program to meet the needs of communities and Northerners. Mr. Speaker, would she help guide the college in that direction to ensure that they're relevant and meeting the retail needs of citizens of the Northwest Territories through that type of certification and support? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can definitely bring the Member's statement from today to the chair of Aurora College and make sure that he's aware of it, make sure that he's aware of the program that the Arctic Energy Alliance has put in place. But, ultimately, the operational direction of the college and what courses they are prioritizing is up to them. Thank you.

Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister provides the money and the target, and the legislature provides the $34 million. Mr. Speaker, WETT training is only offered in the south. Would the Minister draw that attention to the Aurora College to see what they could do to bring programs here in the North so we put our community learning centres that are mothballed to work and Northerners trained so we can have safe homes and certainly accessible training programs? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said, I would definitely raise this with the chair of Aurora College and am happy to do so. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Member has stated, you know, the work that is going to happen over the next couple of years is to analyze if it's possible for -- and how we could implement paramedics into supporting the current model as we need more -- we need to increase the capacity in the health centre. But as for the question, no, NTHSSA does not -- they're not going to be going out of the health centre. Their role would be in the health centre facility. And based on, you know, the outcome of the work that's going to happen over the assessment, there are different levels of paramedics. There's primary care paramedics. You know, there's advance -- so in the capital, you know, for the city, those paramedics that work, work for the city, and those are emergency responding advanced practice. There's the ones that work with the air ambulance. Those are advanced practice. They have -- they sometimes have more skills than the nurses do. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for clarifying. I think I heard clarification that currently that is not the practice, that paramedics are expected to leave the health centre.

So my second question is, is the health authority prepared to contract paramedics to work in health cabins where there is no nurse stationed and there's often no RCMP presence? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as of right now, the work that we are doing in health cabins is to train the community wellness workers to be able to correspond and work with the nurse practitioners that are assigned to the health cabins. And so that work is ongoing right now, but paramedics aren't included in that system at this moment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for that clarification. And finally, are the paramedics contracted by the health authority required to follow health authority rules and protocols, or do they get to just follow some other set of protocols? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the paramedics that work currently in our facilities when there is -- you know, if there is a critical level of staffing, so if they are to work in, say, emergency to support the emergency department, they will work within the guidelines and the policies that are created based on their scope of practice and what they're registered and what their training is. And that's how they would recruit that level of paramedic.

If they're working in the health centre, it's the same. There's guidelines and policies that they have to work with under. And the paramedics are -- you know, they're regulated through, yes, a -- if they're trained in Alberta and they're regulated through the regulatory body through Alberta, there's still an expectation that they are self-regulating and to keep their license and keep active and to be able to work, that they have to stay within their scope that they're trained to do. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to know that the health recruitment unit is continuing to do good work for the Northwest Territories. I've been reviewing the Minister's statement that she provided to the House. 12 percent increase is great, but I notice it's not called the health care retention unit, and the thing that's been challenging for filling the nurse vacancy is keeping nurses on the payroll. Many call it a revolving door. 94 percent of nurses have reported burnout.

So can the Minister clarify, of that 12 percent increase in indeterminate staff, how many of those are being retained year on year? So we know when we hire these folks, they are actually staying, they're learning local knowledge, learning how to care for people, and gaining that kind of northern nuance that you need to be successful in providing health care, especially in small communities. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when I heard the start of the question, I started trying to pull up data. I do have that data. We do maintain those -- that kind of information. I don't have the data at my fingertips. I did state yesterday, it is accurate that the percentage quota done in terms of the recruitment does not necessarily account for retention. So there is certainly some turnover loss within that percentage in terms of the overall hiring. I am happy to provide those numbers to the House. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think that would be useful to report publicly. So when it comes to the performance of this unit, can the -- currently, my understanding is that they measure their performance by time to fill a position rather than how long the employee lasts in the position. So would the Minister consider either changing the metric of success to that, how long the employee stays, or at least reporting on how long the employee stays? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, perhaps what I'd suggest is that we add it. I think it is certainly beneficial to know overall what percentages we're hitting in terms of our ability to recruit. It allows us to ensure that the recruitment packages remain as supportive as possible but certainly happy to add some other metrics in terms of looking at different ways that we can track the work that is happening within this unit. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Finance. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.

Amazing, Thank you. That's exactly what we need to see, because we need transparency. You could say we're recruiting lots of nurses but if we don't know the need, if we don't know how long they're staying, it's not a really good metric. So what is the Minister doing to do the retention piece? Can we change the name to the health recruitment and retention unit, HRRU? Because that is a key piece that we need to do a better job. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, this is a combined effort now. The retention piece does fall not solely within the Department of Finance but also within the Department of Health and Social Services and with the authorities. So absolutely, I want to acknowledge that there's a lot to be done in terms of morale across public service and morale in health care specifically so, again, happy to perhaps provide a longer response, written follow-up response, to the House, detailing some of the efforts between the Department of Finance with our employment satisfaction but also with the Department of Health and Social Services. Because I agree it's an important conversation, and the public service should hear us say it, that we want to make sure they're staying and serving their residents. Thank you.

Oral questions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.