Debates of Feb. 6th, 2026

Thank you, deputy minister. To the Member from Great Slave.

Thank you. And at this time I realize that we can't speak to the total dollar amount of the RFP, that sort of precludes contracting, procurement, etcetera. But how much is the total cost of the planning work done thus far and the estimated general costs anticipated for this new system? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the Member. To the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As that's part of capital, I don't have that level of detail right now, but we can get that information back to the Member.

Thank you, Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I know part of the scoping of this project, too, is interoperability with the Alberta system. Has that pre-feasibility work been completed now that we're almost at the RFP stage? Is it realistic to assume that we will have interoperability with Alberta or other jurisdictions? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the Member. To the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, right now, as across Canada, there is a working group, I believe, that is working together with Health Canada to -- I believe it's called Connect Care, and there's some legislation or work that -- I can turn it over to the deputy minister. He may have more details on that. But it's more to ensure that all of the jurisdictions in Canada are being able to connect with each other so through that process -- so I can turn it over to the deputy minister. He might have a few more details on that.

Thank you, Minister. To the deputy minister.

Thank you, deputy minister. To the Member, Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am going to change my question topic. I am curious, when it comes to human resources, which is under this activity, will the department be working on a way to -- and it sort of dovetails with information services. Will the department be working on any way to publicly demonstrate, either online or through communications, where they can show the vacancies and retention rates in specific healthcare fields in the territory? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the Member. To the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. There is, I guess, within human resources, depending on the jurisdiction, like if it's NTHSSA public service, that information, I believe, is tracked through finance's human resources, and it is published through their annual reports. So thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. To the Member of Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And that's where the tricky bit of NTHSSA and finance. Human resources and HR, human resources, always overlaps and I am always uncertain where the line is. So thank you to the Minister for that.

Can the Minister speak to some of the initiatives that are being considered to -- if there are any new initiatives being considered to increase the number of NWT residents working in health care? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the Member. To the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I believe within our system, you know -- and I think that one of the pieces is that what -- under the health and social service portfolio, there are things that we have been doing and I think it's through the human resource plan -- the HR plan that health and social services is doing, and then there's the new work on the people strategy that is going to be -- being released publicly soon.

And in those areas, it's focusing on with internally to supporting staff, making sure that -- you know, that there's new staff coming into the territory, that they're supported into their areas of work, that there's places that they're feeling that, you know, their voices are being heard. You know, we've heard -- but we've also heard from staff and through all of the reasons of staying in the North, they fall outside the jurisdiction of health and social services. And what I mean in there is a lot of things that came forward are housing and -- you know, and negotiations through, you know, bargaining and things like that, that health and social services doesn't lead on those areas.

And so what we have done through the work that we're trying to create the people strategy is we want to make sure we honour that of what we've heard from staff that we are able to collaborate with our other Ministers' areas that address some of these areas. So I think we've established a working -- like, there's work to establish, you know, working together to try and find ways to best respond to those concerns. And at this time, you know, I think that's where this new human resource plan for NTHSSA and the health authority is looking at that through the pillars of the areas that have been brought forward. However, you know, I think every area that is in that is going to, you know, take some time to address, and there's going to need to have resources with that. And this is where, you know, we struggle between ensuring that we have adequate resources to run the essential programs that we have while making sure that our staff are supported. So this work is ongoing. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the Minister. To the Member of Great Slave, your time is up. Did you want to go back on the list for this activity.

Thank you. I am not certain --

Okay, the chair will now recognize the Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I wanted to start by asking about the overall net staff position changes for the department first.

So we see a net increase here of 18 new positions, but my understanding was that two positions were removed based on the sunset of a federal agreement that we would be hoping to renegotiate, the Canada-NWT Agreement to Work Together to Improve Health Care for Canadians. So that's the agreement with Health Canada. Can we expect, then, that the actual net addition will be 20 positions, or can the Minister comment on whether there's any positions that haven't been included here that we would expect to sort of put back in as soon as we can renegotiate the federal agreement? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the Member from Yellowknife North. To the Minister.