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CBC
21-05-2025
- Health
- CBC
Health care, wildfire report in spotlight as N.W.T. MLAs begin 7-day spring sitting
Health care is expected to be a focal point of the N.W.T. Legislative Assembly's short seven-day spring sitting which begins Wednesday. Doctors have been raising concerns about staffing shortages so severe that they're not sure how some units in Yellowknife's Stanton Hospital will continue to function. Range Lake MLA Kieron Testart said he's getting calls daily from patients and health-care workers about failures in the health-care system. "We've got to have real answers to this," he said. "We need to have a real plan, and we just haven't seen that yet." On May 8, Testart, along with MLAs Robert Hawkins and Richard Edjericon, issued a news release outlining 13 calls to action to address the health-care crisis. That includes phasing out agency nurses by 2026, implementing minimum staff-to-patient ratios in N.W.T. hospitals, and fast-tracking policies on technology like artificial intelligence and virtual care. Testart said they intend to introduce a motion calling on the minister and health department to implement those actions. "Even if they can't be implemented immediately, we need to have a commitment that those are going to be worked on," Testart said. Health Minister Lesa Semmler has pushed back on characterizations that the Stanton emergency room is on the verge of closure, and Premier R.J. Simpson has spoken out in support of Semmler. Julian Morse, MLA for Frame Lake, agrees health care will be a major focus of the spring sitting. He also expects MLAs to discuss the latest report into the government's emergency response to the 2023 wildfires. Morse says he's hoping to hear that the government is responding to the report authors' recommendations, including the recommendation to create a separate emergency management agency. Education could also be a significant focus during this sitting. In March, Finance Minister Caroline Wawzonek said the government would have a strategy related to continued education in smaller communities after Aurora College announced in January it would close its community leaning centres. Wawzonek also committed to coming up with a strategy around Arctic defence and sovereignty in the upcoming sitting. She said at the time that the community learning centres and Arctic defence strategies were significant issues brought up in budget discussions. The spring sitting of the Legislative Assembly concludes on May 29.
CBC
29-04-2025
- CBC
Integrity commissioner urges N.W.T. Assembly to pay nurse's legal fees after MLA tried to get her fired
In October, the integrity commissioner found MLA Richard Edjericon had violated the MLA code of conduct Image | NWT Legislative Assembly Caption: The N.W.T. Legislative Assembly in Yellowknife on May 28, 2021. The N.W.T. integrity commissioner is recommending the Legislative Assembly pay the legal fees of a former nurse who left her job after an MLA repeated "unsubstantiated allegations" against her. (Sara Minogue/CBC) The N.W.T.'s integrity commissioner is recommending that the Legislative Assembly pay the legal fees of a former nurse who says an MLA's harassment led to her leaving her job in Fort Resolution, N.W.T.. In a report released Monday, David Phillip Jones, the N.W.T.'s integrity commissioner, wrote that Richard Edjericon, the MLA for Tu Nedhé-Wiilideh, had breached the MLA code of conduct and that it would "be unjust and unfair" for the assembly to pay Edjericon's legal fees but not those of his victim, Jennifer Patterson. Jones wrote that it is unusual for complainants to have their costs reimbursed. "In my view, Ms. Patterson's complaint is such a circumstance," Jones wrote. Patterson worked as the nurse-in-charge of Fort Resolution from 2018 until 2022. In 2023, she filed a complaint about Edjericon. In October, Jones responded to that complaint and found Edjericon had repeated unproven allegations against Patterson and treated them as fact — including that she had been racist toward Fort Resolution residents, was putting community members at risk, and was rude and disrespectful toward other health centre employees. Those allegations prompted the territory's health authority to suspend Patterson in December 2022 and order an external investigation "into allegations of unethical and unprofessional misconduct." The external investigators reported a couple of months later that none of the allegations against Patterson were substantiated. Jones wrote that Edjericon had launched a campaign against Patterson and undermined the integrity and credibility of the assembly as a whole. On Monday, he recommended that the Legislative Assembly cover the $325 hourly rate that the assembly pays for an MLA's legal counsel. Jones wrote that he considered submissions from Patterson's lawyer, as well Edjericon's and the legal counsel for the Legislative Assembly. Monday's report included a statement from Edjericon's lawyer, Steven Cooper, who wrote that "Edjericon's conduct was motivated by the wish to improve the delivery of health services." Cooper wrote that Edjericon needed to have legal representation to answer the complaint, but there there was no obligation or need for Ms. Patterson to use legal counsel for making her complaint. Jones also considered whether it should be the Legislative Assembly's responsibility to cover Patterson's costs, or Edjericon himself. Toby Kruger, the legal counsel for the Legislative Assembly, wrote that since the Legislative Assembly was not a party to the investigation, it should not be ordered to pay costs. "Finally, the Legislative Assembly is not akin to a professional regulator, and is not responsible for the conduct of MLAs. It has provided a system for facilitating complaints about members, and pays for the integrity commissioner as part of this system," Kruger wrote. MLAs will need to accept or reject the integrity commissioner's recommendation within 15 days of sitting.
