Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

NNSL (Sep 06/99) - Stressing that they are more than a dog and pony show, the minister's forum on health and social services visited several communities around the NWT last week.

They stressed that they were looking for "do-able solutions" and that recommendations calling for more money were unlikely to be fulfilled.

Starting in Hay River and Yellowknife on Aug. 31, the forum's two teams visited Norman Wells and Fort Resolution on Sept. 1 and went to Ndilo and Fort Smith on Sept. 2.

The Deh Gha Got'ie Dene Council in Fort Providence decided at a special meeting of Sept. 2 to boycott the meetings.

The council said in a statement issued on Sept. 3 that it does not recognize the authority of the forum or that of the GNWT to administer health care for the aboriginal population.

It further stated that the present system does not meet the needs of aboriginal people and that the council does not relinquish its rights to governance over health issues for its people.

The two forum teams are still set to visit Inuvik and Rae on Sept. 7, Aklavik and Fort Providence on Sept. 8 and Tuktoyaktuk and Fort Simpson on Sept. 9. Many people from around the territories visited the Yellowknife forum.

Nurse and regional vice-president with the Union of Northern Workers, Mo Johnston, spoke about her priorities of safety, money and education.

Johnston said in 1996, the GNWT cut wages as well as taking away nurses' accommodation allowance and vacation travel.

"I don't know if I have any solutions that don't cost money," she said.

"A lot of people won't go to small communities because as soon as you get there you can't afford to leave. It could cost you $30,000 and you might only get $10,000 from the government to help you."

As for safety, Johnston said nurses are often called out in the middle of the night.

Even if there are two nurses in a community, it would not be viable financially for both to go.

"When a nurse is called out in the middle of the night, she goes on her own," Johnston said when discussing a safety concern.

"It doesn't matter if it's a drunk or a psychiatrically disturbed person."

Dave Kaufman, from Inuvik, spoke about the recent nursing strike in Quebec and of the public discontent in Alberta.

"Who's going to go into nursing with that kind of P.R.?" Kaufman asked.

"There are far more nurses leaving the profession than entering it and that's scary."

At the Hay River forum, Hay River community health board chief executive officer, Wes Drodge, gave a presentation that included several recommendations.

One recommendations that did not cost extra money was that there be an annual meeting "of all the major players to discuss system-wide issues."

Jim O'Reilly, office administrator with the Fort Resolution Metis Council, criticized the forum for not publicizing their meeting better.

"Usually something of that magnitude, you'd expect a fax," he said the day after the Fort Resolution forum, which he did not hear about.

"For the minister's forum on education we knew well in advance. They should have let all the aboriginal organizations know."