(Montreal) The series of resignations in the health network in Nunavik was the subject of exchanges during the question period of the National Assembly, Thursday. Christian Dubé essentially replied that he trusted the management to resolve the crisis.
The Minister of Health said he “supported” the decisions of the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services (RRSSSN), which enjoys special autonomy.
In a question posed to Minister Dubé, Liberal health critic André Fortin asked him what he intended to do to retain nurses who had had enough and were resigned to quitting their jobs. .
On Wednesday, The Canadian Press reported that nursing resignations are piling up at Hudson’s Bay clinics. According to the union, it is now nine nurses who have left their posts in the past two weeks. Other healthcare professionals would also think about imitating them because of a work climate described as toxic and exhaustion due to the serious lack of staff.
According to information from the Northern Union of Hudson’s Bay Nurses (SNIIBH), there are only 11 nurses left practicing an expanded role – that is to say that they can perform certain medical acts without the presence of a doctor – to serve seven villages. The communities of Akulivik, Umiujaq and Ivujivik have no permanent nurses on site, while the community of Puvirnituq has only one nurse.
In response, Minister Dubé reiterated in the Blue Room that he was “very sensitive” to the situation, but that decisions concerning the management of the Inuulitsivik Health Center (CSI) belong first and foremost to the board, which is autonomous, and that the department was “there to support them”.
“I have said it several times, we are talking nation to nation,” he also underlined, speaking of the Inuit and their institutions.
In addition, among the four demands made by the SNIIBH in a petition addressed to the Minister of Health, there is that of adopting new regional disparities in the collective agreements to promote the attraction and retention of personnel in the North.
Catching the ball, Treasury Board President Sonia LeBel said the government was “capable” of agreeing with unions on “differentiated terms” to “respond to a specific problem at a specific time”. .
Minister LeBel took the opportunity to recall the nature of her controversial offer sent Wednesday, by email, to public sector unions. In particular, it contained a proposal for bonuses for nurses who agree to work during less attractive shifts.
In his questions to Minister Dubé, MP André Fortin also referred to the conflict between the Integrated University Health and Social Services Center of Mauricie-et-du-Centre-du-Québec (CIUSSSMCQ) and its nurses. Hundreds of healthcare professionals have threatened to resign en masse to protest against management’s decision to force them to work on weekends.
It was this question that opened the door for Minister LeBel to interfere in the exchange. She concluded her intervention by again inviting the unions to participate in her famous forums. The unions denounce this new platform which, according to them, would be contrary to the legal framework governing the conduct of collective agreement negotiations and according to which the government’s offers must be tabled and debated at the negotiation tables.
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