Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we currently have four Indigenous patient advocates: one in Yellowknife, one in had Fort Smith, one in Inuvik, one in Hay River. And those are all -- they were put into those places specifically because that's usually where, like there's -- the hospitals and the larger health centres are in those communities so that when people are travelling in from small communities, you know, they're there to be able to help them navigate within that facility or to hear their concerns. However, although those are only in those communities, they can reach -- any resident can...

I will try and be more clear. We have negotiated fixed costs however it's fixed costs per flight. So if there's more air ambulance traffic, then it's going to be more. So at the end of the year, we average what -- you know, the historical information is on medivacs, the amount of medivacs, and then we budget it accordingly to that. So, yes, the contract is fixed but it's the amount of -- like, so if there's -- say, there's a hundred more medivacs next year than what we budgeted for the average, if it's a hundred more than what was the average, then it will be a little bit more and we'd have to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I honour the treaties. And as an Indigenous health Minister, I am working extremely hard to fix this policy as it's different in every community. I went to this MLA's communities and spoke with them. You know, I asked them to address things that, you know, that they feel that -- however, when it comes to -- you know, when people are leaving the territory on their own, if this government has to pay for every single time somebody left this territory and had a medical emergency for their families to travel and stay with them, my whole budget would be based on...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I am going to just say that myself and the Minister -- I won't speak for her, but we are both very live to this Jordan's Principle issue and how the impact of it is in our territory. We are continuing to work with our Indigenous partners and advocating the federal government to make sure that they recognize the Northwest Territories' issues separately than just an on-reserve/off-reserve situation like they previously did. And so, you know, we are continuing to work together and just so you know, I think our whole Cabinet, and I think everyone in this House will...

Yes, that was a one-time initiative funding, and it was sunset.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Minister, you know, my role is to ensure that when these concerns are coming up that I am able to bring forward, through our processes, through our business planning process, the evidence and the data when spending and when asking this House to spend public dollars and that is the process that I have to go through. When it comes to exceptions, right now the policy we have is for medical travel for scheduled appointments. There is no escort policy for medivacs or ground ambulance or air ambulance, and that is why within the medical travel...

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. That's because we are -- sorry, we're in the negotiations with Health Canada for the Working Together Agreement, and so the positions that were previously funded were funded up until March 31st. And so this budget starts on April 1st, but we are in the process of negotiating and signing off a new agreement which will -- I believe is the same amount that will go back into that budget. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Just to the comments, I also wanted to say that just from the information that I have, we do have 433 new registrants on the extended health benefits that weren't previously eligible before and so that's something that we were targeting, to try and get people that weren't eligible before. However, I will go to the question that's asked, and that is due to the air ambulance contract that was renewed. We previously had a 10-year, I believe, and it renewed, and the cost of that contract has increased significantly from when it was negotiated previously just due to the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going to take that question on notice. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I believe the funding that it provides to NWT Disability Council does provide for staff that can work with families to try and help them navigate the different areas where there is program dollars or funding. Many of our different departments -- I know, like, within ECE and housing have different areas, you know, for disabilities. We also, you know, through the health system referral system, you know, if there's referrals for children that need services, that's usually -- it's just kind of spread out all over in different areas. Thank you, Mr. Chair.