Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the 20th Assembly priorities speaks clearly, access to health care and addressing the effects of trauma.
Mr. Speaker, I went through the Premier's letter to the health Minister on her mandate letter. I looked at UNDRIP. I looked at the treaties, etcetera. But, Mr. Speaker, as I went through the mandate letter, it talks about working with -- sorry, intergovernmental governments -- sorry, Indigenous governments to advance modernization of the medical travel policy based on treaty.
Mr. Speaker, my question to the Minister is medical travel patients waiting for NIHB approval -- my question to the Minister can she write a policy so that she has a pot of money for emergency cases so that we are able to help out treaty Members who need our help. That would be my question. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I stated all last week to the Member, the NIHB policy -- you know, I can take this back and next time I meet with the Indigenous Services Canada Minister that if there's a way that they could provide a pot of money. But right now, GNWT is sitting in a deficit every year for medical travel. And so we already are providing a pot of money that's not being reimbursed when we approve exceptions and according to the processes that we use. Again, you know, we as a government are providing healthcare coverage to the patients when they need it when, you know -- and there are healthcare professionals that are making those calls. It's not a political call. It's not something that we're going to decide in this House. So, you know, when it comes to patient care, you know, I respect that the physicians and the healthcare providers are making the best decision with what they're -- with the patients that they're seeing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am deeply concerned. Mr. Speaker, you know, when I got sworn in to this Assembly, I agreed -- I will just read out the oath for the record. Oath of loyalty: I, Richard Edjericon, do swear that --
(audio).
(audio) we took oath of office to uphold the treaties and respect them.
Mr. Speaker, I am deeply concerned where we're going as a government. It seems like what we're doing now is that we're moving forward and not respecting the treaties. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Bmy question: Can the Minister respect and honour the treaties and reimburse Lutselk'e Dene First Nation for maintaining the treaties on behalf of the GNWT and pay the $50,000 back to them? Thank you.
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 paying for that. We have to stay within the process and the policies that we have. I understand the hardship that patients have to go through when they have to travel. That is why we're working so hard to try and bring care closer to home. You know, we're having virtual care so people don't have to travel so much, Mr. Speaker. So, you know, when I sit here and I -- you know, and I hear that I am not honouring the treaties as a health Minister, as an Indigenous, you know, I take that and, you know, I feel that this is not -- this is not what we're doing here as consensus government. We're all working together. They know I have processes that I have to go through to allocate millions and millions of dollars. So I will continue to advocate for the things that our northern residents need on getting, you know, an expanded escort policy developed before my term is done. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am glad to hear that she is honouring the treaties. But, Mr. Speaker, I don't see it.
Mr. Speaker, I am deeply concerned that in the 19th we had a Minister that stood up in the House, here, and talked about the forestry fires we had back in the day, made a policy on a Friday, implemented on a Monday. I don't know what's wrong here, Mr. Speaker. We need to have a policy created. Thank you.
Minister of Health and Social Services. The question was will you do the policy. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned to the Member when they asked the question last week, there is no pot of money that I can create to make a policy tomorrow. If I was to do that, I would have to bring it through, you know, and I would have to reallocate funds within my budget that would be way more than the transfers that we have because the cost of doing these types of things is in the millions. When we look -- like I said, I tabled -- you know, it's been public, the medical travel costs for 2024-2025. Alone for escorts it was almost $8 million or more. And that's within just the scheduled appointments. And so at this point, I am going to stick to the policies that we have so that way when I am going to spend taxpayers dollars that I go through the proper processes to get the approvals to do that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.
