Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'll just say that we're hearing from first nations that they want to control the health services that are delivered to their communities and to have greater influence around services when they have to go externally from their communities to access those services. There is funding, over $70 million since 2018, to support some key projects, including in northern Ontario and northern Manitoba, that are being led by first nations to transform the system.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  For sure. The mental wellness teams have been substantially increased, but for sure some of the mental wellness teams...and they're all set up by first nations. They are driven by first nations. Their makeup, where they are located—all of that is determined by first nations. Some of the leadership processes to get to the place where the decision was made as to where they would be established took a bit longer, particularly in some of the more complex provinces where many players participate in those conversations.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Sure. On Jordan's principle, we're up to 227,000 requests received. We had a 78% increase in the number of approved requests between 2017-18 and 2018-19. In 2017-18, we had already assisted 78,000 children across the country. It's absolutely transformative. These are individual children, individual families and communities.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Absolutely, $220 million over five years was committed in budget 2019 for an Inuit-specific child-first initiative, and the first thing that we want to do in partnership with the national Inuit committee on health is assist families with food security issues.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes.

Status of Women committee  Yes.

Status of Women committee  Yes.

Status of Women committee  It is the provincial or territorial system that would have a more direct link with their regional health agencies, as well as with the patients, communities and the women who access their services. This issue was not submitted to us by first nations or Inuit leaders who participate in our processes.

Status of Women committee  We fund contraception programs.

Status of Women committee  A range of contraception methods are offered in Canada under the Non-Insured Health Benefits Program for first nations and Inuit. We offer coverage for a range of medications and they are available to indigenous women. This is, in fact, a very important point which we are going to emphasize in the documents we will be preparing with these people in order to improve access to information and direct communication with indigenous women in the communities.

Status of Women committee  We could work on that. We do have the Non-Insured Health Benefits Program. We have also been working on a joint review with the first nations since 2014. In that context, we are trying to see how direct access to information could be improved even more, so that the people concerned will know what coverage we can provide for medication.

Status of Women committee  It would be an option for them if they had other sources of revenue, but if it was.... I would need to know a little more about the specifics of the situation you're referencing. If they have received health infrastructure funding from our department, it is to build facilities on reserve specifically.

Status of Women committee  We don't place restrictions on the escort, in the sense that it is the woman's choice, but we do have a responsibility to ensure that the escort is able to support the woman throughout labour, and of course we would say a close family member is obviously best placed in most circumstances to be able to do that.

Status of Women committee  We also fund territorial governments to provide some support in Inuit communities, so it's a first nations and Inuit program.

Status of Women committee  It's an ability for communities to have support services for women prior to birth and after birth, and also to support those early years with respect to families.