Again, that's a great question, because sometimes I think we don't do a good enough job talking about the good-news stories of things that have happened.
There was money in the budget last year, as you may recall, around health infrastructure on reserve. There were some good-news stories. I had the opportunity to go out to Cross Lake in Manitoba and talk to them about being able to support an expansion of the nursing station there, which they were ecstatic about. It was long overdue.
You asked about other things within the broad range of health services. I would like to take this opportunity to highlight one. You referred to prenatal issues. I have become increasingly aware of the importance of wellness at the time of birth. This goes for all Canadians, but in particular there are real challenges for indigenous Canadians. Many of them live in very remote communities and are forced to leave their communities to give birth, with essentially lifelong implications for the mothers and the children. There are two things in the budget that I am beside myself with happiness over. Number one, we were able to change the policy on prenatal escorts. Some of these young women are teenagers who have to leave their communities and give birth in a faraway city. Unless they had a medical reason for it, they couldn't bring someone with them. As they have to leave five weeks before the baby is due and stay for a number of weeks after, this was not a healthy policy. We were able to change that. Now every woman who has to leave her community to give birth is able to bring an escort with her. It's incredibly good news.
The chair is looking at me because my time is about to run out. But the other thing you need to know is that one of our longer-term goals is to be able to restore the cries of birth to remote communities in Canada—to use the words of a first nations leader—and find ways that we can expand midwifery and expand access to allow people to give birth in their homes, in their lands, surrounded by their families.