Health Committee on Nov. 27th, 2023

[Suki Wong]

Thank you for the question.

You know well that the delivery of mental health services is a shared jurisdiction. I note the action plan that the Province of Quebec put together with respect to the pillars to address mental health. We are working very closely with our colleagues in the Province of Quebec to look at how the services can be delivered in a way that's targeted to the needs of the jurisdiction.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you very much.

The last round of questions for this panel will come from Ms. Idlout for the next five minutes, please.

I'm sorry. It's two and a half minutes.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Thank you. I was going to ask many more questions if I had that five minutes.

My questions will go to the Department of Health.

We all know that my riding is huge. My riding has three time zones and 25 communities. I know that for medical appointments, because of a lack of available doctors and nurses, the reliance on medical travel is huge. For example, the Government of Nunavut, in 2019, reported that they expected to spend $92 million just for medical travel. All these expenses probably ended up in the pockets of airlines and hotels in the south, with meals being covered in the south.

I wonder if the department can share with me what investments they have for medical care to be provided in Nunavut—how many doctors and how many nurses will increase—rather than our having to spend to send medical patients outside of our riding.

[Cindy Moriarty]

I think, unfortunately, that question would be better directed to Indigenous Services Canada, which manages much of this. We can take that back if that would be helpful. Other than that, all I can offer is that, through the bilateral agreements, including with Nunavut, investments will be made. My understanding is that those are still being negotiated and haven't been finalized yet.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Qujannamiik.

Does the department have data on how many doctors and nurses are in Nunavut who are full-time and who remain in Nunavut?

[Cindy Moriarty]

I don't have that information offhand, no. I understand it's a challenge—I truly do—but I just don't have the data handy.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Could you make that available to this committee once you get it?

[Cindy Moriarty]

Yes, we can do that. We'll have to follow up with Indigenous Services Canada as well.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Thank you so much.

I also understand that in January 2021 the federal government announced ongoing consultations with indigenous partners, the provinces and territories, to codevelop distinctions-based indigenous health legislation. However, the government has yet to table this legislation.

Can you confirm when the federal government plans to table this distinctions-based indigenous health legislation?

[Cindy Moriarty]

I'm not in a position to give you a specific time frame on that at this time. I'm sorry.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Ms. Idlout. That's your time, and that's all the time we have for questions.

Just as a reminder to committee members, today is the deadline for any supplementary or dissenting reports on medical devices, so I presume that if there are going to be any dissenting or supplementary reports, they're well under way and mostly translated by now.

To all of our panellists, thank you so much for being here with us today. This was an excellent briefing. It's not often that we have a large collection of officials, and every one of them has their expertise to contribute and gets a chance to contribute. It was very comprehensive, and we certainly appreciate your professionalism and patience in the way you've handled all the questions.

Ms. Moriarty, I hope you're feeling better. Good on you for plowing through the COVID fog in this panel. We greatly appreciate it.

[Cindy Moriarty]

You're very welcome. The transcripts will speak for themselves, but I thank you all for your patience as well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Is it the will of the committee to adjourn the meeting?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

We're adjourned. Thank you.