Thank you, Mr. Viersen, for that question. It has been good to get to know you over the last six years on a lot to do with indigenous and Inuit issues.
This is a point of contention within the NIHB program for Inuit, and it's about the way in which decisions are made. Often decisions made in relation to medical transportation are not happening in real time, and sometimes people can experience weeks or months of delays in being approved for medical transportation or for escorts—people who can help the patient get to care. This is vitally important because of where the care happens.
There are 51 Inuit Nunangat communities, and just about each one of these communities doesn't have access to roads to the south. Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk in the Northwest Territories technically have southern road access, but medical care doesn't flow through that road access. It still flows through flights to Yellowknife and then to Edmonton, largely.
If people are in urgent need of care and need help to get to that care, the NIHB program can be a lifeline to ensure that culturally safe and immediate care happens, especially in the language of choice of the recipient of care.
Sometimes there are programs within the province or territory that interact with the NIHB program about medical transportation, but too often we are hearing complaints from Inuit about either not being given clear decisions or being denied either medical transportation or escorts within medical transportation. This really is at the crux of what we can—