Matnaugavit.
I'm going to speak in Inuktitut briefly and then switch to English.
[Witness spoke in Inuktitut as follows:]
ᕼᐃᕗᓪᓕᖅᐹᒥᒃ ᒪ’ᓈᖅᐸᑉᕼᐃ ᑲᑎᒪᔨᑦ ᑲᑎᒪᔨᕋᓛᖑᐃᓐᓇᖅᑐᕼᐃ, ᖃᐃᖁᔭᐅᔫᓪᓗᐊᓚᐅᕋᒪ ᐅᖃᓪᓚᖁᔭᐅᑉᓗᖓ ᐃᓕᑉᕼᐃᓐᓄᑦ. ᑕᒪᓐᓇ ᐱᒻᒪᕆᐅᑎᖦᖢᒍ ᐅᖃᐅᕼᐃᕆᔭᕗᑦ ᐅᑉᓗᒥ, ᐃᓕᑕᕆᕼᐊᖅᖢᒍᑉᓗ ᒫᓐᓇ ᒪᓕᒐᓕᐅᖅᑎᒋᔭᐅᔪᖅ ᒪᓕᒐᓕᐅᕐᕕᒡᔪᐊᕐᒥ ᓗᐊᕆ ᐃᓪᓚᐅᑦ ᓄᓇᕗᒻᒥᐅᓄᑦ ᑭᒡᒐᖅᑐᐃᔪᖅ ᐅᑉᓗᑦᓯᐊᖅ.
[Inuktitut text interpreted as follows:]
Thank you.
I want to start by thanking the committee members for the invitation to attend as a witness on this important topic. I’d like to take a moment to recognize the member for Nunavut, Lori Idlout. Ubluttiaq, good day.
[English]
Good day.
As you are likely aware, since the creation of Nunavut in April 1999, certain vital aspects of the non-insured health benefits program, NIHB, have been coordinated by the Government of Nunavut's Department of Health on behalf of the Government of Canada. We achieved the coordination and delivery of this program through a series of contribution agreements negotiated between our governments.
NIHB is essential to our territory in ensuring reasonable accessibility to non-insured health services and is considered a vital portfolio that often reaches the public spotlight here in Nunavut.
This program—I have a few examples—provides the means by which a child in Arctic Bay can be escorted by their mother to a specialist appointment in Iqaluit without incurring costs for travel, accommodation or expenses. It ensures that an elder in Kugluktuk can obtain corrective lenses to see family on the horizon returning from a hunting trip and that our residents who seek care in their neighbouring jurisdictions are as comfortable as possible during vulnerable moments in their care and healing journey.
The challenge of providing a wide range of care and services to a small population over an immense geographic landscape makes access to all required medical services difficult.
While changes to the NIHB program are at the discretion of the Government of Canada, Nunavummiut employed by the Government of Nunavut are directly involved in delivery of this program and in turn advocate on behalf of Nunavut Inuit to improve access to non-insured health care services.
Currently under the NIHB program, we're responsible for the delivery of medical transportation, accommodation and meals, dental services and eye exams by an optometrist. Unfortunately, while the services just listed have been successfully delivered to our residents, we have run into issues in having them fully covered under NIHB, creating costs that our government has been perpetually required to assume.
The territory has lost hundreds of millions [Technical difficulty—Editor]—