Good afternoon, and welcome to the 17th meeting of the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs.
We are gathered here today on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe nation.
Today we are continuing our third study, which is on the administration and accessibility of indigenous peoples to the non‑insured health benefits program.
In our first panel today, we'll be hearing from the Honourable John Main, Minister of Health, Government of Nunavut; the Honourable Julie Green, Minister of Health and Social Services, Government of the Northwest Territories; and the Honourable Tracy-Anne McPhee, Minister of Health and Social Services, Government of the Yukon.
I would like to remind you to respect the requirements of the Board of Internal Economy regarding physical distancing and wearing masks.
To ensure an orderly meeting, I would like to outline just a few rules for our witnesses and members to follow.
Members or witnesses may speak in the official language of their choice. Interpretation services in English, French and Inuktitut are available for the first part of today’s meeting. Please be patient with the interpretation. There may be a delay, especially since the Inuktitut has to be translated into English first before it can be translated into French, and vice versa.
The interpretation button is found at the bottom of your screen for either English or French, or Inuktitut. If interpretation is lost, please inform me immediately. We'll have a pause and we'll fix the problem before we carry on.
The “raise hand” feature at the bottom of the screen can be used at any time if you wish to speak or to alert the chair.
Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. If you are on the video conference, please click on the microphone icon to unmute yourself. When speaking, please speak slowly and clearly. When you're not speaking, your mike should be on mute. As a reminder, all comments should be addressed through the chair.
For each organization, each witness will begin this proceeding by speaking for up to five minutes. We'll start with the Honourable John Main, Minister of Health, Government of Nunavut.
Minister Main, you have five minutes.