Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for that question. Jordan's principle definitely applies to first nations children living on or off reserve. We've worked quite hard, as I'm sure you're aware, to increase access for children to services and to fill gaps when we see gaps. For the time being, Jordan's principle applies to kids, but I think we can think of it in a similar way, in terms of there being a gap and our wanting to close the gap.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  What are we doing to address the barriers? Probably the first thing I'd like to say is that one thing we're trying to do in terms of the continuum of care is to make sure that we're investing to allow community members to stay in their homes as long as they can and as long as they want to—in their homes and their communities—but in instances when that is no longer possible, we're trying to make it a little bit closer to home.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I don't have the percentage in front of me, but I think it's a significant investment. Our budget had been $90 million a year. The $185 million is an additional investment over five years. It's a significant investment that's going to be divided across communities.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  As I mentioned, there's a different breakdown, over the next five years, in terms of those monies. A portion will be going to palliative care. Most of it will be going just to further enhancements in the home and community care program. The services I mentioned that we don't normally have the funds to cover, such as the allied health services, will be part of the additional investment.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, exactly.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Sure. Thanks for the question. Long-term care is a new issue for us at ISC to be looking at. We probably will not have all the answers. We're just exploring long-term care ourselves. Recognizing that this is a gap in the services available to first nations on reserve, we're beginning to explore the issue as well.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Recognizing the time, I will just very quickly speak about some work that we're doing in long-term care. We're currently exploring the issue of long-term care as well. With the home care program and the assisted living program we cover a number of things, but long-term care has been identified as a gap.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Great. Thank you, Keith. I'd like to thank the committee for the opportunity to come here to speak about long-term care. We're quite excited about the fact that the committee is studying this issue, so we are hoping that we are going to be helpful in the remarks that we offer today.