Health committee  We have to take a look at the current structures that are in place. Why are the medications increasing? Why are the prevention and promotion not effective? We have to be able to look at the geographical isolation of these people. We have many problems, of course, such as physicia

Health committee  It's an interesting concept, one that both first nations and Inuit would be very new to. It's a matter of understanding how the application will be done by them. It's even a matter of how it's understood. Have they even filed before? Because they're at the community level, we kno

Health committee  We know that it's going to be based on a couple of barriers, one of them being the colonial legacy of health care where indigenous people are experiencing poor impacts, poor access to health care, racism and blaming, a you-did-this-to-yourself type of attitude, instead of looking

Health committee  There are going to be barriers because of the level of literacy and language, the ability of the people who are the end users to be able to use the device in a positive fashion. Because you're also having to consider broadband width, is there a connectivity issue? Then if somet

Health committee  It's going to be whether non-insured health benefits recognize it as an approvable device. Then it's a matter of what the application procedure is for the client to be able to obtain the device, work through it, download it; understand that there are high-risk cost factors.

Health committee  Of course. With anything in the diabetes strategy or any diabetes type of initiative, if there's going to be an outcome that benefits the patients or the community, then of course it's something that we're going to look into for their benefit. Where we know the incident rates of

Health committee  More times the answer is going to be it's something they never heard of. It's not an intense read that a lot of the first nations or Inuit communities will look into. Now that I'm hearing it from you, I think that may be something we may want to address. We already have health c

Health committee  Thank you very much.

Health committee  I'll close there. You have the document. Thank you for your time. We look forward to your questions.

Health committee  Thank you very much. I am Marilee Nowgesic, the executive director of the Canadian Indigenous Nurses Association. I'm joined by my colleague Isabelle Wallace, who is also one of the registered nurses across the country whom we rely on for their expertise. At this time, I want to