Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  [Witness spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:] If the escorts were to be paid a salary, it would be helpful, because they leave their jobs and go on leave, for a long length of time sometimes, without pay. They also have so many incidentals when they are escorting family

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  [Witness spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:] Thank you. Regarding this, yes, I agree. It would be very beneficial to have equal payment and to acknowledge both the traditional and the academic, but the non-insured health benefits do not have that. They have a policy or

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much for your question. In terms of the escort piece, adding some flexibility within the policy would be valuable. It would allow the territorial health departments to consider things such as cultural considerations and language considerations when looking at who

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you. When it comes to escorts, I think Minister Green explained it quite well. I share the concern around the lack of cultural sensitivity, I guess, included under the program. One of the issues we have around escorts is that from time to time a second escort is required i

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I would have to take some time and ponder that. I apologize. I just can't give you an answer off the cuff. That would be such a shift for this program to go to block funding, because right now it's based on the services and based on the quantity and those can vary from year to ye

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's roughly 85% Inuit. Nunavut is overwhelmingly Inuit. I can get a more accurate number and get back to the committee in writing if that would help.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  If it were block-funded, there would have to be an escalating payment schedule, because what we're seeing here in Nunavut year over year in the demand for services is that our needs are increasing quite steadily when it comes to medical travel and when it comes to mental health a

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  My apologies. It's Nunavut Internet at its best—average. The territory has lost hundreds of millions of dollars by covering costs not fully covered under the NIHB. This is lost funding that we could have been funnelling into improving health care programs, services and infrastru

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Matnaugavit. I'm going to speak in Inuktitut briefly and then switch to English. [Witness spoke in Inuktitut, 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