Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the second part of my Member's statement briefly talked about accessing traditional Dene treatment or Dene medicine, and there seems to be some confusion on how they can access that when I was talking with the elders in Fort Liard. My question for the Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Speaker: presently it is my understanding that medical travel only covers travel to the NWT borders, when they are accessing traditional Dene treatments. Can the Minister of Health and Social Services please confirm what the process is and how it is done? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, medical travel doesn't actually cover travel for individuals who wish to attend traditional Dene-type healing in the Northwest Territories, or even outside the Northwest Territories. However, the federal NIHB program may actually cover some of the transportation costs, offer individuals to access traditional healer service, but that must be preauthorized by Health Canada's First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, so they need to apply through NIHB. It is not something that is currently covered through GNWT or Medical Travel.
That is really great information to understand and hear. Will the Minister be willing to get that information or show us where we can get this information so that we can share with the residents of the Northwest Territories?
Yes, absolutely. Certainly, and, as a note, we do administer NIHB on behalf of the federal government. We do not make program decisions. We do not make fundinglevel decisions, but we do administer it, and I do know that staff are happy to help individuals fill out applications if they are interested in pursuing these types of opportunities, either in the North or the South.
I thank the Minister for that answer. I guess I am just looking for: are there some information packages that he can share with us so that we can share it with our constituents?
Mr. Speaker, the information on the NIHB, the NonInsured Health Benefits, is online. It is available. I am happy to sit down with the Member and find out exactly what he is looking for as far as content and to figure out how best we can flow that information through MLAs on both sides of this House so that our residents who are interested can certainly apply for support through NIHB. As I indicated, they still have to get prior approval, so we can help figure out that process for residents, as well.
Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I will work with the Minister and sit down and talk to him about it to try to get some more information for the constituents. Maybe I will be able to share with other Members who are interested, so I thank the Minister for that commitment.
Has the department, Mr. Speaker, looked at bringing Dene healers up from down south to help residents, especially elders, when it is regarding their concern for their health? I will just leave it with that question, there.
I look forward to working with the Member to help get some of that information. There are, unfortunately, some limitations. I understand that NIHB will only cover individuals as far as provincial boundaries or borders, which actually, I think, goes to the Member's second question.
In the Northwest Territories we want to support traditional healing and wellness. We want to do things differently, and up until now there really has been nothing done to support traditional health or wellness in the Northwest Territories. We are trying to change that right now. We want to have more options for residents, and I think it is really important to recognize all the incredible partners out there who are doing work.
The Arctic Indigenous Women's Foundation is doing really important work to bring traditional wellness and healing to the Northwest Territories. We are working with them by making space available on the Stanton campus so that they can move forward with the wellness compound, wellness complex. We also are working with a group, I believe, in Fort Good Hope to test some models of some traditional healing opportunities in the Sahtu. The Stanton Hospital is getting ready to pilot an eldersinresidence program to bring more traditional healing and wellness.
We have put together a terms of reference in partnership with Indigenous governments from across the Northwest Territories to form a wellness advisory group to provide advice and guidance to us on how we can better incorporate traditional healing and wellness into our system as a whole so that people do not even have to look outside to programs and services in the South, that we can truly be an integrated system here that incorporates both traditional as well as western medicine to provide holistic care for all residents of the Northwest Territories.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
