Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I am really concerned with our airline services that we're having back home in the Delta. Since this merger came online with Canadian North and First Air, our cancer patients and medical travel patients have been having a really tough time getting out of Inuvik. Today, seeing as a community I represent, Paulatuk, is having five people on standby, I am calling out the airline, Mr. Speaker, in regard to getting aircraft and adequate services provided to these people who are travelling for cancer, cancer patients for either surgery or treatment, and any others, because everything is done in the south and we have two days' travel just to get to where we're trying to go.
Mr. Speaker, I am asking the Minister of Health, Ms. Minister Thom, to see if she could work with me to get these airlines sorted out for medical travel for the Beaufort-Delta and Nunakput riding that I serve. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The last of the one flights a day to Inuvik has made it more difficult to book travel. Medical travel is a live issue and we are working to mitigate the impact on medical travelers. We are working with Stanton Clinic to ensure that there is sufficient time to process travel requests to make the specialist appointments in time, checking with airlines to see if travel is available for the required day, and booking a day earlier, if needed.
People are not getting bumped. There are unrealistic expectations that people travelling on medical travel can somehow bump other paying passengers on an over-subscribed flight. I have instructed the Department of the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services to make the best efforts to ensure our residents are accommodated and have enough notice to make flights and necessary household arrangements to attend medical appointments outside their home communities.
To our residents, please bear with us as we work to improve medical travel and make it easier on you to meet your medical needs. There will be hiccups along the way, and we ask for your understanding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It's pretty dire, I guess, in regards to when you're travelling. When we travel down here, since the last two months we've been here, I've been travelling on that 14 times. Every time, you're seeing somebody in the airport actually being physically taken off the flight, being removed. I'm asking the Minister: would she call a meeting, I guess, with all the transportation providers that provide service to this government, to call them in and try to work with them to try to get adequate aircraft and try to get our patients out of our ridings to where they are travelling for their appointments?
Like I mentioned, medical travel is a live issue, and, again, our department is working to mitigate the impact of medical travellers.
I'm going to call out the airlines. I want adequate service provided to our residents of the Beaufort Delta. I guess from outside Yellowknife, the Sahtu, Beaufort Delta, my riding of Nunakput and Aklak Air, also. Today, I had five passengers on standby out of Paulatuk. That's not right, Mr. Speaker. They have to have adequate aircraft to provide the service that they're providing, and people are missing appointments, now. What are we going to do?
Our department is working hard with the airline companies to ensure, on our side of the department, that we give sufficient notice so that the airline tickets can be booked in time. We don't want to see our medical patients being bumped off the airline, so we are doing the best that we can.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
