Thank you, Member. Minister.
I see which item it's in, but I am just going to check here and see if I have that level of detail. I don't see that I do, so I'd like to ask Ms. Mathison to answer the question, please.
Thank you. Ms. Mathison.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's a level of detail, actually, that I don't have with me, as well. Those expenditures show up in the authority budgets, which they submit to us in a very detailed fashion, so we don't have that here with us. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Member.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I think it would be worthwhile as a request, if we're going to isolate French-language services in healthcare, I think it would be worthwhile also showing how much we're spending on Indigenous languages translations in healthcare, as well. One of the conversations that we hear a lot about these days is systemic racism and if that exists in our healthcare systems or not, and I think people being able to access healthcare in their Indigenous and traditional languages is quite important to make sure that everybody is getting information that they need. That's why I'm asking these questions right now, is to understand how people are being supported in their traditional languages within their community in healthcare. I'll move on, still staying within hospital services. I'm wondering how much, every year, is paid to NWT hospitals in out-of-territory services and if there is currently a deficit on that. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you. Just to go back to the money spent on Indigenous languages, the issue here is not that it isn't happening. It's the way it's reported. The money for French-language services requires a particular kind of reporting because it's provided by the federal government. The Indigenous-language interpretation would be provided by the GNWT, so it's not reported in the same way. That doesn't mean to say it can't be discovered or reported in the future, so that's something to explore. With respect to the amount of money that is spent on out-of-territory services and what the deficit on that might be, I don't see that level of detail on the page that I have. Again, I'll turn to Ms. Mathison and see if she has it. Thank you.
Ms. Mathison.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The department's expenditure on out-of-territory hospitals is in another activity further down the way. We spend $32 million in out-of-territory hospitals, but it's not represented on this page. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Member.
Sorry, Mr. Chair. That's why I had my hand up. I meant residents from out-of-territory who are having medical work done here. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Again, I'll turn to Ms. Mathison, please.
Ms. Mathison.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Services to non-residents, we have increased the budget for that this year by $1 million to cover the increased costs associated with us providing services to those non-residents who do attend our facilities. I am searching the page here for the actual budget on that item, but I don't have it handy. However, we added $1 million to the budget for this year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Member.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. To confirm, is that money that is always reimbursed to the territorial government annually, or is there sometimes money that we end up having to swallow? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you. The situation with providing services to people from other jurisdictions in Canada is that there is a provincial-territorial committee that meets annually and sets the rate for the costs of that care on a daily basis, and then the different provinces and territories bill one another for the costs of the care based on the number of people who come here and require care here. The jurisdictions are billed, so, for example, if someone came here from Alberta, became ill, was hospitalized for 14 days, there would be a set rate that is already agreed and Alberta Health Services would be billed for the 14 days of care that their resident received. Thank you.
Thank you. Member.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Does anybody owe us money? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
I feel sure the answer is yes to that. I don't know if Ms. Mathison has that level of detail here, but let's see.
Ms. Mathison.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There is always a lag in the billing. Other jurisdictions have up to a year to pay us after we send them the bill, but we don't have any that we are not expecting to receive payment for. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Member.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Do we owe anybody money?
Minister.
I'm going to say it's on the same basis, that, undoubtedly, because of the lag in billing, we have some outstanding debts. We pay our bills.
Thank you. Member.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. That's good news, and that's what I like to hear. My next question is in regard to population health. I see that population health has had a significant decrease, and I'm wondering what this decrease accounts for. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
What my notes say here is that, in the 2019-2020 budget, the budget was not fully spent, mostly because of some federal funding that lapsed. Then in the 2020-2021 budget, we had funding from Health Canada related to cannabis, which has now sunset. There are some other details about what goes on here in public health, and part of that was covered with a supplementary appropriation that was passed during this fiscal year and included things such as $70,000 for meat inspection regulations; $94,000 for enhanced community-based monitoring of seasonal influenza; $40,000 from the Northern Wellness Agreement; $10,000 from the On the Road to Wellness during- and after-cancer diagnosis funding; substance abuse and addictions program, $174,000. The biggest portion of this is the COVID Safe Restart funding agreement, which provided $2.472 million, and so we don't have an equivalent amount of COVID restart money in these main estimates. I don't think that the number for COVID funding has been settled on for the next fiscal year. Thank you.
Thank you. Member.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. One of the things that catches my ear on that one is the cancer diagnosis funding. One of the things that I find we are hearing about and reading about a little bit more is the amount of people who are not seeing physicians on a regular basis with COVID. People are avoiding doctors' offices. They are avoiding health check-ups, especially in the North where our health check-ups mean that we have to travel. Sometimes, people have to come to regional centres, sometimes Yellowknife, and sometimes, they end up having to leave the territory. I am wondering if there is discussion about increasing this line item kind of in anticipation of people not being diagnosed and potentially having to be treated farther down in cancer diagnosis and the additional cost of that or if there are discussions around that happening at the Minister's tables. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My recollection is that this fund is going to sunset at the end of next month, and it is federal money. I am not sure if an additional or new fund with a similar focus is being contemplated. I will ask the deputy minister for that information. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. Cooper.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This was one-time funding for a very small project, and so, no, there is nothing else being contemplated in that space. However, to the broader question of cancer prevention, chronic disease management, and ultimately, diagnosis and treatment, the diagnosis and treatment side would show up in the broader growth within the healthcare system should that happen. Being mindful of the dynamic of people avoiding or not going to physicians or nurse practitioners for check-ups, there was a lot of work done earlier in the pandemic for people to review their panels and to be doing outreach and to implement virtual care. I know the primary care team have been very mindful of the risk that has been articulated and are working to try to prevent that from happening by good connections with their folks. Certainly, we are not waiting for it to become a treatment issue, trying to use good triaging and good connection with patients to do outreach. Thank you.
Thank you. Member.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I am going to end up leaving the conversation of the deficit to somebody else because I am just trying to be mindful of the clock here. The adult support services line item, I see that that's fairly consistent with what it was last year, and I am wondering if that line item includes the FASD diagnostic clinic.
Thank you. Minister.
I don't think this does include the FASD diagnostic clinic, but I will turn to Ms. Mathison to confirm that.
Ms. Mathison.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, it does not. This line item is funding that we give to the NTHSSA to support contracts that they enter into with NGOs for support services for adults. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Member.
Can the Minister let me know where the adult FASD clinic falls within the budget, please? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
I will ask Ms. Mathison to tell me that. Thank you.
