Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, under Dene law here in the Northwest Territories, for a long time we've been taking care of our own people including loved ones as they pass. Most recent, up to two and a half years here in the Northwest Territories, you would be able to buy a casket from Fort Smith, Hay River, and Inuvik, and but right now the only funeral home in the Northwest Territories has that market now. So if a loved one passed, you have to go there and buy a casket. But as a carpenter, if somebody comes up to me and asks me to build a casket, we don't question it; we just do it. But now I'm told that you have to go to McKenna -- sorry, the only supplier in the Northwest Territories to buy the casket. So my question to the Minister of Health and Social Services is that if we can look at a policy to amend it so that we could open it up again to go to these suppliers to look at buying caskets based on what community wants and the families want. Thank you.
Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I hear what the Member is saying, and I too have had these conversations as soon as I became the Minister. However, before there was this -- the bereavement pot of money that sits within the health and social services to assist with low income families, you know, to assist with caskets and some funeral costs; however, over the years, this has been sole sourced, you know, and so there were issues coming up about how in procurement that this is not fair. I guess I don't -- I wasn't part of any -- most of those discussions. However, now as the Health and Social Services Minister, this has gone through procurement, and so the program that we currently have that the funding is allocated is procured to a business and that business, whenever somebody needs to access that fund, has to go through that person, that contract that's been approved for these funds. However, we also have heard many of these issues so, you know, these -- this is something that we can always take the feedback and, you know, when looking at this contract when it comes up, you know, we can take a look at it from all the feedback in how we move forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We had an elder that passed just before Christmas and who had worked for the Government of the Northwest Territories for a long time and very well-respected in our community and when a casket was provided, it was provided to the elder in the community, and we learned that that casket was used. And in our culture, people get really offended and upset about that kind of thing. So my question to the Minister is what can we do better so that this does not happen again to -- especially to our elders and loved ones in our community. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what I can do is I can commit to looking into the delivery of the service to better understand how it's -- you know, how it's operating within our communities just so that there's more clear understanding for myself -- not just for myself, but for residents in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, also I just want to bring up another issue is that when we have loved ones that have left our communities to go south or to be with family and that and sometimes they pass away and they need to come home, the thing is that the way the government has their policy set up, they -- because they're out of province, the family would have to go to the chief and council, the Metis council, and look at ways to try to bring the body back to the community. I just want to know if the Minister is open to looking at how we can fix this problem because originally these guys that are -- our members have moved away and they come back, so we want to see what we can do as a government to help out in this -- on a policy directive to look at this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, when a loved one dies, you know, and whether they're in our home, whether they're anywhere, this is a hard and difficult time; however, this program, this is intended to support current eligible NWT residents, you know, and I think if they are NWT residents and they are outside the territory when they pass away, we've had this conversation in the House that people that travel outside the Northwest Territories for any type of recreation, you know, visiting, holidays, business, anything, you know, if you're travelling on business, you're usually covered by your employer but if you're travelling for your own personal, you should be looking at out -- like, for travel insurance, and I mean that is something that we've heard many times happening recently. And so getting that information out to our residents that, you know, it does cost if something happens, you know, while you're outside of the territory. But this program here is intended for Northwest Territories residents. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Monfwi.
