Mr. Chairman, to answer the Member's question, I would have to describe the funding problem we are having with the Keewatin clinic. Right now, there is no problem in getting the federal government to pay for a specific dental procedure, where it is performed by say, a Yellowknife dentist, on an aboriginal person. We are not having those kinds of problems, yet. However, what has happened is, the Keewatin Health Board entered into a contract with the new group formed in Keewatin, and that contract was at about the same funding level as had previously been spent by the federal government through the University of Manitoba. Once the contract was entered into, the Department of Health and the Keewatin Health Board were told, in no uncertain terms, that many of the costs reflected in that contract were ineligible for funding by the Department of National Health and Welfare. They said we will not pay for an office manager, for example, which I believe is one of key components of the clinic. We will only pay for so many days travel in the communities, and we will pay less than the days contracted for. So they have scrutinized this contract, they have said they will not pay many of the aspects of the contract, and the Government of the Northwest Territories is left holding the bag for the difference. I think so far it looks like that will be something like $300,000 a year. It is not getting paid for a specific dental procedure, it is getting the same level of funding that they seem to pay quite readily to a southern based service out of the University of Manitoba. When we do it in the north, we cannot get the same level of funding, and it is because the federal government is trying to off-load onto the Government of the Northwest Territories. What I am hoping we can do is tackle this problem at the political level, if necessary, because it amounts to discrimination against northerners, and possibly, against Inuit if you want to look at it that way, as I do, and as the Keewatin Health Board does. Thank you.
Dennis Patterson on Committee Motion 217-12(2): To Adopt Recommendation No. 50
In the Legislative Assembly on October 1st, 1992. See this statement in context.
Committee Motion 217-12(2): To Adopt Recommendation No. 50
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
October 1st, 1992
Page 1283
Dennis Patterson Iqaluit
See context to find out what was said next.