Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The kind of specialized equipment that there is here in Yellowknife and certainly in hospitals down south, for the volume of patients that would use it in some of the smaller regions, it would not merit the costs. I think the Cat Scan machine here in Yellowknife probably was about $1 million.
When the Member talks about x-rays, x-rays do not necessarily detect that much in terms of different types of cancers. Mammograms are something that the effectiveness of which is not 100 percent foolproof either. Again, it is really important that people be fairly self-aware in noticing things that might lead to early detection, such as changes in their own body.
The types of cancers that are on the rise in the Northwest Territories are things like lung cancer. Of course, that is strongly linked to the high rates of tobacco smoking. Also, some types of cancer are connected to changes in diet. However, cancers overall are not on the rise. Our statistics indicate that we are still well below national averages in most areas of cancer.
So the availability of equipment for screening probably is not something that is going to be...sorry, I want to correct something. Cancer rates in the Northwest Territories are rising, but do remain lower than the rest of Canada. However, the areas that we are seeing the rise in cancer is in lung cancer and cancer associated with the digestive system from changes in diet. Thank you.