Page 8-35, Health and Social Services. Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am sure there is a logical explanation. Is there no charge to the office base in Deninu K’ue?

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister Lee.

I am going to have to ask Mr. Elkin to give that information. Thank you.

Mr. Elkin.

Page 8-35, Health and Social Services, information item, lease commitments - infrastructure.

We are moving on to page 8-36, Health and Social Services, information item, work performed on behalf of others. Mr. Beaulieu.

Mr. Chairman, on the non-insured health benefits, we have almost $10 million for work performed on behalf of others. That is, I think, a Health Canada funding provided to First Nations and Inuit residents that are not covered under a hospital or a medical care program. My understanding from this is that the department delivers a program. So far, in the inquiries that have come from my constituents in the communities, I have generally been sending them to the website, because other than filling out the applications myself, sending them to a website asking them to pull the documentation off the website and then proceed with any applications on their own. Does the department, HSS, put any resources into supporting individuals who are trying to apply for NIHB? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister Lee.

No, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, could I ask the Minister why?

Mr. Chairman, I am going to ask the DM to elaborate. Thank you.

Ms. Meade.

Thank you, Ms. Meade. Mr. Beaulieu.

Mr. Chairman, I wasn’t talking about financial resources; I was referring to human resources. When this department administers these programs under work performed on behalf of others with transitional health funding contribution agreements or Nats’ejee K’eh pan-territorial social marketing project, I am asking if there is actually human resources there to support individuals to apply. Because I think that it would be good if everybody maybe had a computer or was able to go to the website, pull it up, fill out the information on their own, sign it and send it off and so on. That is not exactly the way things work in small communities. I kind of wondered about that because a lot of my questions have been simply referring me to a website. Again, aside from the four people in Inuvik, which I am fine with if their work extends beyond Inuvik and into all of the communities to provide support for individuals that need to apply for this program, understand the program, understand what benefits they have under the program as First Nations and Inuit residents, that is good. Now, aside from the four people in Inuvik, if they don’t do anything other than just sit in an office in Inuvik and administer this program from behind a desk there, is there anyone else that can support people for applying for this program?

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister Lee.

Mr. Chairman, the four people that are located in Inuvik help our residents to weave through the NIHB program and some of our staff help with that too. Those four minimum that we could get, I think the Member referred to pan-territorial social marketing project later in the page or did I read that wrong? They are the four. They just strictly respond to our residents’ questions and the application process for the programs under NIHB. I’m sorry; I probably didn’t answer the question correctly. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, the situation is that I have people coming to me, whether it be dental, eye care, or whatever it is, and saying, where am I going to get support, who is going to pay for this, and stuff like that. I am going back to the department. The department is referring me to a website. I had one situation where I referred an individual to the local nurse and then the situation seemed to have dissolved itself. That may be the health centre is supporting individuals, helping them apply for benefits under the Non-Insured Health Benefits, so if that is the case, fine, that way I just know where to direct people.

A lot of people ask about this and so often I am directing them to a website. Even people who are working for the government, who we would have to assume have at least a minimum of grade 12 to be working for the government are having difficulties getting through the system to apply for programs. So you can imagine that somebody that has no schooling may have even more difficulty, having no computer would have more difficulties, and so some individuals where you actually have to go into the website, print off the application forms and so on and then send them to individuals too. So I am saying we have $10 million here, we don’t want to burn it up in administration, I recognize that, but some sort of place where an individual can go, almost similar to a single-service window, I think that is now through the Sustainability and Rural and Remote Communities, maybe that type of individual in a small community can assist people with this, but it is just kind of left up to the individuals, I find. I am not sure but maybe if the program gets fully subscribed, I don’t know, at one time the actual... Two years ago the actuals where higher than what is budgeted today, so obviously the program is being used. I am wondering if there is a way that they could provide some support for individuals who apply for what they should be getting under this program or benefit.

To get more assistance or a single-window approach is something that we would have to approach the federal government on because it is their program. But in the short term and for our own purpose, I do understand what the Member is saying and I think that what I could do is see if we could make the names or the number of Non-Insured Health Benefits funded people in Inuvik available so that people could call there. I do believe that our nurses and our health care staff in our regional offices do help people wade through that. So in the website, when we give the website page, it is usually to just give a general information about what is covered and what is not, and I do appreciate that not everybody benefits from that kind of medium. People need to get that support in other ways too, so we will see what we can do there. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Lee. Mr. Beaulieu. We are on page 8-36, Health and Social Services, information item, work performed on behalf of others. Agreed?