Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.

Mr. Chair, I appreciate that the Minister raised the issue at the last federal/provincial/territorial meeting of Health Ministers, but it sounds like we're waiting. I guess I was looking for something a bit more proactive where our Premier or the Minister would actually write to the federal government and put it in writing. Has that happened and, if not, why? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we're just finalizing our Federal Engagement Strategy now to highlight and bring forward issues across the departments, across the government at a federal level, and this is certainly part of that. As I said, I mean I've brought it up with the federal Minister as well as my provincial colleagues, and we'll certainly be bringing it up again at the next meeting. As far as moving forward with DAAIR and Finance, they are aware. Once we finalize our Federal Engagement Strategy, we will move forward accordingly.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.

Mr. Chair, I don't want to prolong this, but when are we going to get this Federal Engagement Strategy and why does that have to wait for the Minister to write to his federal counterpart? I don't understand what the problem is in picking up a piece of paper and a pen and writing to the Minister saying that we want this resolved, and even doing it in collaboration with other health Ministers. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr O'Reilly. Mr. Minister

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, as a Cabinet and as a government, I think it's important that we have a coordinated approach when we're dealing with Ottawa so that all the departments are aware of the different issues or priorities that are being brought forth.

This is clearly one of the areas. It's certainly, you know, dependant on how the federal government goes, it could bring some federal dollars into the coffers to help us provide services to residents of the Northwest Territories that we currently fund. We're the only jurisdiction in the country providing Métis health benefits.

It is an issue, I hear the Member. I mean, obviously the Member would like us to move quicker, but we want to make sure we have a coordinated approach when we're dealing with Ottawa so that all the Ministers and Members know the issues that we will be bringing forward in a coordinated way rather than one-offing and having the departments compete against each other at a federal level. This is a priority, this will be something that's going to be dealt with.

Having said that, the federal government has given no indication, as far as we're aware, as to how they intend to respond to the Daniels case. This is a fairly significant ruling for the federal government, it's going to come with significant costs. Our dollars are, I think, small in comparison to what some of the other jurisdictions are going to be seeking. I'm not aware of any of the other provinces or territories who have approached. I think everybody's sort of just of trying to figure out what this ruling is going to mean and how we might engage across the country with the federal government.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess the Minister can probably detect some frustration from this Member. I don't know where this Federal Engagement Strategy is. There's been a lot of talk from the Cabinet about this for months. I still don't have an idea about when it's going to be completed. We already spent $2 million a year for these health benefits, which people should expect, and that's the way that we've carried out our health care system here for a number of years.

This is not a question of lobbying the federal government anymore. This is a question of the law, that the Supreme Court of Canada has already ruled on this. When is the federal government going to live up to the law and what are we going to do to make sure that they actually do that as well and help pay for these health care services for our residents?

I don't want to wait for a Federal Engagement Strategy. The Minister should be writing to his federal counterpart now. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I sense the Member's frustration. I have indicated that we have already raised this at a federal/provincial level. We are certainly on record at the federal/provincial level during our last FPT. We are waiting to see what some of the other provinces and territories want to do, because a united front on this is certainly going to carry more weight than individual fronts.

Having said that, I do know that the Minister of Finance is going to be in Vancouver to meet with the other Ministers of Finance I think it's this weekend coming. I have assurances that the Minster intends to raise it there as a second avenue to raise and discuss this issue.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That' s it for me on this. Obviously, I'm not very happy with our failure to act on this a little more quickly. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O' Reilly. Recognizing Ms. Green.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I have some questions around services provided for Nunavut. I wonder if the Minister could describe those services for which reciprocal billing happens? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Green. Mr. Minster.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, similar to our relationship with Alberta, we have a relationship with Nunavut where a number of their residents do come to the Northwest Territories for different diagnostic and other services that are provided here in Yellowknife, particularly residents out of the Kitikmeot region do come down here for a number of diagnostic and other type of services. We have an arrangement, similar to the arrangement across Canada, so that services provided in the Northwest Territories are direct-billed back based on a formula that's agreed upon across this country on what we charge them back.

There's also some birthing services that are happening here on behalf of residents. We do some specialist clinics for the residents of Nunavut, but everything's charged back based on the reciprocal billing agreements that we have both with Nunavut and across this country.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Green.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I noticed that both the hospital services for Nunavut and the specialist physicians for Nunavut totals have dropped from last year. I'm wondering if the Minister could talk about why that is? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Green. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, these are based on utilization over time. We did have a bit of a spike a couple years ago, especially in 2015-16. Based on our sort of average utilization, where we've put forward the $8 million, which is fairly consistent with previous years, there has been some change in utilization.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Green.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Could I just gain an understanding about whether the Western Arctic people are encouraged to use services in the Northwest Territories or are we a default? Thank you.