Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the medical travel policy -- and I hear the Member, you know. And if people leave the territory on their own for whatever reason and it's not through being sent out for a medical -- through medical travel for access to an appointment or surgery or services, then this program doesn't apply to those people. So any residents or any people that are travelling out of territory, that's why I was saying in the House it's very important that you know what your coverage is, and I was saying some people have credit cards. And I hear the Member, you know, and I'm sure she'll tell me back that her elder doesn't have a credit card or something, you know, and I understand that, you know. But it's really important that, you know, there's services for -- and our residents need to -- and, you know, because we've -- this is not the first -- like I said, this is not the first person that's -- the BF that's come through the Minister's office with the same concern. And many NWT residents, you know, do not realize that when they're leaving on their own, that it's not medical travel and so when they end up getting sick or somewhere outside of anywhere in Canada or anywhere, then they're -- it's their responsibility to get back home.

I hear the Member. I know that we're doing a review, but this medical travel is not an insurance program. It's what we -- actual costs that we pay to send people out. The fee that we have to pay to the boarding homes, the flights that we have to pay for medical travel, it's not an insurance. Insurance is what I said is outside, so if people are leaving the territory. And I get -- and I hear -- you know, I know the Member, you know, in small communities not everybody has this information. And so that's for us to try -- I guess to try and make sure that people are aware of what they're covered for, whether they live in the city or whether they live in a small community and they choose to travel outside the territory for personal reasons. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go back to the Member from Monfwi.

Okay, thank you. I know that -- we're going to be talking about it, you know, as long as we're here because it is an important issue. So I just -- there's another issue that I had is that lately I know in small communities people are having -- you know, that need medical travel or that are travelling on medical travel to the south, we've been having issues where people are having a hard time trying to find a medical escort that require medical escort. And I know a lot of them are saying due to high cost of living, I can't leave my work long. Like, they will be granted some leave but not for two or three weeks. And some of them, they have families. So that's why it's hard. It's difficult for some of them, you know, to find a good medical escort. And I know Larga that looks after, you know, NIHB -- but anyways, they don't provide the services needed, you know. They just provided accommodation and the transportation to and from to the medical appointments. But there are some people that need medical travel assistance escort but some of these people, they don't mind going but they don't want to stay longer.

So I just wanted to ask -- I know this is outside and we've been talking about it, if medical travel escort can be offered at the other end, you know, in Edmonton or where -- you know, mostly to Edmonton because that's where most of our -- you know, and I know government are good at creating a positions here and there for, you know, for various departments. Would it be possible for the government to create somebody at -- in Alberta or where our residents will more often that there could be some kind of a medical travel escort or somebody that can be working with our residents that go south and especially with the language too as well with -- as a translator as well. Because it's hard. It's hard for many of my constituents. They say, no, I can't go. I would love to escort but due to high cost -- somebody has to pay -- I have to pay my bills, you know. I can't. And some of them, they have small children. They say, I can't leave my kids for long. So that's always a problem. So it would be nice if the department can come up with some kind of a plan to accommodate the patient seeking the assistance or the services provided outside of Yellowknife because we don't have -- the only time -- the reason why that medical travel is required is because due to the lack of services in the North. So I just wanted to ask the Minister if they could create a position or, you know -- because we already have some people living in the south. Our residents, you know. Not just my residents but from all over the North there are some people living there, so maybe they can accommodate those -- you know, the people that are there already to help or work with our community members. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And yes, I -- we can include that kind of a review as part of our -- you know, with the support. And I hear you that there are a lot of times when seniors sometimes they struggle, they need assistance to travel for an appointment and they can't find a nonmedical escort to go with them, even though they're approved. And sometimes they just need that little bit of extra support. And so those are the types of things that we want to take a look at and how we can streamline and, you know, and in those cases be able to look at how we are supporting people in our boarding homes and things like that. And so, yes, I will commit to making sure that that's part of our list of to do/to look at as part of the medical travel review. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. We're getting close to the end here so we're going to go as far as we can until the supper is ready. We're still on page 215, and I seen the Member Yellowknife Centre had his hand up.

(audio) and it's -- I was just -- there was an area my good friend from the Deh Cho and I were talking about and just by way of a sentence or two to -- you know, the North is a bit different, and we all know that. We talk about that all the time, right. So I mean, who am I telling here in this room? We have 19 experts of how the North is different and we talk about it every day. But, you know, sometimes we can't apply a Hamilton, Ontario, application of how we treat our folks and our families and our friends. I mean, when you're in a small community, I can't say everyone here knows in this room, but when you grow up there, you know everybody and it's hard not to be connected whether you know them or not. You just know them. You know, it's the reality. So whether you're related or just friends, who knows. But the thing is that what makes this different is that those special relationships, and what makes me wonder about, you know, why don't we invest the time in creating a bereavement policy. And I think that's truly what the Member's after in some form or fashion about how do we address these things. Because when you're in a community, you know, and you don't have resources to connect or pull things together or deal with them in these ways, you just don't have them, and it becomes a massive crisis at a time that this just layers on trauma.

So my question for the Minister -- like I say, I don't need the whole ten minutes, but I mean, it's a matter of is it time to ask the department to examine a bereavement policy? Because there were always those who could afford it. There were always those who have insurance. But there's a lot of people that that wouldn't qualify for it. So I'm asking, can you consider it and examine it and then come back to the House on your thoughts on that and as well as, you know, what type of economics are we talking about? Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm unsure as to what the ask is. I get what -- I understand what bereavement means but I'm -- I know that we have -- we have support where we assist families when -- you know, when we have burials and things like that. And we do have programs for that. So I'm not sure what the exact ask is or the question is. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go back to the Member from Yellowknife Centre for clarification.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, you know, some of it is about burying and people back, whether they didn't make it. I'm not trying to be insensitive, but. And sometimes it's about connecting people to dying children, relatives, etcetera. So there is a bit of a variety. Someone's on their last leg and told you were on holidays, it's your fault, in the sense of it's your responsibility fault. That's what I mean. So I think the Minister knows what I'm getting at, and it's not as simple as defining it as one black and white policy. It's about trying to look at ways that we can connect and support individuals, you know, in crisis. That's what it's about. Thank you.

Thank you for that clarification. I'll go to the Minister.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess where I'm at is is that if somebody was to -- yeah, and I hear what the Member's concern is. And if somebody was to be gone out on medical and they passed away then, of course, we would cover that. If there's a family member, you know, we have -- like I said, there's support. There's financial support. There's federal support for families who -- you know, that have lost somebody. And so we do have some, you know, areas where we do support families with some of those costs. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'm going to go back to the Member from Yellowknife Centre.

I didn't want to tie much time up, Mr. Chairman. So we're coming back, and I feel like I might be going in a circle so I don't want to waste committee's time on that. But I'll just say that I think some of the points might be slipping through, and I'll have the -- you know, I'll sit down with the Member of the Deh Cho, and maybe we'll go visit the Minister one day over tea. She's buying. And we'll discuss it further there. Thank you.

Sounds like a great idea. Okay, thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I won't stand between us and dinner. Just very briefly, two comments -- or two questions I guess.

The first one I guess from -- again, from listening and from what I understand about the extended health benefits. Would it not solve some problems if we were just to look at increasing the income threshold? Would it not resolve some of the issues I'm hearing? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.

Sorry, Member. Can you just repeat what your question was so that I can make sure I'm answering the right...

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, and correct me if I'm wrong, but given what I've heard and what I understand of the new EHP, the program, would it not solve some of the issues at least if we were to look at increasing the income threshold to a higher income threshold?

Thank you for repeating your question to the Minister.