Is there any further questions from Members? Seeing none.

Health and Social Services, long-term and continuing care services, operations expenditure summary, 2025-2026 Main Estimates, $66,878,000. Does the committee agree?

Okay, thank you. Moving on to out of territory services beginning on page 214. Are there any questions? I'll go to the Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, I'm interested in understanding the difference between the funding that is going to the health and social services authorities on this and then the funding that's being spent by HSS. So does this mean that we are spending on residential care, for example, $96 million? Or can they just explain the difference between the $97 million that's contained over here and then the $46 million. So do we have -- yeah, I think I'm asking the question in such a way that makes sense, but I'm just trying to understand how much in total we're spending on sending people out of the territory for care. Is it actually those numbers cumulatively, or are they separate things?

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am going to pass that over to the ADM if that's okay to explain that math.

Okay, thank you. I'll go to the ADM.

Okay, thank you. I'll go to the Member from Frame Lake.

Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you to staff, that does help me better understand that. So the $46 million that we see on the other page is contained within the $51 million so it's not a cumulative number. Yeah, okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And that is the only question I had on this page. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Any other further questions? Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So on page 215, our facility-based addictions treatment, it looks like the number for 2023-2024 was about $5.3 million, and then last year, about $3 million was spent, and then the exact same number was estimated for this year. Is this number -- does it fluctuate based on demand, or do we just have a set amount that we can allocate to this and, you know, we can't offer any more if there's more demand for facility-based addictions treatment. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this is -- this is services that we -- so when you look at the actuals from 2023-2024 and the mains from last year, that is what was budgeted but that's not what we spent. I know that we had come back for -- we had additionally had to come back for a sup to pay for that. This is something that fluctuates. Our numbers are increasing for accessing facility-based treatment. We actually -- over the years, you know, there were calls for reducing barriers to access to treatment and so over the work, there's been a lot of work working with different ways to access treatment, reducing the barriers, going through different providers. And so there has been more of an uptake and an increase on addictions treatment, facility-based treatment.

So one of the things that we continue to see is that our -- you know, we're actually looking at how this -- how we're doing this, and -- you know, and I think the big piece is that we want to be able to provide care for those who need the specific care, but we also have to take a look on the cost. But no, we have never turned anyone away that has been referred to services so those costs continue to add to our deficit. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. I'll go to the Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So is there a particular reason to think that the number for this coming fiscal year would be around $3 million if -- at least in the last two years, it's consistently been significantly higher than that. On what basis are we estimating this year will stay at around $3 million? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. To the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, you know, we are looking at this and we have -- we are doing some work around this. And so the money that has been allocated to this, you know, we -- in order for us to know exactly what services we're going to provide and how we're going to provide them and, you know, we are looking at this program in particular, so right now, how it is is that it's just what was averaged last year. We are -- you know, that's what's going to be budgeted for this year. However, you know, we'll be -- like I said, we'll be looking at ways that we can -- with this funding and how we can support people. Not necessarily everybody does travel. You know, we've been providing more and more funding to Indigenous groups. You know, more Indigenous groups are setting up more facilities within their regions. And so those options, we are looking at utilizing and -- like, with working with -- those other programs that NIHB offers for treatment services so that, you know, there's more options out there, and those ones that are provided to First Nations and Inuit, people choose if they want to go to that, you know, then it doesn't necessarily add to the costs that we are. So we're working to look at all the different options to make sure that, you know, we're being -- trying to see what the actual costs and what the needs are. While I know that this is -- it's a topic that we all have had ongoing conversations about with facility-based treatment, there is -- we're in the process as well as -- in the RFP process, I believe right now, for renewing our contracts in the south. So thank you, Mr. Chair.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thanks to the Minister for that. That is great to hear that we are better supporting facilities or on-the-land programs closer to home that we can offer to people instead of having to go away for facility-based addictions treatment. I know for some people that might be the best thing, but for others it might not be.

I would love if we could sort of monitor this over time given that one of the priorities of the Assembly is addressing the effects of trauma and addressing addictions in better ways. So I know that it's -- a lot of these programs are offered by partners, and we don't necessarily have direct control, but out of the things that we support and fund, I would love to see some reporting and monitoring on if there's a noted upswing in people seeking options closer to home and having to rely less on southern facility-based treatments. That's all for now. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Okay, thank you. Any further questions from Members? Okay, thank you.

Continuing on to page 215, Health and Social Services, out of the territory services, operations expenditure summary, 2025-2026 Main Estimates, $97,013,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you. Moving on to supplementary health and benefits beginning on page 217. Are there any questions? I'm going to go to the Member from Frame Lake.