Senator Gold, I want to highlight the chronic underfunding of the Non-Insured Health Benefits Program, or NIHB, under Indigenous Services Canada. This federal program provides vital services to Inuit, including dental and vision care, medical supplies, prescription drugs, mental health counselling and medical travel.

Nunavut, made up of 25 fly-in-only communities, faces some of the highest health care costs in the country, averaging $27,000 per person. This is three times the national average. We also face elevated health risks due to systemic inequities, including a housing crisis and food insecurity.

Over the past 11 years, the Government of Nunavut has subsidized over $419 million in Non-Insured Health Benefits and medical costs due to insufficient medical support. Nunavut’s Minister of Health has emphasized that Nunavut cannot continue to do so. What concrete steps is the Government of Canada taking to close this —

Thank you for your question. Thank you for underlining this, one among too many gaps in services provided to Nunavut citizens, residents and, indeed, the North.

Thank you also for joining us in the Senate. Your voice and experience as a parliamentarian representing your communities, especially and uniquely the smaller communities outside of Iqaluit, will be a very important addition to our learning and understanding.

I will certainly raise this, as I know you will — I encourage you to do so — with the relevant minister at every opportunity.

Thank you. Building on that, the Inuit Child First Initiative, or ICFI, supports access to healthy foods and other services that improve our health outcomes. Given that the ICFI has an end date, how is the Government of Canada ensuring that its approach to Non-Insured Health Benefits does not further contribute to the already magnified social inequities faced by our community?

I’m not in a position to comment on plans beyond the timeline to which you refer, but I will certainly add that to my remarks and interventions with the minister.