Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Minister, chiefs from four remote nations in northeastern Manitoba are calling for the federal and provincial governments to come together to build a local hospital. The Island Lake region chiefs have said their communities are in great need of proper infrastructure. These communities currently rely on nursing stations that can only provide limited treatments.

Chief Charles Knott said, “I think it’s time the government come visit our community to see firsthand what we go through every day.”

And Grand Chief Scott Harper said:

We have been negotiating with Canada for decades to fund our hospital and related facilities while our members keep dying from preventable deaths.

Minister, I know this is near and dear to your heart. You live close to these communities. The riding that you represent is not that far away. Have you visited these communities, minister? What are you doing to ensure that the people in these remote communities get the health care they deserve?

Hon. Patty Hajdu, P.C., M.P., Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario: Thank you very much. I don’t know if I visited those specific communities but I was in Tataskweyak about a month ago; I am visiting God’s Lake, Manitoba, tomorrow. I have visited some remote communities and I am aware of the challenges remote communities face in terms of accessing health care.

I will say this: The provinces and territories who are funded to provide health care must be partners in this work. Of course, the federal government funds, for example, community nursing stations that provide emergency or urgent care as well as preventative care. However, as you know, the federal government doesn’t provide health care and relies on provinces to be supportive partners. I will point to Saskatchewan and Whitecap Dakota First Nation, where a clinic that is fully funded by the Saskatchewan government exists on that First Nation, where they deliver primary care services not just to residents of Whitecap but also to some of the farmers around the community. That is astounding. We need more of that. We need more communities, municipalities, provinces and territories to realize that we will all benefit when we work together and ensure that every citizen of this country, no matter who they are or what their status is, has a right to, and will do better with, equal access to services.

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