Nunavut non-Inuit health travel rules clear as mud
Family gets no answer on cost of travel
Tammy and Jason Evans of Kugluktuk, shown here with their two children, say getting information about non-beneficiary medical travel from the Government of Nunavut is like pulling teeth. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)
The day before Tammy Horn Evans, 34, was scheduled to fly out of Kugluktuk to Yellowknife, with her two-year-old son, Garrett, who was on his way to surgery in Vancouver, she still had no idea how much money the ticket to Yellowknife would cost her.
On Nov. 9 Evans still did not know if she would have to pay a full-fare ticket for herself to take Garrett out or whether she, as his escort, would pay only $250 for Yellowknife portion of the journey.
Prior to this trip, because Garrett was under two, Evans had been able to fly with him, either on a full-fare, Aeroplan, or $250 ticket, because he shared her seat.
But each time, she said the question about her official status as an escort was unclear.
For this latest trip, Evans’ husband, Jason, and her new baby also had to fly out on a personally-paid ticket because Evans is still breastfeeding her other child, a three-month-old boy.
Evans was born and raised in Kugluktuk where her parents, Irene and Kerry Horn run the Coppermine Inn.
She says the Government of Nunavut’s health travel policy should cover long-term non-Inuit residents like her — or, at the very least, provide clear and easy-to-access information to non-beneficiary residents who have no extra health insurance.
When she tried to get information from the GN’s health department, Evans said she received several conflicting answers.
Yet the GN is the government responsible for patient medical travel, Leona Aglukkaq, the federal health minister, said in a recent letter to the daughter of Rev. Mike Gardener.
After a chain of miscommunications with the health department, the retired minister, who has lived on Baffin Island for more than 50 years, learned this past September that he would have to leave the Larga Baffin patient residence in Ottawa and pay thousands of dollars for time spent there as an escort for his ailing wife.
Gardener’s family heard from Aglukkaq nearly two months after Susan Gardener and Pat Angnakak, Gardener’s daughters, wrote to Aglukkaq about their father’s plight.
Aglukkaq’s Nov. 12 letter, obtained by the Nunatsiaq News is addressed to “Ms. Agnokak.”
In her letter to “Ms. Agnokak,” Aglukkaq says she is “sorry to hear of your family’s hardship.”
“Travelling out of one’s home community can present many difficulties,” Aglukkaq writes. “I am very pleased to hear that your particular situation has been addressed by territorial authorities.”
Aglukkaq says the policy for approving client escorts was tabled in the Nunavut legislature two years ago. That was when Aglukkaq still served as the Nunavut health minister.
Since this policy falls under the GN, Aglukkaq says she sent a copy of her letter to the Nunavut premier, health minister and deputy health minister.
But, as Tammy Evans found out, clarification of the GN’s policies for escorts, particularly as they apply to non-beneficiaries living in Nunavut, can be impossible to get.
Repeated requests by the Nunatsiaq News for an interview about medical patient travel for non-beneficiaries have not yet been answered with a scheduled interview.
The latest request for an interview was to obtain information that could provide clarification about how much money Evans would have to spend on an airline ticket as a non-beneficiary escort for her son.
(15) Comments:
The GN is all about filling job slots NOT providing services.
What kind of idiots are running this place? Where’s the accountability? Who’s responsible for providing this information? The current health Minister and DM should be forced to wear dunce caps until this is resolved. I’d say someone should be fired for incompetance, but they would just be replaced by another incompetant.
I feel terrible for the Evans and everyone else that goes through this. When your government cant answer a simple question about the health services they provide something has gone horribly wrong.
This sounds so strange its almost unbelievable. The people in this story want a straight answer to a straight question and it’s all muddled and confused. I’ve heard the term Kafkaesque before and I think it applies here.
Very, very bizarre.
Why are we being shown all the GN’s Health department’s woes for? not everyone is non-inuit, I don’t want to know how the non Inuit get by, we, as Inuit have enough problems without having to worry about other non Inuit health travel. If they can speak and read English, they can do it by themselves. Talk to them, tell them, dont tell us, we dont want to know.
Tukiqajaa is an idiot.
I think permanent non-Inuit and long term non-Inuit living in Nunavut should have the same medical care, we need to work together anyway!
tukiqajaa (m.allurut) - I am saddend that you feel this way. You do realize they are called the “Government of Nunavut” not the “Government of Inuit Beneficiaries”. They are here to support all Nunavummiut. What really makes me sad m.allurut is that you may end up passing this view onto children.
Well, the issue here is not whether I saddened you or not, or whether I will pass on this view to children, the issue here is Health travel for Non Inuit living in Nunavut. being a regular person there is nothing I can do to help non -Inuit, it is the Government of Nunavut operation they are talking about, I am merely passing on what I was told by GN staff member that if I can read and write English, I do not need their help that I can do it on my own. I agree they are Government of Nunavut not Government of Inuit.
You state “I am merely passing on what I was told by GN staff member that if I can read and write English, I do not need their help that I can do it on my own”
The GN staff person you reference is lazy and ignorant. Lazy becasue they are trying to get out of doing their job and ignorant because they do not understand that information is not available for people to read in order ot understand and do it themselves.
m.allurut: notSurprised hit the nail right on the head. That GN person you refered to is a large part of the problem. No accountability and shear laziness runs rampant within the GN, on all levels, but it seems especially prevelant in HS&S (please know that I do not think this applies to all GN employees, it doesn’t). When you call HS&S, someone should not only answer (at the very least) but they should be able to answer questions such as the one posed in this article.
I am not sure but I think, the non Inuit can get their money back by filing their income tax return as there is a provision in the Northern Residence Deduction form for medical travel and they can claim that.
I have a neice who is breast feeding her 1 1/2 yr old son, the GN health department refused her when she requested to take her son along when she went out for her medical, and her son does not take any other formula but the natural milk, so he had to stay behind with his grandmother and the poor boy did not have any milk until his mother got back from her medical travel, that’s 3 days that he was denied natural milk from his mother because of the GN’s policies. What is going on with the GN medical travel?
Yes, I fully agree that the Government needs to pass a name change to,” Government of Inuit Beneficiaries” that says it all then we wouldn’t have to have these needless forums where nothing ever changes and people get more angry by the moment. As for sending escorts the way I see if many Inuit don’t even speak their own language and converse very well in English to their medical practioners
in the South. This whole escort thing has to be revamped.With all the missing children in the world why would Medical travel say that 17 year old can travel by herself and able to rent a room in a hotel.That is not only stupid but also very irresponsible. When she goes missing and sexually assaulted and left for dead will your government be taking responsibility for that. With all the news about medical travel who qualifies and who doesn’t perhaps your government should rectify this problem or perhaps we need to governments one for beneficiaries and one for non beneficiaries.
Please note that as a non Inuit you CAN NOT get your money back by filing it with your income taxes… due to being an insufficient amount for travel only one to two times a year. The medical system will tell you that you can but really you can’t. I know this because I have tried.
This is the problem when the criteria for filling job positions is being a beneficiary of the NLCA, rather than being properly qualified.