The federal government and the GNWT have reached an agreement to boost health care funding in the territory over the next 10 years.
The deal will see GNWT receive $361 million dollars in federal funding over the next 10 years, along with an additional $73 million that will go toward specific health care concerns. The NWT already stood to receive an immediate top-up of $2 million in the Canada Health Transfer (CHT) for the 2023-24 fiscal year, along with a five per cent increase per year for the next five years.
Health and Social Services Minister Julie Green indicated back in February that the CHT top-up would be put toward hospital services.
There was also the announcement of $350 million over 10 years for the Territorial Health Investment Fund with $100 million of that going to the NWT over that time.
Negotiations for a new national health care deal began this past February, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first presented to the country’s premiers a plan to spend $200 billion over the next 10 years. A total of $46.2 billion of that was announced as new money.
In accepting the deal, the NWT has committed to setting up a three-year plan to improve health care delivery across the territory. One of the items will be supporting the federal government’s work in streamlining foreign credential recognition for internationally-educated health professionals. The NWT will also commit to ‘an integrated, inclusive approach to investments in family health teams, health workers, and data and digital tools that will help to meet the health and mental health needs of Canadians’, according to a press release issued on Thursday.
The GNWT has also promised to provide care based on the Canada Health Act, and not on an individual’s ability to pay.
“The commitment to health care in the Northwest Territories is crucial for addressing the unique challenges faced by all residents,” stated Green in the release. “Through this agreement in principle, we are working towards a more sustainable health care system and ensuring that all residents have equal opportunities for support and well-being, regardless of their location.”
Yukon signed on to its deal around the same time the NWT did on Thursday, while Nunavut put pen to paper on its deal early Thursday afternoon. Quebec is now the only jurisdiction in the country which did not have a health funding deal with the federal government as of Thursday afternoon.