Health committee  I cannot tell about one-stop shop, as you suggest, but what I can say is that we have seen the benefit of greater alignment when it comes to formulary management.

Health committee  There are a number of places where there is collaboration. I think my colleague from Veterans Affairs was mentioning, just a couple of minutes ago, the work around negotiating a product listing agreement. In fact, we also do that now with provincial and territorial partners. This is a horizontal process.

Health committee  I have to say that the listing decisions that are being made by various plans, whether they are private or public in Canada, create pressure on other plans to move. Greater alignment and collaboration among the plans has already proven to be more effective. I think it helps to improve the service to clients, because they can anticipate what service will be available and get some alignment between coverage.

Health committee  One minute...?

Health committee  I apologize.

Health committee  It's all right.

Health committee  Good morning, Mr. Chair, and members of the committee. I'm pleased to address the Standing Committee on Health as the senior assistant deputy minister of the first nations and Inuit health branch at Health Canada. This is my first appearance before your committee. I am thrilled to have this very productive discussion with you, and I look forward to building a good working relationship with all of you.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I cannot comment on that. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of the structure of how the funding is flowing between the agency and the recipients in the Northwest Territories.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  In terms of access to mental health services, I believe you refer to the mental services under the non-insured health benefit. Every individual who is a first nation or Inuit person has access to coverage for a certain number of sessions every year—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  If I can answer this one, we don't track denials, because under this program everybody is eligible—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  But the service is coming from private providers. We don't necessarily have a tracking of whether people have asked for these sessions or have seen the providers; we confirm that we will be covering the cost.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's too early in B.C. to measure the health outcome, because the transfer occurred in 2013, operationally. However, we have seen evidence from self-governing arrangements in other parts of the country where increased control has led to better results.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  This is an interesting question. I cannot answer for Health Canada as a whole, but in our branch there are 2,400 employees across the country. I think our rate is around 26%. We have an objective to reach around 30% in the next four years.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I don't have that ratio. We have an aboriginal management development program to increase the number of indigenous people in the executive level.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There are a number of specialized programs, but in the health sector several universities or colleges have identified this as one of the segments of the population they want to bring in. We have a program, the aboriginal health human resources initiative, that provides $3 million a year in bursaries through the Indspire Foundation.