The federal government has signed the first in a planned series of seven-year health-care funding agreements with provinces and territories, striking an initial $51.2-million deal with the Northwest Territories.
The announcement, made Monday in Ottawa, marks the start of negotiations Ottawa is pursuing with every province and territory to extend health funding arrangements that originated in 2023. Lucy Kuptana, the territory’s interim minister of health and social services, said the investments are meant to help northerners access culturally safe health and social services closer to home.
Infrastructure Dollars for 16 Projects
Beyond the core funding, the two governments have earmarked more than $100 million for infrastructure — up to $70.2 million from Ottawa’s Build Communities Strong Fund and $23.4 million from the territorial government. That money will go toward building or upgrading health facilities in 12 communities, funding 16 projects in total. Kuptana said the projects will improve group homes and health and social services centres, and upgrade infection control measures.
The agreement also includes a four-year action plan targeting primary care, health workforce expansion, and mental wellness and suicide prevention services in the territory.
Part of a Larger Federal Health Push
The deal follows a 2023 federal pledge of $200 billion over 10 years aimed at improving primary care access, cutting wait times, and strengthening mental health and substance-use services across Canada. The original three-year agreements under that pledge have since expired, prompting Ottawa to negotiate extensions with each jurisdiction.
Federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel said the agreements have improved access to procedures such as hip and knee surgeries, while acknowledging that covering patients’ travel costs for care unavailable in the North remains a long-standing issue. She said increasing the availability of services within the North itself would address that gap. The Northwest Territories said staffing vacancies in its health system have fallen by one-third since the original 10-year deal was signed.
Concerns Over a Separate Funding Deadline
Separately, provincial and territorial health ministers have raised alarms about the looming expiry of a $4.8-billion funding package announced in 2023 for mental health, addictions and home and community care, which is set to end in March 2027. Manitoba Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara described the situation as a “looming fiscal cliff” that could bring “devastating consequences” for health systems, warning that failing to renew the funding would amount to the largest cut to health care in a generation.
Kuptana said that while Monday’s agreement includes money for mental health and wellness programming, it remains insufficient given that the Northwest Territories must serve 33 communities, most of them rural and remote. She pointed to an ongoing addictions crisis and the absence of any in-patient addictions treatment services in the North, saying it is essential to provide support locally to people returning from treatment received elsewhere.
Following an emergency meeting last week on the funding question, health ministers from across the country said they intend to raise the matter with Michel and Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne ahead of the federal budget expected this fall. Provincial and territorial health ministers are scheduled to meet with Michel in Winnipeg later in October.
This article references reporting from:
