Starting now, pregnant Indigenous women in Nunavut travelling out of their communities to give birth won't have to go alone. Earlier this week, Health Canada announced it would be making changes to the Non-Insured Health Benefits (NIHB) for Inuit and First Nations to fund non-medical escorts for pregnant Indigenous women. Ron Wassink of the Nunavut Health Department said in an email that changes to the territory's non-medical escort policy will be effective immediately. In Nunavut, women were often forced to travel hundreds of kilometres to deliver their babies without the support of their partners or family. The Yukon government is also looking into how the change will affect Indigenous women there.

Source: CBC News April 12, 2017 18:33 UTC