Evidence

Sources and method

Every substantive claim on this site points here, with the date it was checked.

Three kinds of content

Case narrative. Leona’s story, including dialogue. Its status is stated below.
Original research. The team’s own audit, with its sample, date, method and limits.
Official guidance. Summaries of Indigenous Services Canada pages, each linked with the page’s own modified date and the date it was checked.

Being eligible for NIHB is not the same as getting a particular service or medication. The site keeps those two things separate throughout.

Case status

Case status The team has not yet confirmed whether this case is real, composite or illustrative.

Leona’s exact residential address is not published. Her location is given as Brampton, in the Peel region. Representation review by an appropriate Indigenous advisor: pending.

Changes from the team’s outline (9) · preview only

Meet Leona Exact residential address removed (brief: keep geography at Brampton/Peel). Spelling: “Manitoulin”, “M’Chigeeng First Nation”.
Meet Leona The outline’s quotation (“limited range…”, “crisis intervention…”) does not appear on the current ISC page. Rewritten from the page as modified 22 Sep 2026.
Meet Leona The outline cited M’Chigeeng’s 2005 policy. The current federal framework (labelled Interim, modified 1 Dec 2022) has the same objective wording and is cited first.
At the counter The outline said NIHB “pays only for drugs on its Drug Benefit List” and that “some exception drugs are not on the list”. Reworded: exception products are by definition off the list and can still be approved (brief: don’t repeat “covers only listed drugs”). The claim that every claim is checked in real time at the counter was removed; the guide states point-of-sale adjudication for specific drug classes.
At the counter “in Ottawa” removed: only an undated legacy page states the Centre’s location.
At the counter The outline said the pharmacy “can’t give her an emergency supply”. Reworded so a reimbursement rule is not presented as a ban on dispensing (brief).
At the counter Criteria rewritten from s. 2.4; the guide does not say all of them must be shown. The emergency-supply rule is framed as a claim condition (s. 3.7).
At the counter The outline’s next sentence, that the newer migraine drugs NIHB covers “are all for preventing migraines”, was removed (brief: avoid the broad newer-drugs claim).
At the counter The outline predicted an appeal was unlikely to succeed and named her “fastest option”. Both removed (brief: no predicted appeal outcomes or fastest-option claims).

Audit method and limitations

Original research Unverified draft finding

5 of 14 pharmacies reported being unfamiliar with NIHB when called.

Figure withheld until the dataset is approved

The 14-symbol figure appears only once the call log, dates and question wording are supplied and approved. The draft numbers are shown as text above, labelled unverified.

Who was called: Pharmacies listed on the Ontario College of Pharmacists (OCP) website for Leona’s postal code area (L6T).
How: Telephone calls to each listed pharmacy (per outline). Protocol not yet supplied.
Question asked: Not yet supplied
When: Not yet supplied
Dataset: Not yet supplied

Limitations

One postal area. The result describes these 14 pharmacies, not Brampton, Peel, Ontario or Canada.
Fourteen calls is a small sample; it supports description, not statistical inference.
Each answer came from whoever picked up the phone at one moment. It is not a measure of a pharmacy’s enrolment with NIHB or of every staff member’s knowledge.
Being familiar with NIHB does not show that a pharmacy bills it directly, that a given medication is covered, that it is in stock, or that approval will be granted.
The sampling frame is the OCP listing on the search date; listings can be incomplete or change.

Data Supply the call log (CSV), call dates, exact question wording, who called, number of attempts and how “no idea” was coded.

Data Confirm whether the OCP search used the full postal code or the L6T area.

Data The map layer “NIHB-Supported Pharmacies” has 9 records. Confirm what “supported” means (reported familiar? confirmed direct billing?) and supply response fields for all 14.

Family practice audit

The number of practices is blank in the outline, so this result is omitted. Supply the denominator, dates and method to include it.

References

Official guidance
About the Non-Insured Health Benefits program · Indigenous Services Canada
www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1576790320164/1576790364553
Page modified 22 Sep 2026 · checked 30 Oct 2026 · team review pending
Program purpose, benefit areas, and provider direct billing versus client reimbursement. Cited as source 1 in the outline.
Back to Leona’s story
Official guidance
NIHB Pharmacy Benefits Guide · Indigenous Services Canada
www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1576430557687/1576430636766
Page modified 7 Oct 2026 · checked 30 Oct 2026 · team review pending
Drug Benefit List, exception products, prior approval, emergency supply (s. 3.7) and appeals (s. 5.3). Cited as source 3 in the outline (isc.gc.ca address).
Back to Leona’s story
Official guidance
NIHB pharmacy benefits · Indigenous Services Canada
isc.gc.ca/eng/1574784515492/1574784549876
Page modified 7 Oct 2025 · checked 30 Oct 2026 · team review pending
Overview of pharmacy coverage categories; links to the Drug Benefit List.
Back to Leona’s story
Official guidance
Eligibility for the NIHB program · Indigenous Services Canada
www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1574187596083/1576511384063
Page modified 28 May 2026 · checked 30 Oct 2026 · team review pending
Who is eligible. Used to avoid implying that every Indigenous person is covered.
Back to Leona’s story
Official guidance
NIHB Drug Benefit List (live lookup) · NIHB program, administered by Express Scripts Canada
nihb-ssna.express-scripts.ca/en/040212
Page modified not recorded · checked not recorded · team review pending
Could not be read by the build on 30 Oct 2026 (the site rejects non-standard browsers). A team member must check the rimegepant (Nurtec ODT) entry by hand and record the date.
Back to Leona’s story
Official guidance
NIHB appeals · Indigenous Services Canada
www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1579792696583/1579792732972
Page modified not recorded · checked 30 Oct 2026 · team review pending
Three appeal levels; who may appeal. No modified date was visible when checked.
Back to Leona’s story
Official guidance
NIHB Medical Transportation Policy Framework (Interim) · Indigenous Services Canada
www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1579891130443/1579891286837
Page modified 1 Dec 2022 · checked 30 Oct 2026 · team review pending
Current framework. Its objective statement matches the 2005 community policy wording quoted in the outline almost word for word.
Back to Leona’s story
Cited in outline (legacy)
Medical Transportation Policy (2005) · M’Chigeeng First Nation
mchigeeng.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/medical_transportation_policy_2005.pdf
Page modified not recorded · checked not recorded · team review pending
Cited as source 2 in the outline. Kept for transparency; the site cites the current federal framework for policy wording.
Back to Leona’s story
Original research
Pharmacy telephone audit, L6T postal area · Project team (original research)
Page modified not recorded · checked not recorded · team review pending
Dataset, call dates, question wording and protocol to be supplied. See the method section on this page.
Back to Leona’s story
Project map
Brampton NIHB Access (ArcGIS web map) · Project team, hosted in TMU’s ArcGIS Online organisation
arcg.is/0CuvPu1
Page modified 30 Oct 2026 · checked 30 Oct 2026 · team review pending
Public web map. Layers seen on 30 Oct 2026: NIHB-Supported Pharmacies (9 records), Case Locations, Surveyed Physicians, Closest Pharmacy (hidden by default).
Back to Leona’s story

Authorship and corrections

Project attribution: pending team approval.

Found an error? Correction contact: pending.

Official sources last checked 30 Oct 2026.

Release readiness (preview only)

Release builds refuse to run until every required item is done (npm run validate:content). Passing these checks shows the content is complete and approved, not that it is correct; that is the reviewers’ job.

Item	Status	Owner	Detail
Case status set (real with consent, composite or illustrative)	✗ Needed	Team	caseProfile.status is "pending".
Representation reviewed by an appropriate Indigenous advisor	✗ Needed	Indigenous advisor	No reviewer recorded.
Case narrative, profile and captions approved	✗ Needed	Content lead	28 narrative blocks, 11 profile items, 8 diagram captions and 19 presentation points not approved.
Official-guidance summaries approved by a clinical-policy reviewer	✗ Needed	Clinical-policy reviewer	5 of 5 required policy summaries not approved.
No unverified claims (e.g. Nurtec listing on the Drug Benefit List)	✗ Needed	Clinical-policy reviewer	Unverified: ct-nurtec-listing.
Pharmacy audit approved with date, method, question wording and dataset	✗ Needed	Data lead	status unverified; no contact date; no question wording; no dataset
Clinic audit supplied with its denominator, or explicitly omitted	✓ Done	Data lead	Omitted from the site (denominator missing).
Pharmacy list approved and matching the map	✗ Needed	Data lead	9 records; 9 not approved. Audit response fields not yet supplied.
Public map no longer shows Leona’s exact residence	✗ Needed	Map owner	The ArcGIS “Case Locations” layer had a visible point titled “Leona’s Apartment” on 30 Oct 2026.
Map embed tested signed out, or embed disabled	✗ Needed	Map owner	embedStatus is "untested". The build environment could not reach ArcGIS to test framing.
Patient guide image, alt text, PDF, HTML text, version and review date	✗ Needed	Team	Infographic not supplied.
Proposed changes approved	✗ Needed	Content lead	3 of 3 proposals not approved.
Official sources reviewed by the team with dates	✗ Needed	Content lead	7 of 7 official sources without a team review date.
Project attribution and team credits	✗ Needed	Team	siteConfig.team is empty.
Correction contact	✗ Needed	Team	siteConfig.team.correctionContact is empty.
Domain owned, HTTPS working and /go redirects tested	✓ Done	Team	https://coveredonpaper.com not yet confirmed. Production QR codes are not generated until it is.
Course rubric supplied (to map project elements) (optional)	✗ Needed	Team	Optional. Without it the site lists project elements but claims no rubric compliance.