Parents now officially allowed on Quebec air ambulance flights

Challenger planes used to evacuate children from communities in northern Quebec now have an extra seat for parents or guardians, four months after the government announced it would change its stance on the practice of transporting children alone.

Before, the jet used for medical evacuations wasn't set up to take passengers who weren't medical personnel. As a result, some children made the trip to hospitals in Montreal and Quebec City unaccompanied.

Parents and guardians had to take commercial flights, which were paid for by the government.

Nathalie Boulanger, the interim director at the Ungava Tulattavik Health Centre, says the extra space for parents has been necessary for decades.

"It's really hard to see little children that do not speak any French or English having to be separated from their parental figure and handed over to people they absolutely don't know," Boulanger said.

The announcement comes a week after Health Minister Gaétan Barrette said parents could still be barred from accompanying their children on a medevac flight if they were under the influence.

Many Indigenous leaders took issue with the statement, saying that it implied parents in the north are often drunk or high and perpetuated racist stereotypes.

He later said he was sorry if people "misunderstood" the remarks he made as racist.

Barrette was not available to comment Friday.

The policy change that led to the airplane upgrade came about after an outcry from Canadian pediatricians.

Planes are the only way for people in Nunavik's 14 communities to access emergency care.

In 2016, a total of 146 children were transported from the Cree Territory of James Bay to the Montreal Children's Hospital, while 146 were transported from Nunavik.

Others are taken to Sainte-Justine Hospital or to hospitals in Quebec City.

It's unclear exactly how many of those were flown without a family member, but the number is considerable, the doctors say.