Caroline Cochrane

There has been no direction that I know of that has said all government departments shall work together to the front-line service workers, but we have given that expectation to deputy ministers across. That's why we have deputy ministers' working committees, as well. Does it get down to the front-line person? That's a concern. People have job descriptions, and I know that most government workers do really care, and they do go above and beyond. It's not in the job descriptions, but I do hope that, when people see obstacles, for example, if they're looking at income support and there's an...

I am sure that departments would love to be able to take the pen and write it out and say, "This is what it shall be." However, again, I have stated earlier that that, in my opinion, would not be appropriate to do. I have heard from the first meeting with the modern treaties that they wanted to go through each article individually to define that. That may take time, Mr. Speaker, but out of respect, it is their process. This is United Nations Declaration for Indigenous Peoples is for Indigenous people, and they have asked me to hold back and go through each article. There are articles about...

Absolutely. Like I said earlier, there will be two groups of Indigenous governments, one with all of the Indigenous governments and one with the modern treaty Indigenous governments. We also are forming a GNWT working group that will encompass these departments, so that work is beginning, as well.

The purpose of the Legislative Assembly is to develop legislation. However, the purpose of the Legislative Assembly is also to oversee programs and services throughout the government. It's bigger than just legislation.

I know that the honourable Member would love to have the legislation proposal now and get it done in this government. I would love to have this done. However, I feel, respectfully, Mr. Speaker, that that is a little bit colonistic in its statement. I have a commitment that I will work with the Indigenous governments. They shall define the process; they shall define the timing. I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, within the mandate, we did have timelines for this work. However, I learned quite quickly, being the Premier, that it is not appropriate for this government to push our agenda onto Indigenous governments. They backed me up quite quickly. What I can say, though, is that we have initial meetings. We are agreeing to meet after session is over again. We have had an initial meeting. There were questions that came up. Some of the Indigenous governments quoted article 37, which states that the concluded agreements and treaties must be honoured and respected. Within that...

Since that's the CPHO's office, I would redirect that to the Minister of Health and Social Services. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

During the process of doing the draft Emerging Stronger Plan, one of the first things that we did was look across the jurisdictions across Canada to see what they had done. Not all jurisdictions have plan. In fact, some jurisdictions are saying they are not doing plans. Some of them that did the plans earlier are now saying that they need to revisit them because they were done a little bit early. I mean, I don't think the timing is bad, like I said earlier in my first answer. We haven't forgotten the economy. We haven't forgotten people. In fact, it's made our services stronger over this last...

I believe this question would best be directed to the Minister of ENR. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take a minute to recognize guests in the House and the media. We often talk about the importance of businesses and residents and NGOs and the government in the COVID-19 pandemic, and we don't give enough recognition to the media. A huge thank you to the media for all the work they do to support us. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document: "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 391-19(2): COVID-19 Border and Travel Restrictions." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.