Julie Green

As I mentioned before, the Cabinet does support a national pharmacare program represented in this case by Bill C-213. I am not aware about what conversations have happened with the MP about this bill. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, yes.

It's my understanding that having a fully vaccinated population, or an almost fully vaccinated population, on both sides of the border would be very helpful in this situation. I am aware that Yukon has a similar number of doses available as we do with the same kind of timing and goals for vaccination, so I think that that will be useful in making the case to make free travel available between the two jurisdictions. This is a live issue. We hope to have all of our vaccine rolled out by the end of March, so I'm hoping to be able to ask the CPHO, as I mentioned, this week and have the good news...

I am very happy to have this conversation with the CPHO. My next meeting with her is this week on Wednesday, and I certainly will raise it with her at that point and find out the status of the discussions that are going on around this. I just want to highlight that what we have with Nunavut is not a bubble. If people from the NWT go to Nunavut, they have to isolate. If people come to the NWT from Nunavut, they don't have to isolate, except in very specific circumstances, so it's not a two-way, open process. What I think the people in the Delta want is a bubble, where there is free movement...

I am shocked that social workers have refused to provide service to elders who are experiencing different forms of abuse. That's certainly something that I want to follow up. There are services available now. For example, the Office of the Public Guardian is a place that elders can go to get services to protect them and their decision-making ability. That exists only in Yellowknife, but it is possible to make a call to the Office of the Public Guardian and ask them for help. We have, in Yellowknife and somewhere in the Deh Cho, adult social workers. Social workers perform a variety of...

As I mentioned, the NWT Seniors' Society is the lead on the Network to Prevent the Abuse of Older Adults, and they offer a number of workshops called Creating Safer Communities for Older Adults throughout the NWT. The community of Fort Providence invited the NWT Seniors' Society to present this workshop in September of 2020. The workshop was attended by five elders, I'm told; a home support worker; a justice worker; and the elder coordinator. Both the chief and the RCMP also attended part of the workshop. What they tried to do in these workshops is emerge with a plan for how they are going to...

This area has not received the attention it deserves, primarily because it has coincided with the pandemic, and federal and territorial resources have been focused on that. However, the Member may recall that, in October 2020, the federal Speech from the Throne invited provinces and territories to participate in federal, provincial, and territorial discussions on a national strategy for high-cost drugs for rare diseases, and in fact, the NWT has been participating in that dialogue. There is a public engagement going on now on high-cost drugs for rare diseases, and it continues until March 26th...

This legislation, if it does, in fact, pass through the House of Commons this week, represents a real game-changer toward prescription medications for people in the NWT. Only about 50 percent of our population has pharmacy and medication coverage, so this would take in a lot of people who are currently left out. However, there is a lot of fine print that needs to be negotiated between the federal government and the provincial and territorial governments. Obviously, pharmacare would be a national initiative but implemented by provinces and territories, so there is a lot of detail that needs to...

I am looking forward to the Member inviting me to drive down the Dempster to Whitehorse. I've never had the pleasure of doing that. The thing about travel restrictions is that we can only control our own border. The Yukon can put whatever conditions in place they feel they need. We put our conditions in place to meet our own circumstances. It's not as easy as just throwing the border open and saying, "Look, it's all going to be good." The Yukon needs to decide that it is good for them. I recognize the Member's passion for this, that she would like this corridor to open as soon as possible. I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's an interesting idea, and I understand the intent there, to sort of have what they are now calling a "circuit breaker" so that, if somebody has had a slip, rather than going back into a full 28-day treatment program, there would be a shorter and more immediate intervention. That is something that I would certainly be interested in talking to the Member about. Thank you.