Julie Green

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for the question. As far as I know, the CPHO is not planning to re-release the Emerging Wisely Plan. I appreciate that the Member and the public want certainty about what's going to happen in 2021, but unfortunately, we're not in a position to provide that. Much of what is driving our response is happening outside of Canada, outside of the NWT. We know there are new infectious variants that are circulating. We don't have a lot of information about the vaccine potential to stop transmission. That is still being studied. We know that hospitals in the South...

What the Chief Public Health Officer has said is that, with the number of cases active in the South at this time and with the low rates of vaccination forecasted in this House relative to the entire population, it's more likely that there will be a relaxation of measures within the Northwest Territories rather than opening our borders. Specifically, she has talked about increasing gathering sizes. Those things are possible once the vaccination has been widely distributed in the Northwest Territories. I think it's worth pointing out that many of the items that were to occur in phase 3 have, in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for the question. It is my understanding that we are still going to be able to vaccinate everyone by the end of March, but the composition of the shipments is going to change with less vaccine in February and more in March. At this time, we believe that everyone will be vaccinated within the 42-day limit, and if that is not the case, we will certainly communicate that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following 10 documents: "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 351-19(2): Addictions Treatment Services;" "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 406-19(2): Truth and Reconciliation Commission Call to Action Regarding Treatment Centres;" "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 407-19(2): Self-Isolation Exemptions;" "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 414-19(2): Stanton Territorial Sterilization of Equipment;" "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 415-19(2): Zoonotics;" "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 427-19(2): Addictions, "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. We know that family violence continues to be a serious issue. The Northwest Territories consistently records among the highest rates of violence against women in Canada, as reported by Statistics Canada. Two women have been murdered in the last two months. This violence is as heartbreaking as it is unacceptable. As a territory, we need to do better.

This month is Family Violence Prevention Month in the Northwest Territories. Let us take time to focus on promoting a change in attitudes and behaviours about violence against women and the harm that comes with it. The...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My general comment is: I would like to express appreciation to the committee for undertaking this work. We do not know when we will need it, but what we have here is a very comprehensive road map of what a virtual sitting could look like. No doubt, there are things that we have not considered, but I thank the committee for getting us off to a good start. Thank you.

The problem with rapid testing is that it really doesn't work if you only do it once. There is a period of time over which somebody could become infectious, have symptoms, have a fever, so you can't really do one test and say, "Okay. That's good. You don't have any COVID." It's usually a series during the 14-day isolation period. I know that what they're doing now with essential health workers is a test right when they come in to see that they're well, and then they're asking them to really self-isolate except for those times that they are at work. There is a model to follow there that may be...

With respect to the road to the mines, it's a private road, and there is a dispatch office in the industrial area of Yellowknife that truckers go to to be dispatched. They leave at specific time intervals a numbers of trucks at a time. That would continue. It's a private road, so they would continue doing that. They have security on that road. I know that they are vigilant about the speed limit and how many hours the driver has been on the road and so on and so forth. For the rest of the territory, I think that the enforcement would be maintained through the current border controls that are in...

These different domains speak to a whole-of-government approach. For example, impaired driving countermeasures would involve the Department of Justice; marketing and advertising controls would probably involve the Department of Finance, where the liquor commission is housed there; pricing and taxation and the physical availability of alcohol are also Department of Finance issues; Justice may take on the minimum legal drinking age, which is another recommendation in this set of issues to look at. It's going to be important for the department of health, as the lead on this, to bring all these...

I see engagement as a real issue even if there was no COVID. The difficult thing will be to find people with lived experience to participate in the engagement to talk about what will or could have helped them at some point in their journey. I don't have the details of how that engagement strategy is going to work, but I do recognize that hearing from people with lived experience would be a very valuable part of it.