Julie Green

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, many NWT residents are living with some form of disability. They are our neighbors, coworkers, family members, leaders, and friends. We are grateful for the contributions that persons with disabilities make in the territory. For this reason, we continue to advance work to ensure all residents are able to participate fully in all communities, without barriers.

National AccessAbility Week runs until June 5th this year. It is the week where we celebrate the contributions of persons with disabilities and recognize the important work being done to remove barriers...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can't imagine really what it would be like to come in from Ulukhaktok and have to go through to Edmonton for an appointment. The culture change would be very extreme.

I'm not aware of the issue that the Member is speaking of, a number of cancelled appointments and the need to rebook them. So I will commit to finding out more about that and responding to him. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I recognize that medical travel can be a stressful time for the patients themselves and for their family members as well. What we did agree to in the budget negotiations is a patient navigator for each region of the NWT.

And so it's my expectation that when we're creating the job description for this new position, that it will include travel navigation and have special attention on people who are doing medical travel. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I look forward to having this program in place for the benefit of people throughout the NWT but particularly those who are travelling from remote locations. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know the Member would like to hear "tomorrow", but the fact is this is a brand new program with brand new positions, and so the department is developing that program and job descriptions and so on. And those will be part of the next business planning process, although the money is already dedicated to the positions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's my understanding that the CPHO is working on a travel exemption which would provide access to the Yukon that would be not time limited. I'm not aware of any work being done on a timelimited option. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I hear the Member's desire to have more social activity in his community, and I appreciate that people are feeling cooped up, and they're ready to move on from this experience.

I can certainly ask the department if there is someone there or somebody in the health authority who can reach out to the SAO and go over what the possibilities are for funding in the area that the Member has indicated. So I'll make sure that that happens. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.Speaker. Mr. Speaker, under the Public Health Act, the Chief public health officer has the authority to make recommendations to me about travel, and they are then written into public health orders and enforced at this point by the COVID Secretariat. So it's a process that begins with the Chief Public Health Officer and ends up with me signing off.

The issue about the travel exemption with the Yukon doesn't have to do with risk assessment. It has to do with verification of people being vaccinated. So the Yukon and BC have a common medical record system, but ours is different than...

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when the Member for Nunakput previously asked for a mental health team to go to his community, it went to his community in the last week of March, the last week that we were sitting prior to this sitting. So, certainly, the department is able to provide inperson mental health supports.

I'm not sure if they can do that again. It's something that I can request. I can say in the meantime, as long as people have a phone, they can get telephone counselling, which is not the same as persontoperson but is better than nothing by a long shot. You still have a...

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the fact is we're not locked down here. Members of this House have travelled during the time that nonessential travel has not been recommended.

Just for your information, 48,183 selfisolation plans have been approved. So it's not really true to say that people are stuck here. People have made the choice to travel. And as of April 21st, the isolation time has been reduced.

So I can say that I cannot say when the Chief Public Health Officer will consider that conditions are right to lift her both restrictions, actually, or guidance. The one is travel...