Julie Green

The short answer is: no, they are not being vaccinated now. NWT resident rotational workers in the larger centres have been prioritized to receive the vaccine since January 31st. What we've seen at the Gahcho Kue Mine is that, when you have people in a congregate setting, it doesn't really matter where they're from the NWT or somewhere else. They get sick equally, and they are all infectious to one another. As a result, we had the outbreak that we had of 20 cases, one very serious case.

What I can say about this is that the NWT will not, will not prioritize non-residents over residents. When...

I can't make that commitment at this point. I can say that, of course, we are interested in helping people to have the best liver health that they can have, and our current efforts are really all focused around the alcohol strategy. I know the Member is talking about liver disease that is not alcohol-related, but we are dealing now with the issues that are alcohol-related because we see them as such big drivers of poor health in our territory. Thank you.

The Department of Health and Social Services does not conduct research in this area. If somebody who is a researcher comes to us and asks to partner with us, then we certainly would look at that proposal. We would consider offering things like in-kind services, letters of support, contributions of data, staff time, and so on. We are not the initiator of the research, but we are willing participants where we can be.

I recognize this is a difficult time for the Member to have a death, not only in his community, but in his family. It is not my job to decide which hotel rooms are paid for and in what circumstances. That's the job of the Premier as the lead on the COVID Secretariat.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's my understanding that every community, even those without health centres, have rapid testing available to them. The important piece to know about rapid testing is that it is only used on people who have symptoms of COVID. They are not going to use it on me unless I am running a fever, I have aches and pains, flu-like symptoms, respiratory symptoms. Then they would give me a test, but they do not test healthy people unless they are essential workers in the healthcare system. The situation is that the tests are widespread, but they are only used for people who are...

My information is that the CPHO is not aware of any clinic that was proposed or approved for Inuvik for the first week of February. That's February the 1st to the 5th, and so there was no clinic that was cancelled at that time. As I think the Member is aware, the vaccine allotted to the NWT is a public and territorial resource, and it has been moved to places where it is needed to vaccinate priority groups. In terms of how many specific vaccines were in Inuvik the first week of February, I do not have that information with me.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The categories that were released yesterday were front-line workers aged 18-plus who interact directly with the public and are unable to work virtually in the following areas: schools, including teachers; teacher assistants or support workers; school bus drivers; front-facing administrative workers; daytime janitors. The next category is day homes and daycares, hotels, grocery stores, drugstores, banks, libraries, postal service, liquor stores, gas stations, and convenience stores; customer service agents at airports; media, including reporters and camera crews. The...

I am delighted to say, because I raised this when I was a Regular MLA, that the department is now exploring the potential for implementing screening, brief intervention, and referral for alcohol use at the clinical level. What happens here is that the patient, in the course of an ordinary appointment with a healthcare provider, would be screened according to Canada's low-risk drinking guidelines, and the healthcare provider could offer a range of supports, from counselling to a referral to an alcohol treatment centre. We are interested in exploring whether we can use that. Of course, even...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd like to refer the question to Mr. Elkin.

Thank you. This is an area of great interest and effort on the part of the department. I will ask the deputy minister to speak to those negotiations that are ongoing. Thank you.