Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, and it's with respect to vaccinations.
Recently, Yellowknife had an outbreak, had to close the school through the community network, making sure that the messages got out there so parents didn't drop their kids off at school and hence the measle outbreak happened, and it went through the process, and we all know measles can be very dangerous and as well, lastly, Mr. Speaker, there are requirements for, for example, school-aged children to get their vaccinations, but the question is more -- I'm going towards is focusing in on teachers and administration and employees.
Mr. Speaker, given the recent event and potential risk that could be applied to our loved ones, is the department willing to consider a vaccination mandate; in other words, a must requirement for staff and administration at educational facilities that, again, take care of our loved ones? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's not currently a vaccination mandate for teachers outside of, you know, when we went through COVID and there was expectations around that. That was under the direction of the CPHO, the chief public health officer. And so our education bodies and our schools work very closely with the chief public health officer in events like this, and we ultimately follow the direction of the chief public health officer to ensure that we are aligned to protect residents and children. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Given the risks that can happen with, for example, measles and given the most recent example of what's happened by shutting a school down, Mr. Speaker, why wouldn't the department look at considering the option of legally requiring staff to -- staff and teachers to be vaccinated? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this would be, you know, a much larger conversation. I'm certainly happy always to take conversations like this back. I would also say that -- you know, recommend that people reach out to health and do their vaccinations, and then we can work together to avoid situations like this. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
You know, I appreciate the shout-out to public health. You know, they do a great job, and they certainly help ensure that people are ready. But, Mr. Speaker, we are talking about the department of health -- or sorry, department of education, not the department of health and, furthermore, we're talking about schools, not that. So I would be curious on what the Minister meant by some type of conversation. Is she willing to take it back to her department to look at is this something we could do, is this something -- how could it roll out and how could it be envisioned and certainly in the sense of timing. Because, I mean, I wouldn't expect something like this to be done before the end of May, and I would say something like this does require a fair bit of thinking and transition as well as acceptance if it was part of a process that the government ended up moving forward. So what could that look like, if the Minister would be willing to take that back to her department to evaluate or consider? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, obviously there are many other factors here. First of all, I would need to speak with the Department of Justice to find out if something like this -- you know, where the limits are. This is also a question for the public service and to find out kind of what the limits and expectations for public service. At this point, Mr. Speaker, outside of a public health emergency being declared, neither the Department of Education, Culture and Employment nor education bodies can mandate vaccinations or proof of vaccination for school staff. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
