Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when we last sat, the drinking water situation at Yellowknife schools was just starting to break. The priority then was getting information out to the public about the safety of children and staff, and then we saw the entire situation play out over the summer.
Mr. Speaker, why did it take until August for drinking water measures to be taken at NJ McPherson when measures were taken at two other schools in May? And that's a question for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, as we know, there was 42 out of 44 schools that were tested originally. The original test that came back for NJ McPherson school was right on the cusp, and so the GNWT retested that school and it was found to be significantly lower than required MAC level. And then out of an abundance of caution, following the testing protocol that was established, it was identified that the GNWT would retest NJ McPherson School based on the original test result that was received. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's a relief, then, that the new protocol does seem to be working, and it's being done properly. Are there any other schools that were initially tested that now need to be retested based on the new protocol? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, from the original test numbers, it was isolated to those three schools that had the high numbers. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister commissioned independent study to look into why this happened. What actions has she directed the department to take to ensure there's accountability over decisions that are being made? We've had health protocols in place. We've been a -- this government's been through COVID. So are we going to ensure that the chief public health officer is consulted going forward any time there's a situation like this again so we can ensure the safety of our kids? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can assure the Member as well as the public that I take this very seriously. As a government and as a Cabinet, there's been changes that have been made government wide from this lessons learned but also specifically for water testing of our schools.
Specific for water testing of our schools, we worked with the Office of the Chief Public Health Officer to establish a testing protocol territory wide for all schools in the Northwest Territories.
In addition to how we move forward as a government, we have also implemented project charters so that we understand as a government how projects are going to unfold and how we're going to work together as we do that. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from the Sahtu.
