Thank you. Deputy Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This COVID-19 virus is an interdepartmental approach, and we are all working hard with our teams and we have messages that are just, we need to be consistent. I just want to defer the question over to our Minister of Justice and Finance to talk about what is some of the work that is being done in regard to the virus. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Deputy Premier. Minister of Finance.

As it stands, obviously, we would like to follow what the Chief Medical Officer recommends, and I understand that she has stated that she doesn't have the authority to stop this from happening, people coming from the South. It is this government that is responsible, and we have had experience with PDAC participants who came back and there are some issues. This is becoming a pandemic, as it has been called. We have people coming in from the South. We don't know where they have been, but they are it bringing into the Northwest Territories. Not only the Northwest Territories, but small and isolated communities. We have a lack of health professionals, so I am very worried about my community, the Wekweeti and Gameti small communities. Is there a plan in place to deal with that matter immediately? Because we are saying, "Well, we are allowing self-isolation, if that needs to be the case," but we are just allowing them to do that on their own cases. It is optional. As a government, are we dealing with this particular matter?

Yes, the small communities and the needs of small communities have been at the heart and at the center of a lot of the considerations that have gone into the planning that is under way. I know that there are going to be some differences. Hesitancy now isn't the lack of a plan. Hesitancy is that I want to ensure that I am speaking with the most current information on behalf of all the departments.

Obviously, the House is aware that, right now, our Premier is actually on a phone call with the Prime Minister and other first Ministers. It would be helpful, I think, to know what has been discussed in that conversation, and it would be helpful certainly to check back in with all the departments and our Public Health Officer, as they have been meeting this morning and taking steps to ensure that they are doing everything they need to. Because there hasn't been a confirmed case in the Northwest Territories, and so we want to ensure that there is not a confirmed case in the Northwest Territories, as a result of which our Chief Public Health Officer has been taking an approach that is directed at achieving that goal. That, Mr. Speaker, is why, if there is a sense of us not speaking fully, it is because we want to speak clearly and correctly and accurately with the most up-to-date information.

Again, Mr. Speaker, the fact that we have small communities who have less healthcare infrastructure than the larger centres, that has been something that I know I have personally raised when I have been on the national calls with my colleagues, and I believe they have been raised by the colleagues in Cabinet with their colleagues, that we need to take those considerations very seriously. I simply want to assure the Member that, as soon as I have the current up-to-date plan and information, we will share that with the House and get that information out to the public.

I am just trying to get the points across so I can share them with my constituents, as well. People who have been texting and messaging us. People who are coming from the South. To be self-isolated, is it optional, or is it mandatory from our perspective, the government's perspective?

At this point, it's still a recommendation that anyone coming back into the Northwest Territories would consider their own symptomology and determine whether or not they need to self-isolate. That is still the recommendation. Indeed, there have been media releases on a national level only just this morning about travel that is coming back internationally and recommending that anyone returning internationally, I believe, is being recommended, indeed, to self-isolate. They're being a bit more aggressive here in the Northwest Territories about travel coming in from elsewhere in Canada, as well, but the latest information that I have is that that was still a recommendation.

Again, in response to what was happening at a national level this morning, literally as we have been sitting here for the past hour, there has been an effort to update that information for the Northwest Territories in keeping with what's happening nationally and ensuring that we do what we can to either prevent or slow the time within which we would have a virus identified here in the Northwest Territories. I will continue to update the House, and we will continue, all of us, to update the public in due course.

Thank you, Minister. The time for oral questions has expired. Item 8, written questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I request that we take a short recess, please, just to discuss some items of an urgent matter. Marsi cho.

Okay. We will take a short recess.

---SHORT RECESS

We will now reconvene. Item 8, written questions. Item 9, returns to written questions. Item 10, replies to the Commissioner's address. Item 11, petitions. Item 12, reports of committees on the review of bills. Item 13, reports of standing and special committees. Item 14, tabling of documents. Item 15, notices of motion. Item 16, motions. Item 17, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Item 18, first reading of bills. Item 19, second reading of bills. Government House Leader.