Mr. Speaker, the Chief Public Health Officer prohibited all travel into the Northwest Territories to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. This was March 21st. There were exceptions to allow persons deemed as essential services in and out of the territory, such as long-haul truckers, health and social services providers, federal and territorial wildlife officers, peace officers, forest firefighters, and the list goes on and on.
The Emerging Wisely document, the phased approach to lifting restrictions, was aptly introduced, and phase 1 was in effect in time for the May long weekend. I know many NWT residents were out in full force all over our highway system. This was great to see.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to run some numbers of the vehicle crossings and occupants at the border checkpoint. I believe this was in Enterprise, which is quite the distance from the actual NWT-Alberta border, which is at the 60th parallel. This information was taken from the Deputy Minister of MACA's report of May 25th:
- On Wednesday, May 20th, there were 46 transports, 11 private vehicles, with 13 occupants total;
- Thursday, May 21st, 33 transports, 14 private vehicles, with 23 occupants;
- Friday, May 22nd, there were 22 transports, 12 private, with 19 occupants;
- Saturday, May 23rd, 22 transports, 26 private vehicles, with 43 occupants;
- Sunday, May 24th, there were 19 transports, 22 private vehicles, with 43 occupants.
I would also like to note that, on Sunday, May 10th, which was Mother's Day, there were 57 private vehicles, with a total of 101 occupants. Mr. Speaker, I will have questions for the Premier at the appropriate time. Mahsi.