Masi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] Today, I have to say, "Thank you," that we have two Tlicho interpreters, Harriet Paul and Maro Sundberg. We know it's very important to get our message across, for your information. Thank you [translation ends].

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize our interpreters for Chipweyan. I would like to thank Tom Unka and Arthur Beck. They are coming up from Deninu Kue. Marsi cho for your service. [English translation not available]. Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker.

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 5, returns to oral questions. Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am happy to see the GNWT slowly bringing some of our workers back to the office, those who are needed. I have seen flexibility and had a number of constituents help navigate their issues such as childcare. I hope to continue to see that flexibility from the Department of Human Resources. My question is: will the department be developing a work-from-home policy that extends beyond the measures imposed by COVID-19? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Human Resources.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the interest of brevity, Mr. Speaker, I will simply say the work is already under way, and we will certainly continue. Thank you.

I am happy to hear that. Would this policy similarly allow more flexibility in hours, such that if a worker wants to work later, on weekends or evenings. Perhaps we could get the Department of Motor Vehicles open on weekends if our workers were a little more flexible. Will the plan include that, Mr. Speaker?

The Government of the Northwest Territories actually provides quite a variety of flexible options as it is. The challenge sometimes becomes that it is spread out over different departments, so that it comes down to individual departments, divisions, and supervisors. There already are flexible work weeks ago, flexible shifts and hours, to a large extent. The Government of the Northwest Territories certainly makes those efforts, and we are going to continue to make those efforts.

I would just say that, in light of what's happening right now and the experiences with COVID-19, the experience of having more people working from home is certainly going to inform those efforts at human resources, but also, I suspect within individual divisions, departments, and supervisors, as they see what exactly the possibilities of working from home can involve.

One of my concerns during this pandemic is that there are certainly many departments who are working on overdrive and all of those workers are working overtime. Many have been redeployed to other departments, and then I hear concerns that certain departments have essentially been put on hold, and some workers are wondering what to do. I think a solution to this is further redeployment, and also, I think one way to booth domestic tourism would be a four-day work week for some workers. I think we could start that this summer. Is that something the Minister of Human Resources is willing to consider?

It certainly is nice outside, so I can imagine a lot of people would enjoy a four-day work week right about now, or anything less than the work week many of us have. Some of that work has actually been done in the past; it has been looked into, and I certainly would commit to looking into it myself and seeing what's available. It may well be that some sort of flexibility can be found, but all I can say for now is that I've also been alive to the news reports that are coming around right now in the pandemic and looking for some more flexible options. At the very least, I'll certainly commit to saying that I'm going to look into it and see what we have available to us.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am happy to hear that, and I look forward to continuing those conversations. Similarly, our society is operated on a Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 5:00, schedule for many decades now, and it's difficult, at times, for the private sector to break away from that, as there are a few key industries and businesses who necessitate that model, and then everyone must follow suit. Can the department reach out to those stakeholders? I think, in this territory, which is so small, we could be a little bit more nimble and flexible and reach out to private industries and see what barriers they see to implementing a four-day work week. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I think you're channeling my answer, which is that the outreach to our business community is going to involve far more than just my department, but I anticipate that, certainly as we're going forward in our response to COVID and our COVID relief efforts, I expect there will continue to be quite a bit of dialogue across different sectors. No doubt, if this is something that the industry of tourism finds, if they are getting interest from the community, then I'm sure that I'll work with my colleague to explore that further. Certainly, I am conscious that the public sector is a leading role and a leading employer, and what we do often can set a bar for what is happening in the community. It is important to engage the community before we make any substantial changes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.

Thank you. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In our medical interpretation, we have seven official languages in the Northwest Territories that are offered at the Stanton Territorial Hospital. In terms of what's available after 5:00, we've limited some of the patients' visitors to most of our health centres and most of our hospitals across the Northwest Territories.

What we do have are some virtual services. On interpreter services, Stanton interpreters are available via the telephone and virtual care with an iPad, which is 24/7. We also have provided interpreters with iPhones and iPads to allow for a variety of virtual care options, like FaceTime and WhatsApp. Stanton also has a contract with CanTalk to provide interpretation 24/7.

I'm just trying to picture myself as a 91-year-old in the hospital, speaking to somebody in the Tlicho language, with an iPad in front of me or telephone beside me. I think it would be a very difficult, challenging task. They've never been exposed to that. They've been born and raised in the bush, and all of the sudden, it's an English environment in the hospital. I think we can do more, providing additional resources after hours. That's what I'm after. Could the Minister please describe the on-call system that the hospital initiated or instituted to make Dene interpreters available to assist these elders after hours?

As I've mentioned, it's a very difficult time right now where we're trying to limit some of the patients' visitors to come in. I think where the Member is going with this is asking, you know, what's available? I understand that we do have elders who are in care and are patients, and it's very difficult for them to be able to look at an iPad or an iPhone. Some elders do, and some elders really engage with that, because they like to see what's going on on Facebook and some of the activities that are happening on social media. However, I do understand that some of the elders, they don't have that. What we do have is we are looking at on-call for Tlicho.

I need the Minister to elaborate more on this on-call system that she's referring to. Is it in place now, or is it coming? It's just a consideration that the hospital is introducing a night shift for medical interpreters at the Stanton Territorial Hospital. Medical interpretation is such a complex system to interpret, so it's very important that we have interpreters available for these patients, Mr. Speaker.

The interpretation services here in the Northwest Territories is very important. I mean, the majority of our patients who are in care, are in any of our health centres, are predominantly Indigenous, and it's important that we have the available services to them. What the Member is asking is to describe what the on-call looks like right now. Right now, we do have an on-call for Tlicho. Any time a patient requires any assistance, we go through the process to be able to call someone and have them available for interpretation.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Monfwi.

Masi, Mr. Speaker. I think we can do more than just on-call. Again, I have to put myself in the position of an 86-year-old who was hospitalized a week ago, and that individual had a heart issue. The family left after 8:00 p.m., and there was no way of communicating with the nurse, and he was getting needles, and he was getting tablets, uncertain of what it was for.

Mr. Speaker, I'm just wondering of the Minister is open to the idea of creating more of an interpretation system, even improving that in Stanton Hospital. Masi.