Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Welcome back, colleagues. Mr. Speaker, I was lucky that I was able to spend the holidays with my family, not something that everybody in my community or even in the NWT could say. There were many families who had to remain separated this year. To make it worse, with COVID, we had none of our regular community social gatherings to occupy our time and help us through the dark months that we go through.

Growing up and living in Inuvik almost my entire life, you know it's a reality that we have many people who are educators and medical staff, just to name a few, who have made the North their home. They use their time off to reconnect with families outside the NWT. This year, in order to keep the NWT safe, many families were unable to do this, and it has been difficult for many. It has even been difficult for residents who were born and raised here as they are unable to leave or see their families who have left the territory or for those who wish to return home to reconnect with their family.

Our NWT Emerging Wisely Plan was developed and released with phases, and we have been stuck in the second phase and unable to move into the third phase as the rest of Canada and the US are still currently in the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our vaccine roll-out started off, but now we find ourselves with another delay, due to shortage of vaccines. The Minister has continued to assure the public we should be able to still have 75 percent of our adult population vaccinated by the end of March, but, Mr. Speaker, I am afraid that we are going to see families planning to leave the NWT, those who are vital to the education of our children, to the healthcare of our loved ones, and more businesses close if we remain in phase 2 within the NWT into the spring and summer. I will have questions for the Minister of health. Thank you.