This is page numbers 2243 - 2298 of the Hansard for the 19th Assembly, 2nd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was going.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As in my Member's statement, I would like to ask about the release yesterday. Can the Minister explain to us who exactly are a priority for receiving the Moderna vaccine in the category that was released yesterday? I'll quote under that category, "anyone 18-plus with CPHO approval." Why would we have this designated on the release? Is there a category under that? There must be something to make that decision to add that category. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The categories that were released yesterday were front-line workers aged 18-plus who interact directly with the public and are unable to work virtually in the following areas: schools, including teachers; teacher assistants or support workers; school bus drivers; front-facing administrative workers; daytime janitors. The next category is day homes and daycares, hotels, grocery stores, drugstores, banks, libraries, postal service, liquor stores, gas stations, and convenience stores; customer service agents at airports; media, including reporters and camera crews. The last category that the Member is referencing, I believe, is an area in which the CPHO could create an exemption for a group of workers who had been inadvertently left off of this list. Thank you.

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you for that answer. Are non-resident employees at remote camps a priority now, or any plan to vaccinate them in the NWT?

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

The short answer is: no, they are not being vaccinated now. NWT resident rotational workers in the larger centres have been prioritized to receive the vaccine since January 31st. What we've seen at the Gahcho Kue Mine is that, when you have people in a congregate setting, it doesn't really matter where they're from the NWT or somewhere else. They get sick equally, and they are all infectious to one another. As a result, we had the outbreak that we had of 20 cases, one very serious case.

What I can say about this is that the NWT will not, will not prioritize non-residents over residents. When all eligible residents have been vaccinated, and if there is vaccine required or available, then the CPHO will look at the possibility of vaccinating the rotational workers who are from outside of the territory who work in the territory.

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thanks to the Minister for that answer. My next question is: the immunization clinic that was in Inuvik, there were two weeks, and then, the second week, it was rapidly cancelled. People started blowing up our phones who are from that region because they got their appointments cancelled. We always kind of hear what's going on behind the scenes, and what we were told was that the vaccine was removed from the community and sent back to Yellowknife. How much of this vaccine was set for Inuvik during that clinic from the February 1st to 5th, and how many doses were sent back to Yellowknife?

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

My information is that the CPHO is not aware of any clinic that was proposed or approved for Inuvik for the first week of February. That's February the 1st to the 5th, and so there was no clinic that was cancelled at that time. As I think the Member is aware, the vaccine allotted to the NWT is a public and territorial resource, and it has been moved to places where it is needed to vaccinate priority groups. In terms of how many specific vaccines were in Inuvik the first week of February, I do not have that information with me.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. People can say there was no clinic. The people that had appointments know that there was, people booked in for appointments to have vaccines for their COVID shots, and they were all cancelled. I will move onto the next question: when will all Indigenous people be made a priority in rural and urban cities, whatever the term that we are going to use, in the Northwest Territories, and added to this list that was publicly released yesterday and is defended by our federal Minister who is the one coordinating all of the vaccines going out to the territories, remote communities, and Indigenous communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Indigenous people were not listed on the new priority group because this is a public healthcare system. Everyone who works in a hotel regardless of their place of origin or their ethnicity is eligible to have a vaccine. What we do have the benefit of is that the initial vaccine allotment by Ottawa was very large to all three territories and the northern parts of the provinces in order to account for the fact that health vulnerabilities are higher in Indigenous people than they are in other populations. As a result of that, we were promised enough vaccine for 75 percent of our eligible population. As of today, we are at 44 percent of vaccinating our eligible population which puts us well ahead of any other jurisdiction in Canada, which we greatly appreciate.

We have been using the National Advisory Committee on Immunization advice to guide our own NWT vaccine strategy about identifying priority populations to vaccinate, and I just want to reiterate the two foundational principles of the development of the vaccine prioritization. The first is people who are at risk of severe disease from COVID-19, and the other is at risk of importing COVID-19. That is the foundation of our priority groups, and that is the basis on which we are now delivering vaccines.

I want to say further that, at this point, every community except Yellowknife, Hay River, and Inuvik is open for vaccination to every person over 18 years of age. The reason that the three communities I just mentioned are not open is because of the larger populations and the availability of vaccine not matching up at this point. We are waiting for another big shipment. At this point, every community has had two clinics, and every resident over 18 years old, except in Yellowknife, Hay River, and Inuvik, are eligible to receive that vaccine. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I was talking about rapid testing. We said we had a death in the community, and we have six family members sitting in a hotel in Inuvik. I want to know what's happening with rapid testing across the territory. On December 22nd this past year, NWT Health and Social Services said, "All NWT communities have access to rapid COVID-19 testing that can deliver preliminary results to patients in as little as 15 minutes." Can the Minister confirm these rapid tests are available and which communities they are available in? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's my understanding that every community, even those without health centres, have rapid testing available to them. The important piece to know about rapid testing is that it is only used on people who have symptoms of COVID. They are not going to use it on me unless I am running a fever, I have aches and pains, flu-like symptoms, respiratory symptoms. Then they would give me a test, but they do not test healthy people unless they are essential workers in the healthcare system. The situation is that the tests are widespread, but they are only used for people who are symptomatic. Thank you.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

I'm thinking, with these rapid testing, why did we get them in the first place? My six people can say, "I'm having the flu. I'm not feeling well," so I could get six tests brought over to the hotel and get them tested so they could go home and grieve properly with their family? That's not right. If we are going to provide that service of rapid testing, why can't we use them when they come off the plane? Rapid test them. We are legislators here; we could make changes. I want to know: when is the Minister going to take back control from Dr. Kandola and start doing that job?

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

The situation with the rapid testing is that, even though somebody doesn't have symptoms now, they can develop them at any point over the 14 days. The rapid tests are not a substitute for isolation. Until the virus creates a load in the body that can be detected, it's not possible to know whether this person is infectious or not. That's the situation with rapid testing. There really needs to be ongoing testing through the quarantine period to determine whether someone is infectious.

What the tests are for, I think, was really well illustrated in Fort Liard. What happened there, as we all know, there was an outbreak. It's my understanding that the community response team then tested everybody in the community repeatedly to find out whether they were infectious with COVID-19 in order to be effective in the outbreak management. That is what we are saving the tests for: to manage an outbreak if one were to come along.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

I want to thank the Minister for that. Man, she could do the job. She could leave this COVID-19 and lead. I thank her for that. I want to ask the Minister. It states in the rules, like, family members, it doesn't state where you're from. The people in the hotel room are six people from Tuktoyaktuk, born and raised, because I was with them growing up. Now tell me: where does it state them being denied for hotel compensation. Why are we not paying their hotel compensation at the hotel during this isolation period?

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

I recognize this is a difficult time for the Member to have a death, not only in his community, but in his family. It is not my job to decide which hotel rooms are paid for and in what circumstances. That's the job of the Premier as the lead on the COVID Secretariat.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

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

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to ask the Premier. Madam Premier, I need help here. People from our communities are hurting. It's the last thing they need to be doing is paying a $2,000 bill for 14 days in a hotel room. They need help. I am asking for help here. We need to show a little bit more compassion and leadership in regard to this. It's not only them. There are other families who are hurting, not only the family that I am talking about. It's other families that are hurting. It should be looked at, reassessed, and say yes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Honourable Premier.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's a fine balance. I would love to be able to accommodate every single person who wants to come to the NWT, whether they're residents or not. In fact, we started with that when we started the COVID secretariat. However, I am also conscious that it is taxpayers' money. It's a real fine balance between being empathetic and providing for every single person, no matter what reason, or being responsible to taxpayers. I heard MLAs; and I heard the general public; and I heard the business communities, and chiefs, leaders of communities, who were saying, "Don't do it anymore." The CPHO's recommendation is that no one travel. Jurisdictions throughout Canada are now saying the recommendation is, "Don't come to our jurisdictions. Don't travel."

Mr. Speaker, it's not as easy as just saying, "Cover them." We cover for almost everyone. The only people we are not covering in the NWT who are residents are people on discretionary travel, those who are going for vacations. Every other person has been covered, from my understanding. When they're not residents, whether they're born here or not, when you leave here after a certain amount of time, you lose your residency. Mr. Speaker, at this point, we are not covering that because we don't have the finances. We have to be accountable. The Member did say that we have a lot of money, but we also have to be accountable for it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Honourable Premier. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.

Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Can the Minister explain how the department liaises with national NGOs or organizations such as the Canadian Liver Foundation to ensure that Northerners can maximize the supports and services they offer but also so that we can contribute to ongoing research? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.