Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am happy to repeat these answers for the Member for Great Slave. What I want to say is that I don't expect the kind of information that she is asking for because the situation with COVID-19, with the vaccine rate, with the rate of variants, and so on, it is so quickly changing that it would soon be obsolete to do the flow chart that she is asking for and then to be able to make sure that it was implemented in exactly that way. It is just too fluid a situation. We do, however, appreciate the need for that kind of information. We are more than happy to work with partners in business, the Chamber of Commerce, the mines, and other business entities to ensure that they have all the information that we have and that they, with that information, can make decisions about what it is they are going to do next to get their businesses ready for reopening. Thank you.

I am really glad to hear the Minister say she is going to work with business because, in business, what we do is called "wargaming." We actually come up with all of the different scenarios in which things might happen, and then we come up with responses to those. It is called a living document. I would suggest that the Minister go and look at that so that we could do some planning with actual times and dates.

Moving on, over the last year since the onset of COVID-19, how much has the GNWT increased our healthcare capacity, such as the purchase of new ventilators or increased staff, other than the COVID Secretariat, in order to work towards lessening the internal restrictions and decreasing mental health impacts? It is one thing to lock us all down, but if you have done nothing to address the situation, we are going to be in this situation in perpetuity.

I think it is really important to note, first of all, that we are not locked down. The borders are open. Hundreds of people cross the borders every single day. We have approved something like 35,000 self-isolation plans. People are not locked in or out of the NWT, but there are some guidelines in place for them coming and going. Since last year, of course, we have made significant increases in the capacity and resourcing of our healthcare system to be in a position to respond to COVID. Although we did not have a lot of hospital cases, we wanted to be ready for that. We have allocated over $30 million in the health system, and many of these investments will continue to be in place, COVID or not.

We have improved our capacity to acquire PPE into a stockpile to train staff. We have been able to improve our own testing capacity. Now, rather than sending specimens to the lab in Winnipeg, we are doing those lab tests here in the NWT. We have set up the wastewater surveillance system in quite a number of communities to give us an early warning of COVID signal. We have trained staff to do contact tracing. We have looked at the unintended social consequences of COVID, such as the closure of libraries, which has resulted in a greater need for day shelter supports. We have increased access to mental health supports. We have a managed alcohol program in Yellowknife. We have additional supports within Child and Family Services that mostly have to do with respite. We have, in fact, produced a lot of extra capacity, and it is certainly our intention to continue to offer that to the residents.

That's great. I am glad to hear that we have increased capacity. I would argue, though, around the definition of the term "lockdown," only those who can actually afford to go out, come back, pay isolation costs, et cetera. Being able to leave the territory and come back really does come from a place of privilege. Moving on, when can residents expect a reduction to the isolation time requirements as a result of the vaccination program and utilizing rapid testing?

I am happy to repeat this point. The first restrictions that will be loosened will be those within our border. Those will concern greater capacity within your home, within your community gatherings, and at business locations. Once that happens, and the other data is in place about vaccine uptake, transmissibility, children being vaccinated, and so on, then the Chief Public Health Officer will look at how to modify and when to modify self-isolation requirements.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am just going come back to my earlier question: how have we increased healthcare capacity? Have we purchased any new ventilators and such so that we could actually take on more COVID cases if need be? Thank you.

It's important for the Member to understand that machines don't work without the people to operate them. In this case, you need respiratory technicians to operate ventilators. We have enough supply for the number of emergency beds that we have. We are very fortunate not to have needed that more than a couple of times during this whole outbreak. We are confident that we are securely placed to deal with a COVID outbreak in the event there is one. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I'll try to tease out the right information after listening to my colleagues from Kam Lake and Great Slave. I'm happy to hear that the Department of Health and Social Services, CPHO is going to review how we are guiding our restrictions. My first question to the Minister is: is the Department of Health and Social Services still using the Emerging Wisely plan to guide decisions around restrictions? Thank you,

Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for that question. Yes, Emerging Wisely is still the guiding document produced in May of last year. We know that there were a number of exemptions requested where items that were supposed to be loosened in phase 3 were loosened in phase 2, the phase that we are in now. What we're talking about is when we get into phase 3, and that is the work that will go on in April. Thank you.

Just trying to get going in the right direction here, again listening to my colleagues here. Given everything that we've seen over the last year, does that mean we will have a new, updated Emerging Wisely document with a clear timeline to easing restrictions?

My expectation is that the Emerging Wisely plan will be revised, and as the Member for Great Slave suggested, it will be a living document. There are so many variables that go into the CPHO's decision about risk assessment that it needs to be a living document, and it will be a living document. Putting a firm timeline on when we're going into phase 3 is very difficult to do, especially as the country now looks at locking down in other places because of the emergence of variants. Certainly, the idea of looking at phase 3 is to get ourselves ready for fewer restrictions.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Minister stated, new hospitals and machines only work if we have the people, and the people are healthcare workers that we rely on. I know we have faced a number of retention issues; they're nothing new to the North. My question for the Minister of Health and Social Services is: what is the number one reason that nurses are leaving the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Exit surveys are not consistently used, so I am unable to answer that question. Thank you.

That gets to my next question. If we're not tracking why our nurses are leaving, whether that be due to burnout, not getting paid enough, workplace culture, lack of housing, there can be a long list of reasons why a nurse does not leave. I note that the NWTA for teachers tracks this information diligently and in response to each of those concerns when a teacher decides to go down south. Is this part of the work the Department of Health and Social Services is doing in this area, is to track with exit interviews the reasons nurses leave the Northwest Territories?

The Northwest Territories Health and Social Services system has created a human resource development plan. They've done that with the Department of Finance, and it's my understanding that exit surveys will be reviewed as a potential action item in this area so that we can provide the kind of information that the Member is talking about and gain a greater understanding of why nurses do choose to leave.

I recognize that is probably a suite of these questions I can also ask to the corresponding Minister for the Department of Finance. In the Department of Health and Social Services business plan, this year, we were supposed to have completed new recruitment and retention strategies to guide that work. Has that work been completed? I heard the Minister say the potential of exit surveys. What I am really looking for is a comprehensive strategy I can sit down and nurses can review to see where we are going. Has that work for new recruitment and retention strategies been completed yet?

I'm happy to report that this work is on track. We've had a total of 14 marketing and advertising campaigns for the hard-to-fill Health and Social Services positions in the last three months, including nine of these campaigns that are specific to nurses. We've expanded the Health and Social Services professions career guide, which provides information for potential candidates about careers in Health and Social Services in the Northwest Territories. We have education, continuing education initiatives for licenced practical nurses and RNs through the targeted academic support program. We also support continuing education initiatives for speciality nursing positions through an extended mentorship program. Finally, we have an activity and programming initiative called reach that involves students and youth in the Health and Social Services area to consider careers serving the public in this way.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad to hear that work, and I know that some of the specialization work and the training to get people into nursing is some of the best work we're doing in this area. My concern is also specifically on the retention. I know there is new recruitment unit going out, and I know we are offering signing bonuses. We're attracting locums, and we're getting more people to come here. Previously, in a number of different formats, the department has offered retention benefits. These were service agreements. If you worked one year, you get a bonus at the conclusion of that year or some sort of benefit to stay longer in the position. The collective agreement allows us to do this. Are service agreements something the department is willing to return to using? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.