Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I originally wanted to talk about the power and resilience of community. Through floods, the school-based COVID outbreak and the devastating loss of family, this month is a testament to how Northerners support one another through adversity. But what this government needs to hear now is how they COVID outbreak communication jeopardized the contact tracing, testing, containment, and commitment of both staff and NWT residents.

In May, over a thousand people found themselves suddenly self-isolating from potential COVID exposure at schools, restaurants, and children's activities.

First, the good news. Parents of a young child feeling under the weather had their child tested for COVID-19, and we are all thankful to that family. Public Health immediately started contact tracing to stop the spread of what was later learned to be a variant strain of COVID-19. The health authority successfully ramped up testing, secured Pfizer vaccines for teens making them some of the first in the world to be vaccinated. They maintained Moderna vaccine clinics that saw an increase in uptake, brought in departmental staff to help do testing callbacks, and not lost in all of this is the ability of teachers to instantly shift to online learning while many in isolation themselves.

But, Mr. Speaker, the government COVID response has a communication problem. Schools were closed close to midnight Sunday evening leaving many unaware and schools unable to prepare. Information from Protect NWT was not consistent. Advice given by Protect NWT and Public Health was also inconsistent. Public Health contradicted information published on GNWT's Facebook pages and new information came out every day in piecemeal. Some residents were incorrectly told not to isolate while others who hadn't gone to exposure sites were told they must isolate. Some were told they needed to be tested and then turned away at testing sites. And in some instances, health care staff argued about the rules in front of residents. People want to keep their children safe. They want to keep their neighbors safe and whether or not they agree with the rules, they want to follow them. Sound public health relies on sound decision making but without effective communication, sound decisions are jeopardized.

Mr. Speaker, the communication breakdown of this outbreak jeopardized the safety and well being of NWT residents. This is not our first and quite possibly not our last spread of COVID-19 and next time, this government needs to be ready.