I'm glad the sun is finally poking its head out because it's been a long winter, and we are looking forward to spring, that magical season where the public health emergency ends, Mr. Speaker. This is the longest period of time between statutory holidays in the north, and with cold months, it just makes it feel even longer. Let's give our workers a much needed break, Mr. Speaker. I've asked the minister previously if there was ever any intention in bringing a holiday to the people of the north in February, and Mr. Speaker, I will be asking him once again on this lovely Family Day. And to be honest, I don't really care what it's called, but let's get a holiday in February, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Members' statements. Member for Kam Lake.

Mr. Speaker, as the territory speaks of transitioning from pandemic to endemic, it's important that we as Northerners understand what this means. There will be timelines for eased restrictions and the eventual dismantling of the COVID Secretariat. But, Mr. Speaker, I want to understand what it means for the GNWT healthcare system and services to residents. Although an endemic is supposed to mean some stability of transmission, hospitalizations and death, the virus will continue to circulate, and can still be widespread and deadly.

Here in the North we are already familiar with endemic diseases. The NWT rate of tuberculosis is twice the national average. In 2020, 10 million people worldwide contracted TB and 1.5 million people died. Just like TB, COVID will still require ongoing management and resources, but I question how our health system will move forward and return to normal when we have not really yet accepted that the definition of "normal" has changed.

Health and Social Services will still need to support people with COVID while managing vaccinations and resourcing testing in a system that has seen the burnout and exodus of healthcare workers. Canadians en mass are waiting for elective surgeries, access to specialists, testing and treatment requirements of cancers, chronic disease, and STIs, and a surge in addiction and mental health support needs.

In addition, special treatment programs like audiology, speech pathology, physiotherapy and occupational therapy appointments put off over the last two years will further bottleneck our already fragile healthcare system.

The catch up, Mr. Speaker, will take years and some national experts speculate that the Canadian healthcare system may never catch up.

Although COVID has brought new lessons and opportunities in virtual care, the time has come for us to get creative with recruitment, support holistic partnerships, and spread the responsibility of community care.

Mr. Speaker, we need a plan and we need to talk about this. Residents need to be included in the conversation about how health policy and personal choices will lead us out of this state of emergency and what the word "endemic" will mean for our healthcare here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Members' statements. Member for Nunakput.

Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Our thoughts and prayers are with all the families in the Delta and everywhere in the Northwest Territories as well. Mahsi. Members' statements. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with the 2022 Winter Olympics ending this past Sunday, like a lot of Canadians I spent a good part of my evenings watching various competition. It was amazing watching our Canadian athletes perform on the biggest stage.

As many are aware, Liam Gill represented Canada in the snowboarding halfpipe event. Liam is a proud descendant of a long line of Dene from the North and represent the Dehcho Dene as a member of Liidlii Kue First Nation. Upon hearing the news, I reached out his grandma to congratulate her on his accomplishment.

Like most Fort Simpson residents, we put it in our calendar to watch the halfpipe competition. It was with great pride, we watched Liam's two runs.
To help do this statement, I reached out for help to put this together.

Liam is an 18-year-old snowboarder born and raised in Calgary, Alberta. His parents are Lance and Joanne Gill, grandmother is Rosemary Gill, and his grandfather was Lyle Gill and his sister Mia. He had the honour to take part in the Winter Olympic Games on the Canadian snowboarding team. He knew how important it was to represent the Dene and, further, all Indigenous people in the sport on a global stage. The support he received from coast to coast was amazing, especially all the support he received from people from the North. He believed that he was sharing his first Olympic experience with everybody that supported him. He hopes his story and presence at the Winter Olympic Games will inspire young Indigenous athletes to pursue their goals in sports and other career choices.

With the Olympics experience being over and in true Northern fashion, Liam is giving back to the North youth and his sport. He will be visiting three communities from February 23rd until early March to attend snowboarding clinics in Fort Smith, Fort Simpson, and Yellowknife. He wants to welcome people to come say 'hi' and welcome him to these communities.

I want to congratulate him on the Olympics and thank him for coming home to give back to our youth. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Nahendeh. Members' statements. Returns to oral questions. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a Return to Oral Question asked by the Member for Great Slave on December 1st, 2021, regarding addictions aftercare and mental health.

Mr. Speaker, there's no single approach that I or the Department of Health and Social Services take to engage with the federal government to advocate for the needs of residents of the Northwest Territories. While it would not be appropriate for me or the department to direct the federal government regarding the operation and administration of its programs and services, I take every opportunity to provide advice or feedback with respect to the needs of NWT residents.

In addition to this, when participating in provincial, federal, and territorial tables, both the department staff and I bring awareness of the needs and realities of the North to the table and advocate for partnerships and opportunities to address the priorities of government and the needs of residents.

I met with the Honourable Carolyn Bennett, Federal Minister of Mental Health and Addictions on January 20th this year for initial discussions, and it is our intention to continue engaging on areas of common interest and priority. This meeting was a significant step to establish what I anticipate will be a positive working relationship with Minister Bennett. My goal in this work will be to ensure Minister Bennett has a sound understanding of the northern context as it relates to mental health and addictions and to ensure opportunities to meet the needs of residents are maximized.

It's prudent to remember that while the federal government is an important partner in the delivery of mental health and addiction services, it is certainly not the only provider and that residents have access to programs and services that are delivered in the Northwest Territories by the Department of Health and Social Services and their authorities. Despite disruptions associated with the pandemic, these services are delivered primarily on a face-to-face in-person basis. If an NWT resident has been negatively impacted by changes to a counselling service delivered by another party, that individual can self-refer to a counsellor with a community counselling program. Same day access is available across all regions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Returns to oral questions. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Acknowledgements. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, these questions will be for the Minister responsible for Health.

Mr. Speaker, a special advisory committee on COVID-19 has agreed on the following criteria to determine whether jurisdictions are ready to lift restrictions, and this criteria includes COVID-19 transmission is controlled, sufficient health capacity, test, trace, and isolate cases are there, expand healthcare capacities exists, supports in place for vulnerable groups, workplace preventive measures, avoid risk of importation of cases, engage and support communities to adjust to a new normal.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the Minister of Health what criteria is being used by the office of the CPHO to evaluate whether this government should continue invoking the public health order and does those criteria differ from the criteria I just mentioned? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for the question. This is obviously a topic that's very much on people's minds.

The CPHO follows evidence based decision-making based on science and her own medical professional training. And she does, in fact, monitor some of the same criteria that the Member mentioned, including the number of cases in the NWT, the impact on the health system of those cases, both in acute care in the hospital and through public health capacity.

She looks at where infections are occurring and in what populations, including the vulnerable populations, the severity of those infections measured through hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and deaths.

She also looks at the number of infections and trends in other jurisdictions, especially those in neighboring jurisdictions such as Alberta, Yukon, and Nunavut. She also looks at vaccine coverage, including booster uptake. As we know, vaccines reduce the impact of the illness on the people who have them.

And finally, as the Member mentioned, the CPHO looks at how COVID-19 is being transmitted. So the criteria is much the same as he articulated. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe that the majority of residents on both sides of the fence do not expect a complete opening tomorrow, as much as some would welcome it. What I'm hearing people say is that they're wanting to see restrictions such as mask and vaccine passports removed or turned into recommendations. They want to see opening in sports and other venues where vaccinated and unvaccinated can participate. They want to see the SIP plan go away.

So Mr. Speaker, I ask the Minister what do I tell the residents of Hay River and those throughout the NWT when they ask, what is this government's exit plan from this pandemic? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for the question. I advise the Member to tell his constituents we're working on it. We know the measures that are in place now have resulted in significant disruptions to people's lives, and we want to bring that disruption to an end. As I previously said, we'd be following an evidenced-based decision-making process in order to decide when and how to lift restrictions.

The CPHO has already agreed to lift leisure travel restrictions by March 1st, which is a week from tomorrow. She has said she is reviewing further orders and is prepared to make additional announcements by March 1st on areas such as self-isolation requirement after travel, gathering orders, and proof of vaccine requirements.

So what I hear from my constituents and from my constituency meeting last week and what I heard from Indigenous governments when the Premier and I met with them last week is that people favour a gradual withdrawal of restrictions. They want reassurance that we will be able to provide for their health needs in the event that the outbreaks continue. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the past several months, I've had the opportunity to talk to numerous constituents, including those vaccinated and unvaccinated about current COVID restrictions and posed the question to them, should the public health emergency end and restrictions lift? The overwhelming response was to end it but with the caveat that we must ensure the safety of the vulnerable.

Mr. Speaker, will the Minister tell the people of the NWT at what point will she no longer invoke the health emergency, and is she willing to do that today? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. I appreciate the question. I'm not going to end the public health emergency today, but bringing it to an end is a topic of discussion which I want to engage you and your colleagues in as soon as possible. We have been working on a plan, and I think that we will be in a position to share that with you by the end of the week and get your feedback on what we're doing and when we're doing it and how you think that will sit with your constituents. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased to hear that there is a plan in the works and that we'll hear something this week. I think constituents and people throughout the territory will be happy as well to actually hear something.

Mr. Speaker, we have seen COVID-19 variants with the latest being less severe than others. Now I hear there's a B2 I think, coming out that may be a little more severe and can transfer 1.4 times more quicker than the B1.

So can the Minister tell the residents of the NWT what is her department's plan if another variant surfaces that causes severe health issues causing health services to be overrun. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for the question. We are going to have health capacities set up knowing that this disease is not going to go away and that outbreaks are likely to continue. So the CPHO will be actively monitoring COVID as she has throughout the last two years. She will continue to do that and give us advice on how to deal with the variants as they come along.

As things stand now, what we're looking at is making sure that we have a robust public health response to the endemic portion of the disease, meaning that we have capacity to test, trace, vaccinate, isolate, and otherwise take care of the population if they become infected with COVID, with a special focus on the vulnerable population who may not have had the opportunity to get vaccinated. So we are acutely aware that this is not over, that it will continue, public health emergency or not, and that our obligation is to keep the residents of the NWT safe. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Housing. First, I'd like to know when there will be a solution to address the security issues with the apartments on 52nd Avenue like Norseman Manor and Simpson House? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Minister responsible for Housing.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Housing Corporation and the local housing organization here in Yellowknife continue to meet regularly with Northview Management to find key operating security and maintenance. Both the Housing Corporation and the Northview are committed to ensuring the safety of their residents. I'm pleased to advise that the Housing Corporation has seen continuous improvement over these areas in terms of securities such as expanding security checks, new key lock system, installation of new camera system, and increasing its numbers of security patrols at Norseman Manor from seven per day to nine per day. In addition, a stand-in guard coverage has been increased from four days a week to now seven days a week for ten hours during a day peak security hours.

These enhancement security arrangements represent an annual investment of over 50,000 by Norseman Manor alone. The Housing Corporation and Northview senior management continue to meet regularly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.