Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know we have a lot of things going on in our life and -- anybody, you know, and I'll be the first to say I do not like needles, and I would try and make any reason why I don't want to get a needle. But I always make a priority to get my flu shot ever since I was young. You know, but I think the thing is is that the reason why -- and I'm going back to my public health days -- is that vaccines are -- yes, some areas, they may have released public clinics in certain areas. There were public -- you know, we start in the high-risk areas. When we look at releasing flu vaccine, that vaccine strain is only good for a certain amount of time and we have to -- and our public health -- the chief public health officer and her team try to measure around how that gets rolled out in the Northwest Territories based on activity that's going on and, therefore, you know, if we're -- what happened here is that each community may roll out sooner than some of the capital regions because the access to care is less in those communities. So there might have been rolling out sooner than the clinics that opened up in the capital. And then seniors will go around, and home care will usually go around and do a lot of those vaccines. You know, inpatient, long-term care, those people will get their vaccine first and then the rollout to the public. And it's unfortunate that -- you know, that some people aren't able to get into these clinics, you know, but it's making the time. And maybe next year we'll make sure that I get out there maybe way before and start highlighting those times and where and the places that you can get those vaccines. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And really that's what the Minister was starting to touch upon towards the end there is what I was looking for, is just considering that the department is concerned about it and the Minister's concerned about it, is the Minister looking at ways to increase availability knowing that it can be hard to find times in your schedule, etcetera, etcetera, just so that we know that hesitancy -- or sorry, hesitancy is a challenge that we have, but we want to make sure that access isn't. That's the point that I want to make, Mr. Speaker. So will the Minister commit to taking measures, if need be, to increase access for vaccines for residents. Make sure it's easy, that it's available, clinics in grocery stores, schools, etcetera, make it easy for people to access. So just advocating for that, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our public health staff are amazing, and they do try to get to everywhere. Here in Yellowknife, they did have in the grocery stores. I mean, I went on Saturdays, they had day clinics here in Yellowknife while I was here and that's where I got my flu and COVID shot. So I think it's -- well, we can look at how we are making sure that that information is -- and as the clinics pop up, you know, sometimes in public health we'll see activity, and that's when people then start to get worried and want their flu shot. And so if we start to see activity, I can bring it back to the department to see if when we start to see increased activity, is there ways that we can, you know, have more clinics. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Returning to my earlier question to the Minister of Health and Social Services. Is it common practice to schedule insured and non-insured medical care simultaneously? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are many times where there are procedures that may overlap. Those conversations usually happen between the patient and the surgeon and the health care provider. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And arising from those conversations, is there a mechanism, again, to provide -- to seek some sort of exemption or some sort of request for exemption or appeal for service based on the advice that a patient is getting from their medical provider? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, I hear what the Member is raising, you know, I think, but what we're looking at is what the things that are covered that are insured services that have been -- and it's not just here. It's across Canada. There are a standard of things that are covered, what are covered under insured services. These are core services. And then there's other things that would be considered cosmetic and those -- the process -- I can't tell you how the process goes when it's in between patient and doctor. I mean, I can find out the information as to how that process works and possibly get back and have a discussion with the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when an exemption is brought to for an appeal or a request for an exemption is brought and the advice is saying something along the lines of this procedure will reduce medical costs because it's preventative, it will allow a person to live a full life, work a full job, and if we don't do it they're going to be severely impacted in that moving forward. Does any of that matter in terms of this policy which, I might add, is housed within the ministry or with the department rather than the health authority. So does -- is there anything a doctor can do to convince decision makers that an exemption or an appeal is warranted if a procedure's not insured? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will have to take that question on notice. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just want to go back to the Minister of ECE.

As mentioned, the school in Dettah is 55 years old. The GNWT brought in portable trailers in 1979 with no gymnasium. The GNWT built an undersized gymnasium back in 1978 in Dettah as well as -- and used as a community hall, and the students in the school use that gym for recreation activities.

My question to the Minister, can the Minister confirm if ECE consulted with the Yellowknives Dene First Nation and local DEA going back to 1979 to build a new school in Dettah and N'dilo? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. And I may have misunderstood the question but if the question is if I could explain the engagement process that the government undertook in the 1970s, I would be hard-pressed to do so. Thank you.

Okay, thank you, Mr. Speaker. As mentioned earlier that I mentioned that education is a treaty right, the GNWT are acting as the Crown so there's a need for a Crown consultation and accommodation with the Yellowknives Dene First Nation to look at for a new school in Dettah. Can the Minister commit to working with the Yellowknives Dene First Nation chief and council and the Dettah and N'dilo DEA to start a process to get on the ECE capital plan process? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question.

While I can't speak to the exact process that would have occurred in the 1970s, I'm very excited that the process has certainly changed today. We're currently working -- one of the capital projects that we're currently working on is the new school for Colville Lake. And that process is taking on a much different life and one that I am very excited about, and I am very excited to say that those conversations are going very well.

And so the Department of Education, Culture and Employment is working alongside the Department of Infrastructure with the Behdzi Ahda' First Nation in Colville Lake to work on what that school's going to look like and what type of a facility it's going to -- or what role that facility will fill within the community. And I think that's an incredibly huge success story and one that I think that we can continue to build on until that school is fully realized. But the community and those conversations has brought forward things like wanting to have space for a greenhouse, wanting to ensure that they have a full-sized gym and not a small community gym like used to be built, and thankfully, that is a piece that was updated in our school capital infrastructure standards by the previous Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. And I absolutely agree with that one. We shouldn't be building small schools in communities; we should be building right-sized gyms in communities because those gyms really are an epicentre of what happens in a community and often are the only facility of that kind in that community. And so I'm very excited for that project and very excited for the precedent that it sets for the whole territory as to what community school builds end up looking like down the road. And so my longwinded response to the Member -- sorry -- is that I'm absolutely excited to sit down and have these conversations with leadership across the territory. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My final question is when can the Minister of ECE start the process on Crown consultation and accommodation with the Yellowknives Dene First Nation; is it possible to do that this fiscal year? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, every year the Department of Education, Culture and Employment speaks with local DECs, DEAs, about what capital projects they want to put on the list and what it is that the school needs, and then the Department of Education, Culture and Employment works closely with the Department of Infrastructure to make sure that these projects are prioritized. As I said earlier today, we're not in a situation where we could do every single project across the territory in one year but certainly ensuring that at the end of the day we're working as hard as we can to invest in schools because I absolutely agree that students need a space that is conducive to learning at the end of the day and that over time our needs within communities change, and that needs to be reflected in our capital builds as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Deh Cho.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of ECE from my Member's statement yesterday.

Can the Minister explain if Aurora College and the department are considering collaborative initiatives like the Getting Ahead pilot program as a replacement program from the community learning centres? Thank you.