Caroline Cochrane

Mr. Speaker, we're not waiting. Changes have already been made to address how we coordinate internally, how we partner with Indigenous governments and community governments. And work has been undertaken to better prepare ourselves and our communities for future outbreaks. This work, I believe, will support better emergency planning generally, not just if there's a pandemic or COVID.

Based on our experience over the past two years and the supports that we've implemented, we'll be better prepared to respond accordingly should the pandemic move in the wrong direction.

I want to stress also, though...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the full financial impacts of this pandemic aren't known at this time. What we do know, as the Member stated, that there's been some sectors that have been particularly hit hard, such as the tourism and the hospitality sectors. But there's reason to be optimistic.

We do expect that there's a pent-up demand from Canadians and international travellers to come see the North. So as restrictions are eased, we're expecting our tourism industry to pick up again. And one area of financial impact that we don't really know, and we're seeing lately, is the extension...

Thanks, Mr. Speaker. I said earlier we're still assessing. We don't know the full extent of how the pandemic has impacted us. However, we're able to draw some initial lessons from the actions that we took initially to support individuals and businesses.

Emerging Stronger, for example, includes commitments to review the NWT Housing Corporation policies, and we made a commitment to do that with Indigenous governments, which is really exciting work during this term of the government. We're going to be accelerating the work on the alcohol strategy because of the pandemic and increasing support for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We work closely with the CPHO, and the CPHO is determining that now based on science and like I think the Minister of Health and Social Services says, we will provide an update to Members in the short future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I want to welcome all Members back to the House for this sitting of the 19th Legislative Assembly. There is important work to be done over the next six weeks, and I look forward to working with each of you as we advance the priorities of this government.

I want to start today with an acknowledgement of the 18 residents who have lost their lives to COVID19 in the last two years. It is a painful reminder of the unpredictable and unforgiving nature of the pandemic. My heart goes out to those who have passed away, and the family, friends, and communities of those who continue to grieve...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Follow-up letter to Oral Question 86519(2), Highway No. 7 border hours of operation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, vaccinations are within the Department of Health and Social Services. I'd like to defer it to Minister Green. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wouldn't say that no money hasn't been allocated. We haven't defined what it would be yet; they're still looking at it. But we have spent money internally. We have the Indigenous Council of Leaders that meets regularly. We pay for all of those leaders to come into the capital and we pay for their accommodations; we pay for their expenses to be able to take part in those meetings. So at this point other than, like I said, they're looking at codeveloping legislation for the United Nations Declaration. Until that's done, we haven't identified any extra money that we need...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Actually, I would think that that priority is actually going along quite well. I've said since the beginning that the biggest thing within the United Nations Declaration is it's about Indigenous people and Indigenous people should take the lead.

We also have a special committee from the Speaker's Committee that has Members of Cabinet and the Regular Members. The chair of that comes to our meetings with Indigenous governments. And the Member did say that I have often referred to the relationship with Indigenous governments and the federal government in a triangle. I don't...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The contractor is D.J. DeLancey Consulting, and the work that that consulting firm would be doing is a planned phased approach. There's three phases. The first one will be one-on-one meetings with senior managers, which has been done. The second phase of the work to be done is facilitated decisionplanning meetings, developing the questions that need to be asked. That's taking place early in January I believe. And the third phase is the facilitated discussions and a final report.

So like I said, we don't know what's going to come out of that, but we need to remain open so...