Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Deputy Premier: does the GNWT have plans to stop highway travel, or are we checking the drivers? Are we stopping any aircraft in regard to being checked in Edmonton or here in Yellowknife for pre-screening before they head North for the safety of our citizens? If this COVID-19 hits our communities, nursing stations are not going to be able to give aspirin and Tylenol and send them home. This has to be dealt with. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

What are the plans to assist small communities for the pandemic?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I have visitors. Thank you for coming. I would like to welcome Tony Lucas, Sr., Donna Keogak. Thank you for bringing down my Pages from the community of Sachs Harbour, and my pages, Tony Lucas, Jr., and Rylan Esau, for working so hard and helping us here in the Assembly and in the House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think I'm going to elaborate a little bit more on the volunteers that we do have, the recognition that they do get, or sometimes they don't. We have so many people who volunteer all the time in the communities. We used to have awards every year, something like that. Does the department still do stuff like that in recognition of that? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Preparing for the coronavirus in small communities. Mr. Speaker, I'm reluctant to talk about the coronavirus a the second day in a row because it is important to let the people know not to panic, but knowing that good plans are in place to help reduce panic, so that's what I want to focus on today. Knowing that yesterday, the World Health Organization confirmed that the coronavirus outbreak is a pandemic. There's 149 cases in Canada today. There is no universal definition. There are three general criteria of the pandemic, Mr. Speaker. A virus that can cause illness or...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just to add, too, because in the Mackenzie Delta, I have cousins all over, and I want to make sure that Inuvik, Aklavik, the ice road, Tsiigehtchic to Fort McPherson to Inuvik, there should be a vehicle that is just cruising down on the highway like how they do it from here to Behchoko, Yellowknife to Behchoko. You see that ambulance service. There should be something, at least two vehicles, either one based in Tuktoyaktuk and one based in Inuvik, driving the Aklavik ice road in the winter, and then, for the summer, driving from Inuvik to Tsiigehtchic to the border. The...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Madam Minister. Now, I am looking at ground ambulance service for the Tuktoyaktuk Inuvik Highway. We don't have ambulance service. We have the RCMP in Tuktoyaktuk, and we put people in the back of a pick-up truck in a stretcher and bring them to the health centre. Thank God we haven't had any real accidents on that road yet. The safety concern, we did a study with CRA that did the study for the road from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk that has an ambulance that is going back and forth being able to help out in the community, if needed, as well. We had buy-in from the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just in regards to fire safety in the community of Tuktoyaktuk. We have a pumper that's 30 years old. It's hit that timeline for 30 years in regards to being effective and not being able to use it now. We had to use it in a fire two weeks ago, had no choice because the other new fire truck, it broke down. Is there any way, does the Minister have any extraordinary funding for something of that kind of an emergency? The community is of 1,000 people, and the newest truck that we do have is an F-550 with an air-port attack foam truck. Is there any way to see if we could get...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just in regard to what I brought up, we have three houses. Two were built in the 1990s; one was built in the 2000s. There's a fourth house, but we can't touch that house because it was built by a person's father and they can't move it. That being said, houses that we've been selling to the people, those three houses that we sold to them, that they're paying property tax on that's going to come up in the next one, for MACA, paying property tax, but it's all ocean-front now, 22 inches away. Now, that being said, once these houses are moved through federal dollars, through...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just in regard to securing assistance for emergencies under the SAFE program. Is it only for NWT Housing Corporation houses that are under their scope? Is that correct? Thank you, Madam Chair.