Katrina Nokleby

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Could the Minister please explain or describe the COVID protocols and procedures that have been implemented to protect small communities from counsellors who may be travelling in to the Northwest Territories from the South? Are they being vaccinated before they enter the communities and, if not, will she make them a COVID priority group? Thank you.

I was asking about aging in place, not necessarily about the seniors' homes, but I am glad to hear that they are doing that. I don't really think that many of the seniors who are isolating and feeling the depression of COVID impacts are going to be heading out on the land, so I am not sure that that's really a support to seniors aging in place. Moving on, I would like to know how many people are over the age of 60 in the Northwest Territories, and how many of those seniors have received at least one round of the vaccination?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to take a moment to recognize Joyce Williams, a constituent of the community of Great Slave and a long-time Yellowknifer, who celebrated her 80th birthday on January 13th. We wish her many more happy and healthy birthdays to come. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If there is anything the last year has taught me, it is the importance of communication. The ability to express ourselves so that others can understand us or being easily able to connect with someone in a time of stress goes a long way in allowing us to be happy, productive, functioning members of our society. In many ways, communication is a key component to our positive mental health. Being easily able to connect with someone in a time of stress goes a long way in allowing us to be happy, productive, functioning members of our society.

In many ways, communication is a...

When the Minister returns with that information, I am going to guess she is also going to have to come back with the next question I have, which is: What is the current COVID vaccine distribution broken down by demographic group?

I have also asked the Minister, and not received a response, to how many extra doses have been given out. A response received of "we're not tracking that" is not acceptable to me. All you need to do is take the number of appointments you have, the numbers of doses administered, and subtract them to find out how many extra vials have been opened and distributed to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Can the Minister tell us what her department is doing to increase supports for seniors who are aging in place and maybe feeling the mental health impacts due to the restrictions around COVID-19, and whether or not she plans to increase those supports, given the CPHO's orders are likely to remain in place until the fall? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Advertising in the newspaper and spots on the radio are both places that seniors may hear about vaccine clinics or any news relevant to them. Posting notices on community bulletin boards or in places that seniors may frequent, such as the supermarket or seniors' centre, would also be useful. However, it is not good enough to just get information out there. There needs to be the proper resources in place to deal with these inquiries, dedicated staff to respond to these calls.

Additionally, beyond just the COVID era, we need to ensure that services are provided to seniors...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am not really very concerned with how the department would report their statistics. The priority groups actually would be considered to be a demographic, the demographic being they are high priority for different reasons. I would still consider that to be a breakdown by demographic group and would appreciate having those numbers.

Moving on, how would seniors who are not technologically savvy reach out to the department to get help navigating not only the COVID vaccine forms online, but any other online services that they may be required to use? Is there a specialized...

I am really glad to hear that. As we all know, doing trades remotely would probably be quite difficult for students, so I'm glad to hear that we're going to be returning back. I look forward to further asking the Minister at a later date what some of those costs are, around the COVID response. My next question I just want to move on to is the new Blue Seal certification program that the department is rolling out. I have some understanding of that, but I would like to know if the Minister could speak a bit more to how that differs from the Red Seal program and maybe provide a bit of a timeline...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of ECE. If the Minister could provide the current enrolment numbers for the different trades programs at Aurora College and break that out by campus? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.