Ronald Bonnetrouge

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My Member's statement alluded to the fact that the leadership of my community are puzzled by the fact that the Chief Public Health Officer has carte blanche, that is full discretionary power, to approve self-isolation plans of medical patients in order to return to their respective communities without any consultations or approvals with local leadership prior to CPHO granting the approval. I believe this process is also done for contractors who come from out of territory to conduct work in the territories, as the leadership have never ever been contacted. Can the Minister...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The committee commends the commission on improving their website. This includes enlarged buttons and increased colour contrasts to aid persons with visual disabilities. Other improvements include that documents and resources are made in an accessible format, such as MS Word documents.

Now is the time for government to update its web services, focusing on online communication and digital access. The government response to the COVID-19 pandemic relied heavily on online service.

Committee encourages the GNWT to take this important step to open the doors to persons with...

There are grave concerns from my leadership that the virus could spread into our communities without a proven way to test each person for the coronavirus. There are confirmed cases in the Northwest Territories from people who have travelled out of territory. For the benefit of medical travel patients, which could mean a shorter stay at the isolation centre, and for the comfort level and certainty for local leadership, can the coronavirus testing be conducted on the travellers upon arrival to the NWT?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

This concludes the Standing Committee on Government Operations' Report on the Review of the 2018-2019 Annual Report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of the Northwest Territories. Committee again wishes Ms. Keenan-Bengts well in her retirement and looks forward to working with the new IPC.

The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the GNWT provide a response to the recommendations contained in this report within 120 days. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I would like to speak about the exemptions of many of the medical travel patients and their escorts, which, in most cases, include family such as children. Many of the patients have to go to Edmonton to see a specialist for serious ailments as there are not many or very few specialists in the Northwest Territories. Upon return to the NWT, they would have to self-isolate at a regional centre for 14 days. According to the document, thresholds and criteria for exemptions to self-isolate in a non-hub community for compassionate or exceptional reasons, the Chief Public Health...

I thank the Minister for those explanations, especially the "passing the buck" one that he kind of hooked on. The Auditor General's Report states that the department invested heavily in the Northern Distance Learning program, something he alluded to. Did the department evaluate the Northern Distance Learning program as it relates to meeting high-quality education outcomes?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My Member's statement alluded to the Auditor General's finding on education delivery by the department of education. Of interest, I noted the department piloted the junior kindergarten program across the territory during the 2017-2018 school year. The Auditor General's report stated the department's analysis of a small number of junior kindergarten students during the pilot program scored better on a number of indicators related to developmental readiness for learning. The report also goes on to state data from the JK program needed additional data to be collected over...

We look forward to the findings of that rollout, considering we do have language immersion programs included in the JK programs up to grade four. The Auditor General notes the department made commitments to ensure equitable access to quality education for all the small communities but did not explicitly identify actions required to achieve this commitment. Can the Minister provide information as to why the commitments were not actioned to ensure quality outcomes or equitable access to education?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment is responsible for the Northwest Territories education system from junior kindergarten to grade 12, which includes all of the small communities. I realize the department does not deliver the education services directly to the students. As they have stated on many occasions, that is the responsibility of the regional education boards. This is like passing the buck so they would not have to take responsibility even for oversight.

Mr. Speaker, the Education Act states that students must have access to the highest possible...

Mahsi for that, Minister. It saddens me to know that this government can spend huge sums of money on large-ticket items that are not a priority for Members on this side of the House. Every time a small community wants to offer programs that the larger centres offer, we are shrugged off, making large excuses of "You need qualified people." Those qualified people can be relocated or new positions created in the small communities to accommodate so that we can have this program. No, we cannot have something that will stimulate our much-needed local economies, that will include creating much-needed...