Rylund Johnson

I find that a truly terrifying statistic, and I am a little concerned that it took this long for me to hear that one third of our residents are in that category, because I really do think it shows the significant risk we are at. One of my other concerns is that there is a lot of different data out there showing how deadly COVID-19 is and what actually its effect on a population are. I'm not looking for specific modelling. I'm looking to get a sense of, given there is one third of our population at risk, and based on the number of people in the Northwest Territories, if COVID-19 is spreading...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With each day as our population ages, this Assembly's priority of enabling our seniors to age in place with dignity gains more importance.

Mr. Speaker, when dealing with our seniors, we must make our most compassionate selves take the lead. We must celebrate our elders for enriching our lives and building our futures. In our communities, unfortunately, we have created a system of healthcare that often asks many of our seniors make the impossible choice between aging in their community or being placed in a long-term care facility away from their homes. This tragedy is...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am fully supportive of this recommendation. I just wanted to speak to what I see are some very easy steps we could take. I don't understand why all of our housing units don't have free Wi-Fi in them. As far as I am concerned, we are providing people housing. Let's put Wi-Fi in them. That is something the NWT Housing Corporation, I think, can do tomorrow. Secondly, I know more and more jurisdictions are giving people cell phones. When you get income assistance, you get a cell phone through it. Victim Services has started to do some of that work, but it's the same kind...

No, thank you, Madam Chair, that's fine. As the order requires, I look forward to seeing all of those deadlines in an order provided to Standing Committee. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Can I just get a little more explanation of what types of orders we are anticipating to see under this, and do we have any already drafted or ready to go? Just kind of a sense of it, a little more detail on what we can expect to see this power used for. Thank you, Madam Chair.

The idea of 450 residents across our very small population dying, I think, is truly a tragic figure that we want to avoid at all costs, and I'm happy to hear that we do not expect, given our public health measures, for everyone to obtain COVID at the same time.

My other question is: one of the main things we have been trying to do is to break the wave, to prevent a surge in our healthcare system. Do we have any current projections or idea of, if we get to that community spread where there are potentially hundreds of people dying, whether other deaths will be caused due to the surge on the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If I have learned one thing in this job, it's that persistence often gets you results. Considering that one third of NWT residents are at high risk of COVID-19, does the Minister have any projections of, if COVID-19 were to spread across our population, how many people would be hospitalized and/or die? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, I would appreciate if that level of information could be made public. During one of our briefings, I asked the Chief Public Health Officer, and she started to lay out a formula of how you could take a set of the population, and what we know about COVID-19, and then project hospitalizations. It's that kind of information I'm looking for. It's certainly not information I am capable of understanding or providing, so I would really appreciate if the Minister could follow through with that commitment.

Another one of the main concerns I have had is that I still don't have a full understanding of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Throughout the course of COVID-19, I have made multiple requests to see some data regarding COVID-19. I have made requests to see modelling, and I have still have not seen those. The type of data I am looking for is really not the kind of thing that I think should be asked on the floor of the House, but I will ask.

We have consistently heard that one of the risks of the Northwest Territories is we have a lot of immunocompromised people and respiratory illness, so my question to the Minister of health is: how many people in the NWT are projected to be at high risk or...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I have big expectations from what a work-from-home policy could accomplish. I think many people who work in government departments feel they don't need to be in the office the majority of the time, and I feel that a great way to get more childcare is allow people to be at home with their children, should they want. I know there are various ways across departments, and some departments have been highly productive working from home, and others have not.

I also think this is a big potential for the GNWT to be a leader. More and more corporations across the world are...