Caitlin Cleveland

One of the most common reasons that people reach out for wanting family members to come north is because of compassionate exemptions for childcare. A lot of people are still working, schools are closed, and childcare is very expensive in the Northwest Territories, and so they are looking to have family members come north to provide childcare assistance. I'm just wondering, what is the proper way for people to request these exemptions through the Department of Health and Social Services?

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I had a teacher in high school who still lives in town, and he used to always say to us, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." I am wondering if the Minister responsible for Seniors would be willing to commit to creating a plan, somewhat of a strategy, one would say, around seniors. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Yes. I just wanted to along the same lines as to where my colleague from Hay River South was heading. I believe that Protect NWT is a piece of our enforcement within the GNWT. If that is where we are driving people when stuff goes wrong or when they have a question or when they have a concern, then Protect NWT is definitely a part of enforcement. I think that right now, while we don't have any active cases of COVID, we don't have community spread, is the time to be streamlining that and the time to be figuring out how to triage Protect NWT better so that we...

I understand that the Minister is very dedicated to his job, but he is one person, so I'm wondering: what kind of fiscal and human resources have been allocated to the Minister to achieve the tasks and responsibilities that he would like to achieve as Minister responsible for Seniors through the life of this Assembly?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a response to the recommendations contained in this report within 120 days. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Mr. Speaker, my mother is my favourite senior. I might get in trouble for referring to her as that, but she is a feisty and fabulous 74-year-old. She loves to travel, kayak, create, and she is affectionately referred to by my girlfriends as the original diva. Those of us with seniors in our lives are truly blessed. Our elders and seniors are powerful, but it is not a power that is physically exerted over us. Their power comes from the knowledge and wisdom gained over decades of life experience. It is a power that teaches us to sit, breathe, and listen.

Mr. Speaker, aging isn't just a biological...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment direct the district education councils to keep technology to support student home-based learning during the COVID-19 pandemic; and further, that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment focus on positive interventions and outreach to improve relationships between families of "high risk" or vulnerable students. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I just also wanted to support the words of my colleague from Yellowknife Centre. This program has been the most popular program that myself and my constituency assistant have recommended to people during the COVID pandemic. It's open to any NWT resident who is spending over 30 percent of their household income on shelter and is funding of up to $500 a month, and has kept a tremendous amount of Northerners out of homelessness, which is far more expensive to pay for at the end of the day. I commend the quick ability of the Housing Corporation to put money into...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the Minister's response. My last question is a bit of a broad one, but I'm curious to see how the Minister will respond. We have had a lot of opportunity to really learn from COVID over the last three months, and to ask ourselves what we would do differently. What I would like to know from the Minister is what the Department of Education, Culture and Employment was able to learn from our last three months in COVID. Looking forward to a second wave, how would ECE better support school boards for a second wave, and how would they ensure that no...

I'm happy to hear that, and I'm also happy to follow up with the Minister throughout the summer as he is able to work with the school boards. It was also brought to my attention that, in my constituency, and I am sure that this is consistent throughout the Northwest Territories, in the rush to get students set up at home, many of the schools emptied their resource and supply stashes so that children would have access to many learning items, whether it be books, markers, workbooks, anything they could get their hands on. Some kids even were able to go home with Chrome books. For the start of...