Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I agree with the Member's frustration. When I heard about the vaccine requirements being dropped, I did reach out to both ministers and had that conversation and the international committee and saying hey, we had a process. We, in the Northwest Territories, to select our teams had to follow the process that said you had to have vaccination requirements done and report it in. That didn't happen. They changed it and so we weren't able to do that. So unfortunately, we as a government don't intervene, but Sport North and the TSOs have that ability so we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was getting jealous of Minister Archie in answering all the questions here, so I appreciate the Member from Hay River South asking the question.

So some good news for the Member, and hopefully it'll be the last time he has to talk about COVID in this House here. We don't require any COVID vaccination requirements for sporting events in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on February 28th, the NAG council stated it was continuing with its mandatory COVID vaccination policy. The NAG council stated the priority is the safety and wellbeing of all 5,000 athletes, participants, coaches, and chaperones participating from 756 nations. This includes elders of the Mi'kmaq host territory who have shared that they are not comfortable with unvaccinated groups coming into their territory. NAG council indicated they respect the territories of the nations and wishes of the elders. So, Mr. Speaker, I also respect the wishes of the NAG...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can confirm that both the Arctic Winter Games and the Canada Winter Games did have the policy in there. But on November 18th, 2022 the international committee, in conjunction with the host community, decided to withdraw or revoke the policy for mandatory COVID19 vaccination reports, as well with Canada games on November 23rd, the host society and the Canada games council revoked it there. So in my conversations with both ministers, both societies in Charlottetown, PEI and Fort McMurray, both ministers and the host society said that that was the public...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today it saddens me to stand in this House and speak about the passing of a wellknown man from the community of Fort Simpson.

John Moreau was a hard worker, told it like it was, and was an honest businessman. I watched him work and his commitment to his work was excellent. Nothing was too small or too big for him to take on.

John was born and raised in Winnipeg, a '50s greaser that use to race Tbirds down the Pembina Highway. John was always a very independent man who raised his children with his wife Louisa, who were married for 54 years.

John was an avid...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't want to, you know, wreck the surprise and say that. But this is part of the conversations that we're having. Again, we have to recognize we have 33 different communities, different organizations like designated authorities, hamlets, and taxbased communities. So we have to look at those as we move forward. So we may or may not be able to do that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we're working on trying to get all the regulations done. There's been a process working with IGC, the secretariat as well, and Indigenous governments. We're working with them. In regards to where we are, we are working on I think the last part of it. Again, it's we're trying to do it all and then we're going to take it to the drafting process and that, get it done there. So to give them there's nine regulations there we're working on. We got eight done, and we're working on that. So I will have to get back to the Member on the exact details and timelines...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to wish you a belated Happy Birthday yesterday. I heard you turned 29 so Happy Birthday.

Today I'd like rise in the House to speak about the Dene drums in the Gahnihthah film that got selected to be part of the Yellowknife International Film Festival, the Swedish International Film Festival, the Berlin Short Film Festival, Dawson City International Short Film Festival, Brooklyn Film Festival, Los Angeles Skins Film Festival, LA Documentary Film Festival and the Skabmagovat Indigenous Film Festival in Finland.

The film is a short documentary about...

Short, Mr. Speaker, we're hoping to have it something here in the House by the end of this session. Not this Assembly but the end of this session. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when we started the process, we had to work with IGC in that process there. So we're hoping to have it done by the end of this Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.