Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Abstentions? The motion is carried.
---Carried
Member for Thebacha.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories develop an emergency response communications protocol that ensures regularly scheduled updates to the public by the Premier and the appropriate emergency authorities whenever an emergency is declared under either or both the Public Health Act and the Emergency Management Act; and further, this protocol should ensure that the Government of the Northwest Territories' public response via electronic means is supplemented by a non-electronic communications mechanism. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. The motion is in order. To the motion. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I 100 percent agree with this one. I believe that centralized clear, consistent communication throughout a state of emergency is one of our most important tool. If we expect people to know what we are asking of them and to be able to help us out to get to where we're trying to go, then they need to know what that is and where to find that information. So I think that having not only consistent information out there, but also the ability for the people of the Northwest Territories to know where to go to get that and to be able to anticipate where that's going to be so that they can be up to date and they can be safe and they could become our biggest advocates in a state of emergency. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I support this motion. On the very last day of our sitting in March, I was asking questions about getting regular updates to the then-COVID-19 Web page that the department of health had set up, and eventually we did evolve into a single website. I had recommended much before that that we have one single portal, and we're finally there, so I support this.
I also think that we need to improve and have an understanding of what the communications are going to be between Cabinet and Regular MLAs if there is another pandemic or a second wave. I think we've all learned from this experience and probably have found ways to work together through the school of hard knocks, sometimes. I think we probably need some work a protocol in terms of how we work together. The last thing I want to say here is that I had advocated, and I had members of the public come to me about the use of the emergency alert system through cellphones. We did not use it at all during the pandemic, at least so far. I think there are several occasions where it could and should have been used. As an example, when the borders were about to be closed so that people wouldn't be stranded on the other side. I trust and hope that that is going to be part of the what is considered as part of this exercise, but I will support the motion. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Madam Chair. There have been some real challenges in communication during this pandemic. Of course, it is our very first pandemic and I'd like to think that there have been some learning along the way to how to communicate more effectively with people, not only in the ways that my colleagues have mentioned, but also by considering that not everybody is using social media or electronic means of gaining information. They were, to some extent, really left in the dark. I'm speaking here really of two groups of people. One is seniors who are not computer users. The other are vulnerable people who don't have computers at home and didn't have access to computers during the pandemic because the library in Yellowknife, for example, which is where people could access computers, was closed because of the pandemic. It's really important to take this time where we are not as swamped with cases to figure out these communications protocols and strengthen them for the second wave that's coming. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife Centre. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Any abstentions? The motion is carried.
---Carried
Member for Thebacha.
Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories undertake steps now to address public concerns about gaps in enforcement so that remedies are put in place before the possibility of a second wave of COVID-19 this autumn, and further that necessary planning be undertaken to ensure that any enforcement task force can be mobilized within 48 hours of a future declaration of emergency; and furthermore, that the government of the Northwest Territories undertake a dialogue with the municipal and Indigenous governments to obtain their input on enforcement measures and use this information to guide the development of a policy framework for the future enforcement of orders issued during a public health or territorial emergency. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. The motion is in order. To the motion. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Madam Chair. This is arguably the most important recommendation in all of these reports. It's certainly the area that I've heard the most about. Members here have talked about encountering people who are visitors to the NWT who didn't seem to be self-isolated. We've heard from people who filed self-isolation plans and there was no follow-up. We've heard about communities putting up check stops in order to strengthen their own response to who is coming into their communities. This has been such a huge area of confusion and, to some extent, frustration. If we had a second wave right at this moment it would be a very frightening thing from an enforcement point of view. I do not see that the enforcement is now in place that will effectively follow up on complaints and concerns and the people who file the self-isolation plans and so on. This is an area that needs a significant amount of strengthening. I'm happy to hear today that the first ticket has been issued. That's a confidence building move for sure. I think there is so much more that needs to be done in this area. Once again, with a pause in cases here we really have an opportunity to get on top of how enforcement is going to work so that in the event of a second wave that we all feel confident that we are being adequately protected with the measures that are not only in place but are also enforced. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife Centre. To the motion. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I want a second to sum up the concerns raised by my colleague by Yellowknife Centre. On March 21st, the public health order was issued closing the border. I started asking questions three days later of my Cabinet colleagues to try to find out what was actually happening, whether information was being collected, what information was being given out. I guess for the first few days the people at the border stop didn't even have pamphlets, brochures, nothing to give out. Then they started to collect photos of drivers' IDs, they were collecting names of passengers, but it wasn't until March 27th that they had a standardized collection process. Forms were actually not standardized until April 9th to, I guess, presumably ensure that there was a better follow up of self-isolation plans.
It's still not clear to me what happens with the information that is collected, how it goes from the task force to the Chief Public Health Officer's office and who does the follow up? I've asked questions since March about that and just never really got the answers I was looking for. I still have questions about this. I was going to make a Member's statement about it and that's where I'm taking some of these dates out of here because couldn't get to the bottom of it. I support this. The task force itself was only set up on April 8th, 18 days after the border controls were put into place. There was gaps there, I know that we are all learning from this experience. We've got to put that learning into practice and that's what this recommendation is about. It's making sure that we're ready next time. I do support it. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. What can I say? Being from Hay River I continually get emails. I know that the Minister had said that Protect NWT gets 10,000, or they had over 10,000. Well, I've had probably half of those as well. I think it is important that they take a look at communication all the way from the top right down like to the border and vice versa. There seems to be a real gap in communication. The other thing that I think the issue, like in community of Hay River anyways, was the monitoring. Who is in charge of monitoring? That was a big thing. Then we were told that it's up to residents to do their monitoring and if there is a problem just call Protect NWT and something might happen.
I think the whole thing has to be kind of reviewed, looked at, and streamlined so that there is a good line of communication and that's what was missing. I realize, and I think the people understand, as well, this came up so fast. We did what we could. I think we did a fairly good job. As things kind of calmed down a bit and people were getting antsy and wanting to move around a bit more and I think that's where we ended up getting a lot more comments. The other thing I think that has to be looked at as well, the communication between the Chief Public Health Officer and some of the other departments, as well. I saw that as a big problem. I think that there has to be better communication there, especially if we're looking at trying to move economic development and business alongside opening up the borders and things like that. Yeah, I support it. There is lots of work to do in this area. That is all I have to say. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Member for Kam Lake.
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 can reduce the amount of calls that they are getting, whether that is putting more information on the website, making it more readily accessible, making sure that we are putting consistent messaging out there so people aren't calling just to get clarification. I think that we need to figure out how to triage that today. Sorry. You need to figure out how to triage that today. Then if part of that is increasing the capacity of Protect NWT, then now is the time to do that. I 100 percent support this recommendation, but I do believe that Protect NWT needs to be considered part of an enforcement. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Marsi, Madam Chair. Just looking at this one and some of the motions we passed already, any time you do something with speed, you are going to lose a little bit in translation. It's always hard, but I think this captures a lot of what we are trying to do here. The biggest thing I have heard complaints to about the enforcement is one of the big issues. I get calls from my constituents, "Why aren't we finding these people more often?" People are never going to learn their lesson if they keep doing the way things we were doing. We need to start having more of those discussions and more. There has got to be some recourse if you stray from our rules because if we just say, "You are going to get a warning. You shouldn't be doing that," people are going to continually find those grey areas in the law and move around it. Because of it, somebody might get sick. I think if we start actually having some rules that have a little bit of teeth in them, then people will start paying attention. I think that is a big message we need to get across. Mahsi cho. I will be supporting this motion, as well.
Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? All those abstaining? The motion is carried.
---Carried
Member for Thebacha.
Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories develop a digital communications plan for the Northwest Territories that: assesses the state of the telecommunications infrastructure serving each Northwest Territories community; identifies the costs and timelines associated with ensuring that all NWT communities have access to high speed digital telecommunications; and identifies who will be responsible for the work and how it will be achieved; and further, that the Government of the Northwest Territories Long-term Pandemic Response must also include provisions ensuring the vulnerable populations have access to the Internet during a pandemic lockdown by developing plans on a community by community bases for ensuring Internet access for individuals when libraries and community centres are ordered closed during a lockdown. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. The motion is in order. To the motion. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. This recommendation dovetails very nicely with the fourth recommendation in the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment report where we wanted a costed plan for upgrading Internet access across the NWT to Canadian standards by September 1st. I hope that when Cabinet responds positively to that recommendation, we can work together and deal with the two at the same time. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. To the motion. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Just to reiterate, this one has such huge social and economic ramifications throughout the Northwest Territories. Anybody who tuned into any single one of our committee meetings got to see what it was like for us to communicate throughout this time. Anybody who was working from home had the same type of challenges clear across the Northwest Territories. Especially at a time like this where information really became survival for a lot of people, having access to information is vitally important. I fully support this recommendation. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Member for Yellowknife North.
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 of thing. It actually just ends up saving us money when we can get a hold of our clients because they own a phone and they have Internet.
Lastly, the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Link, there is this debate about whether local service providers are ever going to connect that last mile. The reality is, in some communities, you are never going to find someone to do that. It's just not profitable in some of those communities to connect that last link. Therefore, government has to do it. I don't care whether it's the municipal government and Indigenous government, us building a non-profit or a co-op or some sort of thing, but we need to take the steps to create the organizations that will provide that community service so that the fibre optic line that we own is actually being used. Those are my comments. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Any abstentions? The motion is carried
---Carried
Member for Thebacha.
Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories prepare a lessons learned report based on employee input which can be used to inform the development of a working from home policy designed to identify the circumstances under which employees will be authorized or directed to work from home, what supports are available to employees, and what expectations the Government of the Northwest Territories has with respect to the accountability of staff members who are working from home; and further that this work be completed by August 31, 2020, and shared with the standing committee for input consistent with the 19th Legislative Assembly's process convention on the standing committee review of proposed policy initiatives and implementation plans. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. The motion is in order. To the motion. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Madam Chair. This was an issue that I certainly heard a lot about during the lockdown. As Members are aware, some GNWT staff have worked right through the pandemic. They have worked very hard to implement the different measures that keep us safe. Other people went home and there has been some uncertainty about how productive that time has been for them. In order to provide some accountability and consistency, this policy is a key piece of the puzzle. It will then tell not only the employees but also the public what is expected from someone who's working at home. I think there is a misunderstanding that people who are working at home are only "working," in quotation marks. I know that there are people who are working at home who are working as hard as they would if they work sitting in an office downtown. They are doing the same kind of work. I think there needs to be some confidence building with the public that working at home means working. I think this policy would go a long way toward answering questions about under what circumstances people will work at home and what is expected of them and what supports are provided to them. I certainly will support this recommendation. I just want to note that the timeline here is expedited over the usual 120 days. It's more like two and a half months. the reason for that is so that this policy is in place in the event that there is a second wave, so that it's clear, as I say, what the expectations and supports are for this kind of a move. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife Centre. Member for Yellowknife North.
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 allowing people to remote work. If we want to be a leading employer and keep people, we need to be more flexible. That doesn't mean you have to work Monday to Friday, nine to five. It means you can work evenings and weekends, you can answer emails when you want, and I really think the GNWT needs to rethink work, because we have all sorts of different productivity coming out of different departments, and I think a lot of lessons can be learned from COVID-19 about creating flexible and individualized work systems for those people who prefer to work from home. So I look at what every other large company is doing in the modern age and how they are letting people do remote work and work from home, and that should be the kind of model we as the GNWT are aspiring to. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? All those abstaining? The motion is carried.
---Carried
Member for Thebacha.
