Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, COVID19 has created much anxiety and this has affected the mental wellness of the population. We're at a crossroads where it is possible to expect court challenges based on the premise that the public health emergency declared does no longer meet the test for "significant risk" and therefore the orders may be fine and reasonable.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of Justice confirm his department's participation in reviewing those public health records created due to the current public health emergency to ensure they meet all legal requirements, and how far does that participation go with the Department of Health? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Justice has a division called legal division and that is essentially the GNWT's inhouse law firm, and legal division provides legal advice and services to GNWT departments and entities such as the Office of the chief public health officer. And since the beginning of the pandemic, the legal division has been working with the chief public health officer to provide advice in respect of the drafting of they will suggest wording. There's probably, I'm sure there's been some back and forths to ensure that, you know, the wording is what it should be. With that said, ultimately the final say on what an order says is that of the chief public health officer. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister speak to whether or not the department has reviewed the relevant sections of the Public Health Act to determine what constitute and is the legal definition of "significant risk" as it relates to the current COVID19 public health emergency. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So in the Public Health Act, a public health emergency is defined as something that presents a significant risk to public health, and determining whether there's a significant risk to public health is the determination of the CPHO. The Department of Justice's lawyers do what they can but ultimately, they are not medical professionals and there's a lot of science involved in determining risk and so ultimately they of course have to defer to the chief public health officer. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister speak to whether or not the department's reviewed the relevant section of the Act to determine the legal definition of "reasonable measures" as it relates to the current COVID19 orders. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As you can imagine, this has been a focus of the department for over a year now and the Public Health Act has been reviewed, other pieces of the relevant legislation, the everevolving case law, Charter of Rights and Freedoms. So, yes, all of these have been reviewed. And, again, this is similar to the "significant risk," the definition, this determination is made by the chief public health officer.
The department does provide advice on the risks associated with specific measures and orders, that is to say the legal risks. But in terms of the risks and what is reasonable in response to those risks in terms of the public health orders, that is, again, under the authority of the chief public health officer. But Justice does examine those and provide advice and opinion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it appears the risk of COVID19 and variants have subsided due to the introduction of vaccines along with the health safety measures in place. Can the Minister confirm if his department has considered the possibility that a rights infringement court challenge may be forthcoming that seeks to have the court vacate the public health emergency and on all related CPHO orders? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm sure government lawyers are always worried about court challenges coming and so, yes, they have definitely considered the possibility of a court challenge since day one. You know, this is a very unique situation and no one knew how far orders could go at the beginning. There has been case law around Canada, not necessarily in the territory, that has tackled some of these issues and the department is watching that. But it's always on the radar. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.
