Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. On February 18, the Chief Public Health Officer recently announced a travel exemption for those arriving from Nunavut, and I'm sure the Minister knows what I'm going to ask next: can the Minister confirm that there are discussions with the Yukon for an NWT-Yukon bubble, as this was on the table before Yukon opened to BC in July 2020? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can't say I'm surprised by that question. I knew, as soon as that news release came out, the Delta crowd would want to know about getting to the Yukon. What I can say is that those discussions are not happening at my level. I am aware that the people in the Delta would like to be able to travel to and from the Yukon without the two-week isolation, and I am also aware that the situation is different now because Yukon has its own isolation protocol. It doesn't have the open border that it had before Christmas. What I can commit is that I will raise it with the CPHO at my regular weekly meeting with her. Thank you.
Since November 20, Yukon has halted its bubble with BC and has put in place a designated corridor for Alaskan residents travelling to the rest of the USA. Those were the thing that were of concern when we discussed it in June, so I will ask again: will the Minister continue to have this discussion sooner than later with the CPHO?
I am very happy to have this conversation with the CPHO. My next meeting with her is this week on Wednesday, and I certainly will raise it with her at that point and find out the status of the discussions that are going on around this. I just want to highlight that what we have with Nunavut is not a bubble. If people from the NWT go to Nunavut, they have to isolate. If people come to the NWT from Nunavut, they don't have to isolate, except in very specific circumstances, so it's not a two-way, open process. What I think the people in the Delta want is a bubble, where there is free movement across the border without isolation in either jurisdiction, so that's what I need to ask the Chief Public Health Officer about when I meet her this week.
Again, the Dempster Highway is a vital lifeline for the Beaufort-Delta and access to essential services, services they cannot get in the NWT by road, and it's too expensive by flight for most families. Will the Minister consider exemptions for members travelling to Yukon as there have been exemptions for NWT people travelling into Yukon? Pointing to what the Minister responded to last, we're looking for exemptions; we're looking for anything.
I am looking forward to the Member inviting me to drive down the Dempster to Whitehorse. I've never had the pleasure of doing that. The thing about travel restrictions is that we can only control our own border. The Yukon can put whatever conditions in place they feel they need. We put our conditions in place to meet our own circumstances. It's not as easy as just throwing the border open and saying, "Look, it's all going to be good." The Yukon needs to decide that it is good for them. I recognize the Member's passion for this, that she would like this corridor to open as soon as possible. I would like to tell her that it will open, but there is a process here that we have to follow.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the large community uptake of the Moderna vaccine in the Beaufort-Delta, we've heard from most of the communities that we've had high uptakes of the vaccine, first and second in most. Can the Minister tell us if this will assist or increase the possibility of any decisions on a Yukon-NWT bubble? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It's my understanding that having a fully vaccinated population, or an almost fully vaccinated population, on both sides of the border would be very helpful in this situation. I am aware that Yukon has a similar number of doses available as we do with the same kind of timing and goals for vaccination, so I think that that will be useful in making the case to make free travel available between the two jurisdictions. This is a live issue. We hope to have all of our vaccine rolled out by the end of March, so I'm hoping to be able to ask the CPHO, as I mentioned, this week and have the good news prepared for the end of March. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
