Check against delivery 

Good afternoon.

As the spread of COVID-19 crossed our nation and touched our communities, our message has always been that our public health measures will get stronger before they let up.

And with the leadership of our Chief Public Health Officer, we have moved forward with some of the most aggressive policies in the country.

We closed our boundaries before almost anyone else.

We mandated isolation near hospitals to protect our remote communities.

We test those without connections to travel.

And today, we are taking more steps to protect our families, our friends, and our communities.

Dr. Kandola has ordered all indoor gatherings across the territory to be cancelled effective tomorrow. .

Gatherings are things like house parties, funerals, church mass or spiritual congregations, feasts – any event that brings together people who do not already live together.

She has also limited outdoor gatherings to less than 10 people, and mandated social distancing for any of these which may occur.

While we provided this advice weeks ago, we are now confident it is necessary to put legal weight behind these measures to respond to this unprecedented threat.

Dr. Kandola has also ordered that certain kinds of businesses must close for the time being. This is once again a matter of putting legal force behind what our business community was already implementing as a recommendation.

And Dr. Kandola is also ordering strict screening, tracking, and protection measures at mining and oil and gas sites in the Northwest Territories effective today.

These Orders will be enforced by our Compliance and Enforcement Taskforce announced Wednesday. We are better equipped than ever to respond and investigate if our orders are not followed, and public health is put at-risk.

I am confident in Dr. Kandola, and her approach to protecting our territory.

It has served us well thus far.

But we must not get complacent. We are in this for months, not weeks, and if we aren’t all on the same team, it could be a lot longer.

So know that if you aren’t cancelling parties; if you’re still having friends over; if you’re not washing your hands, keeping six feet between each other, avoiding others as much as you can, and self-isolating if you feel sick at all, then you’re not doing your part.

And if you don’t respond to education and warnings, we’re coming for you.

I would like to hand it over to Minister Nokleby.