Government of Canada assists the Northwest Territories with COVID-19 response

October 18, 2021 - Ottawa, Ontario

Today, the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, the Honourable Bill Blair, confirmed that the Government has approved a Request for Federal Assistance to provide surge capacity support to the Northwest Territories with infection prevention and control (IPC), contact tracing, and COVID-19 testing efforts.

The Canadian Red Cross will provide one operations lead and nine Epidemic Prevention Control specialists. This support will be effective from October 19 until November 14, with the possibility of one two-week extension to November 28, 2021.

This latest Request for Federal Assistance builds upon the two IPC specialists being provided by the Public Health Agency of Canada and the virtual contact tracing being provided by Statistics Canada under an existing agreement with the Northwest Territories. This aid also builds on other supports provided to the Northwest Territories, including a recently approved extension until October 28 for health human resources being provided by the Canadian Red Cross.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government Operations Centre has administered 139 requests for assistance from federal, provincial, and territorial partners. These requests have been administered in collaboration with federal organizations such as the Department of National Defence, Health Canada, Public Health Agency of Canada, and non-governmental partners, such as the Canadian Red Cross.