Alfred Moses

Such programs as the Youth Ambassador Program, the one that we just worked with the Department of Health on, we engage youth from all 33 communities in the Northwest Territories. This one in particular we had a really good engagement, from 12yearolds right up to 18, asking them what we need to do in terms of policy change, legislation change, programs and services that we need to provide. We will continue to work with the departments and our communities to address those.

It was not a no. We support our youth. The youth is our future, and anything that works in government, we need to hear from...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize some of our executive from the NWT Teachers' Association. Our president, Mr. Fraser Oliver; executive director, Adrien Amirault; and our past president and past Canadian Teacher Federation vice-president, Ms. Amanda Mallon.

Mr. Speaker, together they have over 91 years of teacher experience in the Northwest Territories and I want to thank them for that. That is a lot of experience and a lot of hearts and minds that they've touched. Any other educators who are here joining us today, welcome. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In all respect, I believe the Member is mistaken. The department is committed to covering those costs once we find those costs, and we are going to continue working with the education authorities and councils to get those exact numbers, and we will be committed to covering the cost when we get those exact figures. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It’s not mandatory for any grades. As I’ve mentioned, it is at the discretion of the education authorities and councils to decide if they are going to reallocate for busing to provide busing services to their students. It is not mandatory for any grades at this point. However, Mr. Speaker, I can tell you that our department is committed and continues to work with education authorities to address the busing situation when it comes to junior kindergarten students.

Yes, we will take that information. We will have discussions, obviously, when we go before committee, and continue further to have these discussions and how we establish regional youth councils or even a territorial youth council. That is information we will look at, and we will bring it to committee to get feedback from committee moving forward. We will continue to evaluate the programs such as Back to the Trail, the program that I and the Minister of Health just attended, and see the successes and where we move from there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have a lot of different intergovernmental, interdepartmental programs that we work with other departments within the government, that provides a lot of program services. I believe I have been asked this question before in previous sessions, and I would be willing to share that information with the Member.

Just recently, I and the Minister of Health went to Camp Connections and spoke to about 60 youth on health, wellness, education, culture, and language, and wanted their views and their input. At the end of this week, we should be getting it. We also engage in schools...

As we engage with youth, we always get feedback on how the programs are, whether we want to continue working to support those programs. The one in particular that we just attended earlier this week is an excellent one. Both I and the Minister of Health encouraged and challenged youth to come up with policies, come up with ways we can move forward into what we need to do as a government and the decisions that we need to do, and that is where it starts.

This is a new generation of our young adults that is going to be taking over our seats and other leadership in the community, and we want to get...

Yes, those are some of the things that we have been hearing as we were going out doing our consultation, and we will share that detail when we go before standing committee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we do have a draft strategy moving forward that we are going to be sharing with the standing committee on developments. It entails a lot of items, but before we can table it in the House and really submit information, we have to go before a standing committee, and I encourage the Member to come to that presentation when we do. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I can't look into the future and say how many students are going to be in early childhood programs throughout Yellowknife and our regional centres. We are dealing with what we need to do today. We want to provide services to all families across the Northwest Territories, give families in Yellowknife, in Hay River, in Inuvik, the same options and opportunities that we have in our small communities by providing quality early childhood programming through junior kindergarten in the schools.