Alfred Moses

We do understand that the high costs of living here in the Northwest Territories is very problematic, especially in some of our rural and remote communities. We did do a review of the minimum wage. I understand that the Member is referring to a report that talks about the living wage that was done in 2015. We are committed to reviewing the minimum wage. We also made an investment during this budget to work with industry and businesses to help work on our small community employment support program to help create jobs as well as to help subsidize wages for some of our residents that are looking...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I am aware of the living wage movement. We were part of the oversight committee in the last government, when the report was brought forth to this House that resulted in looking at the minimum wage throughout the Northwest Territories. I am very glad to say that, in June of 2015, we increased the minimum wage from $10 to $12.50, and we also made a commitment that we will review that minimum wage every two years. So, Mr. Speaker, I understand where the Member is coming from. We do have the second-highest minimum wage in the country, only aside to Nunavut, but I do...

We don't have some of the statistics that the Member is looking for. We can work with the Aurora College senior management and look at what some of the concerns are that might be coming from our students, as well as maybe some statistics on counselling sessions, sessions that are providing opportunities for life skills training for our students. We can reach out to Aurora College to see if those stats are available and share them with the Member.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a Return to Oral Question asked by Ms. Green on February 8, 2017, regarding student instructional hours in schools. Ms. Green asked what discussions have been held with Alberta Education about delivering the Alberta curriculum in fewer hours than prescribed for the high school level.

Mr. Speaker, staff from the Department of Education, Culture and Employment are in regular contact with staff from Alberta Education and have considered the potential impact of changes in instructional hours on course curriculum and student outcomes.

Students in the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to welcome all the representatives from the Native Women's Association here today, particularly Ms. Shirley Kisoun as well as Ms. Mabel Brown, and a former resident of Inuvik as well, Michele Lavoie. Thank you and welcome and I'm glad you can enjoy the proceedings. Mahsi cho.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have a Minimum Wage Committee. I believe they met towards the end of 2016. They have met twice already in 2017. They have a couple of more meetings coming up. They are going to be looking at the data and the impact of what we did, increasing that minimum wage in June of 2015, and doing a review. Then they will be bringing recommendations to me, as Minister, and we will look at those recommendations. We will share it with committee and move on from there. So, right now, it's being conducted.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to announce that I have directed that a foundational review of Aurora College be undertaken.

The foundational review will help inform the government's long-term vision for Aurora College and position it to provide the necessary skills and knowledge our residents require to participate in and contribute to the social and economic fabric of the NWT for decades to come.

I am confident that this is the right time to undertake this review in light of our Skills 4 Success initiative and our detailed understanding of the future needs of the NWT labour...

What this foundation will review, it will look at these programs again. It may result in some good changes, positive changes. As I have said in this House as well, when we had all the students here that came to the Legislative Assembly, one of the indicating factors about these two programs that we were reducing was that for the investment that we were putting into the programs we weren't getting the results and the outcomes that we wanted to see or that we would like to see. I encouraged the students to focus on their studies, graduate to completion, be part of the public service here in the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, when we go through the process of the LP, bringing it forward to this House and to the standing committee, that's the opportunity when standing committee can take it out on the road and get feedback and input from the public on that LP and the bills moving forward and bring recommendations to this House.

We are moving on post-secondary education in the Northwest Territories currently. We do have a lot of programs and services. We work with partners such as College nordique and Dechinta. In terms of the discussions and the debate that we have had in this House regarding the two programs that we are looking at for reductions, it sparked a lot of different views and discussions from the public and from Members in this Legislative Assembly that drove us to look at a foundational review of the entire system and the core of what Aurora College is. As I mentioned in my statement, we should have the...