Alfred Moses

Yes, with the new self-government that Deline Got'ine Government has created I think it is a great opportunity now to start looking at the history, the heritage of the people of Deline, as well as the Sahtu. I know we were just recently in Fort Good Hope.

There was a book launch around the Dene heroes of the Sahtu, and I think that is a really good starting opportunity to work with the self-government to create such a place or use our existing resources to enhance and promote the culture and the heritage of the Deline peoples.

Definitely we can bring in our stakeholders, NWT Literacy Council...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The $2 million that the Member is referring to was the original cost that we looked at when we implemented junior kindergarten about three years ago. That money was in the last government. The $5.1 million that we are committing in this government to fully fund junior kindergarten is new money, as well as some of the onetime startup costs. Right now, we are averaging about a million dollars to continue the implementation of junior kindergarten that we have in the 20 communities where we currently provide junior kindergarten.

As the Ministry of Education, Culture and Employment, we want to provide the best services for our teachers, our families, and our students, and we represent all communities across the Northwest Territories. Junior kindergarten has been implemented in 20 of the communities to date. It is working well.

We are seeing some good results, and we are going to continue that. With the 13 communities that are remaining, we want to offer them the same opportunities that we are providing to all 20 communities. Any concerns, questions, we are continuing to consult with our education authorities moving...

Just to clarify, that $15,000 is application based. It is not through our government, it is actually through a third party that the NWT literacy is promoting through their newsletter. We can share that with the Member and work with the community and put in an application, which would be great if we can get that approved, as well as our continued support through the department for libraries not only in the community but right across the Northwest Territories. We can start those discussions and start looking at some dates where we can sit down and have these discussions.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, and we continue to fund community libraries right across the Northwest Territories. We are working with schools to actually work on making the libraries that are in our schools open to the public. We will share with the Member, as well, that our NWT Literacy Council does also offer funding. We can get the information to the Member, but, in the recent newsletter that the NWT Literacy Council just released, I think it was today, there were grants, also, from Better World Books.

There are literacy grants particularly for libraries, and it is an opportunity to look at...

Since we have started the pilot program in the previous government, we have averaged about $1.4 million to fund the continued operations of junior kindergarten throughout the communities that have been offering it. Our onetime costs that include advertising, review, evaluation, the upgrades of infrastructure, classroom equipment, as well as the engagement that we have had with school boards and the communities, that is an extra $1.14 million that we have had for junior kindergarten since it started.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned, we provide the funding, inclusive schooling funding, to the education authorities, and they work out, based on enrolment, how many program support teachers that they need based on the enrolment and students that they have in each of their schools. We can get that information, working with our education authorities.

For the 201718 academic school year, $9.6 million has been identified for approximately 72 program support teachers. The overall budget for inclusive schooling is over $25 million. In the health, wellness, and student support, the line item budget for that is over $3 million.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to recognize one of our translators who is here with us this week, Miss Ruth Carroll. She is a former resident of Inuvik and I just want to say mahsi cho for all the work that she is doing translating to the people throughout the Northwest Territories, and also say mahsi cho to all the translators. March is Aboriginal Languages Month, and I appreciate the work that they do in maintaining and revitalizing our Aboriginal languages here in the Northwest Territories. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently, all education bodies decide how to distribute their inclusive schooling funding throughout their schools to ensure that all schools have needed access to PSTs. We can get the number for the Member. Under our renewed inclusive schooling directive, we have made it mandatory for education bodies to look at prescribing a number of program support teachers based on the enrolment of students in each of their schools in the regions, so that sends a new directive from 2016. We can get those numbers for the Member, how many schools have PSTs right now.