Alfred Moses

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we are going to be needing social workers over the next 15 years. It was recognized in the in-demand jobs that are going to be needed here in the Northwest Territories, and we continue to support students who want to go get that degree education, and the students who are currently in the program, we want to continue to support them should they want to come out of that diploma and go and seek a degree down South and help them with that smooth transition. We are continuing to support them as the program itself gets phased out to make sure that all students who are in...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have said it before, where we fund the education authorities over $150 million. They have their own responsibility in how they budget their line items and getting the decisions that they make with funding that we do give to them. That would be a decision that the education authorities would have to make. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We are currently developing an immigration strategy. The good news is our nominations program has been increasing by about 25 per cent each year, and last year we actually reached our goal and actually went above and beyond. I believe a total in 2016 we had 128, which was above what is normally seen. We continue to promote that program, as well as working with ITI on the business side, but we are developing an immigration strategy right now in partnership with ITI. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and as I mentioned back in September we did meet with the Aurora College with a reduction target. They did some work in collaboration with our departments, and these programs were the ones that were identified. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, that is correct, as well as working on community projects as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We are still expecting to have an approach, a plan, in place for the fall time. In light of all the changes that we are making within the department and all the initiatives that we're doing, that's just on top of the workload that we have, but we're still hoping that in the fall time we'll have something.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We do have an arts strategy. It is probably a few years old, but we can take a look at it again and evaluate how it's working. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I don't have that answer for the Member right now, but we can speak to our immigration folks and see if we're getting any Syrian refugees who are coming through the Nominee Program. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, that's not from the intake. As I mentioned, we're going to continue to support the students who are in the current program right now for two more years of the social work program and then an additional three years for the TEP program. So no, those aren't the result. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As mentioned, there were some administrative reductions as well as the beginning of the social work program. That is where some of the details are. Thank you, Mr. Chair.