I believe this is going to have a very positive impact on our teachers and our youth and people who work in the education system. There will be no changes to the diploma which NWT students currently receive.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Through the Education Renewal Framework, we have a lot of interesting pilots, a lot of great things that are happening that are going to help improve student outcomes, but on the other side we want to make sure that we are taking care of our teachers. As is heard in the news, they are averaging about 52 hours of work a week. They are hardworking. They are dedicated, committed, go above and beyond to make sure that our students get the best opportunities for success in the future.

The instructional hours, I know it has been debated in the public. Those are just opinions...

There will be no impact on the funds. We will still continue to fund the eight Aboriginal Head Start programs. In 2015-16 we funded them to the tune of $260,000. We're expecting, at the end of this year, the funds that we've given to all eight organizations would be in the area of around $285,000.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. From the Member's statement earlier, we did contact the department and ask them to give us an update. I don’t have a firm date right now, but as soon as soon as we get it we will share it with the Members. Thank you.

This program, both the programs, have been around for a long time. When I did say we are listening, we are hearing, we are continuing to support all the students who are here today through Student Financial Assistance programming, as I mentioned before, best in the country. We are going to give them all the support they need to graduate from the program in the time that is allocated.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I have mentioned in this House before, the executive council for Aurora College did consult and meet with our department. We looked at where we can look at reductions and look at our programs, and it is always being reviewed, and looking at how many graduates do we get out of the programs for the big investment that we put in. These two programs were recognized. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the past year, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has implemented new initiatives and improved existing programs and services to help meet our mandate commitments to address the cost of living for NWT residents.

We all understand the importance of reducing poverty and providing our residents with the tools necessary to achieve their goals and live healthy, productive lives. The work under way at the department supports those goals.

Actions in early childhood development, in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Services, have been...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we mentioned, it will be up to 100 hours. It will be flexible, and it is up to the schools to decide, and the principals and the teachers working on the direction that they take.

Actually, Alberta is moving away from the standard 125hoursperfivecredit high school courses through their own high school redesign project. As Members know, we did have a meeting with Minister Eggen from Alberta to discuss those changes to the curriculum. Alberta is a shift away from the standard of 125 hours of instruction for fivecredit courses, where students who are involved in the project can now complete courses in less than 125 hours and/or take more time if it is needed. It is based on what the students need. The NWT has always been flexible in this area, part of the education renewal...

I personally have not engaged in that meeting. We did have staff meet with the Canadian Public Health Association of Canada. We invited Aboriginal Head Start staff in on that meeting to talk about the federal funding, and that wouldn't be affected. Currently, we do a joint junior kindergarten/Aboriginal Head Start program coexisting in some of our communities where they're both providing half-day services so families have that opportunity to have full daycare, quality early childhood programming for their kids.