Alfred Moses

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's always a pleasure to see our constituents from the communities in the Chamber, here. I would like to recognize one of my constituents from Inuvik Boot Lake, Ms. Judy McLeod. Welcome. Thank you.

As I mentioned on many occasions, since I've been in the position I've been to 20 out of the 33 communities in the NWT. We've seen some successful junior kindergarten programs in some of the regions that have been implementing them, whether it's the first year or even the third year. So I'd be more than happy to join the Member on a community tour and look at the programs, early childhood programs, in this community.

As we move forward into the implementation of junior kindergarten and some of the recommendations that were made out of the motion we'll continue to engage with child day homes, day care centres, as well as Aboriginal Head Start in making sure that the transition to junior kindergarten is moved in a good manner, and that we share all the information moving forward. We do understand some of the concerns that are coming specifically out of the Member's region and we're trying to work on addressing those.

We should have something early on in the New Year. If anything, by the end of this fiscal year, we should have something ready to present to committee and share with all members of the Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As the Member said, the family member has already spoken with the teacher, so we will speak with the superintendent and try to get this addressed as soon as we can.

It was actually up to the parents choosing up until this fiscal year, but moving forward I'd ask the Member if we have families that are concerned in Aklavik to go and speak to the teacher. If it's not resolved with the teacher, to speak with the principal and the last resort is bring it to the superintendent, but we will speak with the Beaufort Delta Education Council about this as it is a concern and we do have two communities, Aklavik and Inuvik, that can run into that issue in years to come.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned, we do have that website that we launched. I know that all departments are working to get this out internationally. We just had some very good success in getting some businesses from out of the country come up to the Northwest Territories and start-up businesses here, in Yellowknife, as well.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since I've been in the position, I've been to a couple of FTP meetings where the concerns were brought forward of having skilled workers meeting the indemand jobs, particularly for each jurisdiction. The Northwest Territories is no different, so, when we're looking at our nominee program, we want to make sure that we're bringing people in to meet the needs of the business community when they can't find workers locally or even nationally; that, if we do bring in immigrants to fill these gaps in the jobs, that they are actually skilled workforce to meet those indemand...

Once the strategic plan is done and ready for review, we'll see what kind of space is needed for the program services that are going to be offered in the next academic year. But we can't make those decisions until we see that strategic plan.

Under the work that has been done by the department in terms of looking at Yellowknife campuses, somewhere in the amount of over $60 million. It will change as we move forward because costs for building supplies usually go up, somewhere around those figures. Like I said, it has to go through the process. It is in the 20-year needs assessment, as well as looking at the strategic plan, waiting for that, to see what space and needs are required.