Alfred Moses

Yes, Mr. Chair, that's correct, and I believe in the New Year we're going to have the community of Sachs Harbour, that's going to be implementing a junior kindergarten, so it'll be up to 20. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier this year, I committed to reviewing the 2008 Ministerial Directive, Enrolment of Students in French First Language Programs. In conducting our review, we undertook a comprehensive engagement process targeting the rights holder population in the North. A total of 140 people responded either to our survey, attended a session in Hay River, or attended a session in Yellowknife. We reviewed legislation, current GNWT policies, and the responses from the stakeholder engagements and survey and conducted a jurisdictional scan. The objective of the review was...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I mentioned earlier today, Heritage Canada hasn't even put a call out for these proposals, and, I mean, we went ahead of the game, working collaboratively with the groups to talk about making that connection in discussions with Heritage Canada. But, as I mentioned, you can't ask for money when you don't know what the plan is, and, in order to get that plan, I offered the Member to speak with staff from the CSFTNO to work with our department, our staff, to look at what kind of supports we can give to look at developing that possible design. Thank you.

Currently, I don't think there's any day homes that are licensed right now in the Sahtu communities. I can go and do a scan and see if there are any and also develop some packages that we could hand out to people who own their own homes and who might want to start up a day home. Like I said, we have a very good incentive package, but I can get that information and get it to the Member.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I believe that since being in this position, we've been really working with the francophone community to strengthen partnerships on many levels, and we consistently meet with them. The staff of the department has been meeting with them and I agree it's a great opportunity to access federal funding dollars moving forward.

In terms of the expansions and the cultural areas moving forward, we need to have that schematic design to go to the federal government to access those dollars. As I mentioned, our staff would be willing to work with the staff at CSFT I know and provide...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know that CSFTNO has done some good groundwork, has done some good advocating. We also have been meeting with Heritage Canada, as I said. They did get back to us to clarify some questions. We're hoping to find a solution or an answer, a more definite answer, in January or February, but you can't put dollars on the table without having the schematic design in front of you. The design that we developed, based on our standards, the GNWT standards that we make sure that are consistent across the Northwest Territories with every school of the size and the nature, we're...

There was a lot of things that aligned in terms of this project coming to fruition. The Post-Secondary Institute Strategic Investment Fund, they put out a call for the amount of I think $3 billion, and we took the opportunity to see if we could access that funding. On this specific project, it is a 60/40 split, we're covering off 60 per cent of the program. In terms of the heavy equipment project itself in Fort Smith, they already run a program. This funding will help upgrade the garage for both practical work as well as in-classroom instruction.

Also with our Skills 4 Success Action Plan, when...

Yes, I will commit to doing that. I chair one of the education training and youth committees, and I want to make sure that it's on the agenda and that it is a priority especially for the small communities where it's needed most and finding the unique and innovative ways to get our residents educated, trained and also into the workforce.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I understand the concern that the Member has, having adults in the schools with high school students as well. As we're preparing our Education Renewal and Innovation Action Plan it all ties in really well with our pathways to graduation, for one thing it's kind of similar to incorporating some of the daycare classrooms, the junior kindergarten to the school setting as well. It just adds an easier transition. When we do build in the communities, we try to look at how can do the best in terms of building to incorporate all services moving forward, such as having those kind...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We did share a letter with them. As mentioned in the questions earlier today that we can share that proposal with the interested parties. Thank you, Mr. Chair.