Alfred Moses

Yes, we are working with, as I mentioned earlier, the regional training partnerships committees. The department has also created five new positions for Employment Transition Officers that work within the communities to help people transition from unemployment to employment opportunities. That is in some of the regional centres throughout the Northwest Territories, and we also have career development officers that we are trying to get more involved into the schools while they are working with Income Assistance clients.

The government is committed. We are a partner on the regional training committees that have a wide range of partners and key stakeholders that work with other GNWT departments, the Aurora College, divisional education committees, Aboriginal governments, business development corporations. So yes, we are committed because we do sit on these regional training partnerships, and almost every region in the Northwest Territories does have these regional training partnership committees, and we are still committed to working with them to address some of the issues that the Member has brought up.

As leaders for the Northwest Territories, leaders in our communities, and Members who make decisions for people throughout the Northwest Territories, you heard earlier of some of the social implications that we see in our small communities. I would be more than happy to work with Members to have all Members participate in this residential school training.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member's statement that the Member brought forward on residential school training. As residential schools have impacted people in every community in the Northwest Territories, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission brought these issues forward to all Canadians, as well as to people of the Northwest Territories. Mandatory training has been brought forward in a variety of ways. We have developed, in partnership with Nunavut, a residential school curriculum through our Northern Studies program. We have also introduced mandatory training to all...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Along with my colleagues, I'd like to recognize Mandee McDonald and Erin Freeland Ballantyne, who do some very good work with Dechinta University. Welcome to the House.

The department is happy to release this report so that all residents of the Northwest Territories can see where our actions are and what our priorities are. That report will be released next month. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the department has a lot of programs in place to ensure that our graduates that leave high school do get into the workforce. The main one that we do have is we do have a 10-year strategic framework called the Skills 4 Success. We are looking at developing a concrete action plan to address those that will help improve employment success for NWT residents, and also close that skills gap for our employers and our residents that are looking for work, and help adjust some of those individuals from ages 18 to 24 that are not in the workforce, they're just out of school...

Yes, the department is committed to working with the Hay River DEA and the Commission scolaire. We did have a meeting earlier this year with the Commission scolaire, as well as we sent letters out to their staff. We will be sending letters out, as well, to the families that have sent letters to the department, and we do have a meeting set up with the Hay River DEA in the near future to discuss some of these concerns that are brought up from the community of Hay River.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before I begin, I'd just like to thank all the parents and families who have written letters to the department in regards to concerns with the French first language education programs and enrolment of students. The ministerial directive has been in place since 2008, and I have communicated with the Commission scolaire that I have directed the department to do a review and look to see if any changes should be considered. Hopefully those will be done before the next school year begins. Thank you.

As I mentioned earlier, in 2015 we had consultants go into the community, meet with community members, and give them the options in terms of how to start up a licensed daycare, the funding that is available to the community. Unfortunately, community members after the consultations decided not to go ahead with the daycare. However, as the Member asked, there is start-up funding as well as program contributions should the community want to move ahead with the project that could total in the amount of, through our programs within the Department of Education, Culture, and Employment, about $89,000...