Alfred Moses

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am not too sure how much more I can add to Mr. Bromley’s statement. I think he said it very well. It gave us all the information that we need to go ahead and make a decision on this.

Being new to the government, it is just something that I assumed that this government was working on and taking care of, and to be in here now and make these changes and be part of it, I am very honoured to help work on taking this initiative through.

Early childhood zero to three years old, Mr. Bromley hit it right on the head with the brain and biological developments, the language, the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave notice of earlier today.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As a lot of my colleagues have mentioned, the importance of early childhood in the ages zero to three. If we don’t put our services and our investments into this initiative, we’re going to be failing our students as they progress in life, as they get into middle school, elementary school and as seniors. We don’t have to look too far to see our graduation rates of the NWT as well as the money that we’re going to be putting into inclusive schooling here.

I want to speak to a specific issue. We know that programs are needed just as much as space facilities for our children...

No further questions, Madam Chair, but duly noted on the structure of the building, and thanks.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just had one question in regard to the incident that happened in Inuvik this year. We had that windstorm that blew the roof off the airport. I was just wondering if the department allocated funds for the repair of that roof and whether or not there was a study into the structure of the building to see if there was any more damage that was done from that storm. Thank you.

I really applaud the department for trying to get residents off of income support and anyone that’s going through income support through their Productive Choices program. I just wanted to ask a question. Has this program ever been evaluated and have they ever seen the effectiveness of this program?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee defer further consideration of the activity education and culture under the Department of Education, Culture and Employment Main Estimates 2012-2013 on page 10-17 at this time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve done a lot of work in my time in the communities within my governments. I’ve participated on the front line with a lot of community workers, teachers, parents, concerned Members, leaders in our communities. What it always comes down to is everybody sees it in their communities. The social issues that impact our community can be addressed by putting money and investing into our early childhood development. Like I said when I was talking earlier, I thought this government was working on this already. I had the assumption and confidence that our government was working...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. WHEREAS early childhood development is a priority of the 17th Legislative Assembly;

AND WHEREAS the mandate letters issued by the Premier to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and to the Minister of Health and Social Services instruct them to work together to develop and implement a comprehensive Early Childhood Development Framework;

AND WHEREAS the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment has acknowledged that healthy childhoods are the best foundations to develop healthy, productive adults;

AND WHEREAS the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Friday, June 1, 2012, I will move the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Weledeh, that this Legislative Assembly strongly recommends that the Ministers of Education, Culture and Employment and Health and Social Services work together to bring forward proposals for new and comprehensive early childhood development programming to begin in the current fiscal year, including a plan and funding to assist communities with securing suitable space for early childhood development programs;

And further, that the...