Bob Bromley

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, I appreciate all the comments from my colleagues. I think Ms. Bisaro has said it well. There is a lot of spring boarding from the issues that we’re discussing, which is the role of the impacts of screen time and branding on small children and how we are going to deliver our early childhood development programs to try and avoid that. I think that’s what we’re talking about here. Many of the comments I heard I agree with, and I don’t see them as necessarily inconsistent with what I’m talking about, and I will say, quite frankly, corporations I see as having big value...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank my colleagues for bringing forward this motion. As we know, this disorder occurs at varying degrees and, in some cases, judgment capability is impaired in individuals, as Ms. Bisaro has clearly laid out. Judgment may become quite limited and equivalent to that of a child, even when they are fully grown adults. Yet, our system and our laws treat these people as if they have the full ability of an adult to make logical judgments. This is where we start to really get into trouble.

The current laws assures them of their rights as an individual to make...

I move that the $114,000 be deleted from the activity education and culture, operations expenditures, under the Department of Education, Culture and Employment at page 12, in order to provide funding for electronic tablets to new parents under the Early Childhood Development Framework Right from the Start.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said, their input has been ignored. They’ve put in requests to meet with the Minister – this has been going on for years now, this JK idea – and somehow the Minister has not found time to meet with this group. What does that say?

ECE seems to require bachelor’s degrees in NWT schools and they are now adding Junior Kindergarten where a teaching degree is not the standard. In fact, we’re looking for early childhood education expertise.

Will the Minister’s rule of bachelor degrees only block participation of professionals with a three-year diploma in early childhood...

I take from that that the Minister does not agree that the northern experts in early childhood education at the Aboriginal Head Start program have much to offer in the sphere of early childhood education, which I think is a travesty and a mistreatment of our public.

Many professional educators in the Northwest Territories feel that the hybrid curriculum for Junior Kindergarten proposed by ECE is inappropriate for four-year-old children. Aboriginal Head Start experts agree and are opposed to the curriculum as it now stands. This is based on the 17 years of on-the-ground experience.

Why isn’t the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to, as we begin Seniors Month, recognize the NWT and Yellowknife seniors, in particular a couple of Weledeh residents, starting with my mother, Barb Bromley; Barb Hood, president of the NWT Seniors; and I would like to join my colleagues in recognizing all the inductees of the Education Hall of Fame today. I listened to their comments and their commendations, astounding dedication and service on behalf of the people, especially the wee people of the Northwest Territories, which I know the seniors will appreciate too.

Could I just mention Val Carter? It was...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I notice foster care homes are on there, the screening and reviewing. One of the biggest opportunities we have are grandparents. They are such an incredible mechanism out there for looking after families and keeping families together and so on, and yet we continually fail to support them to the degree that they may be part of these exhibits. Mrs. Groenewegen I heard in the House just the other day speaking to this. I think all of us have spoken at one time or another. I have current issues with constituents where, because the children are not formally adopted, we’re not...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the update. I think we did try and address this in the 16th Assembly and I think we did it late, but we didn’t really pursue it to the point of actually getting something done in the 16th. I think, although time may be short, that is apparently what has to happen. We need to take this on and actually demonstrate some real progress in this Assembly. Albeit, time is short and I appreciate the Minister’s steps and I’ll be certainly working with my colleagues to make sure that this comes to some real realization for people and families on the ground.

So, I will be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Wednesday, June 4, 2014, I will move the following motion: now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Deh Cho, that in recognition of the clear public concern about fracking, the Government of the Northwest Territories immediately refrain from supporting any hydraulic fracturing proposals until a full and public assessment has been completed that demonstrates that the impacts of fracking and related development on the North are better understood and demonstrates that it can manage this technology in a way that ensures the integrity...

The Minister is not listening to the Aboriginal Head Start educators. They have been trying to have their concerns related to the proposed pre-kindergarten curriculum heard by the Minister, who refuses to meet with them and his staff ignore them, but they have been unable to get a meeting with him to express those concerns.

Will the Minister, not his staff, agree to sit down with representatives from the Aboriginal Head Start program – people have been working in this area for 17 years on the ground, developing their expertise and evaluating it just as this government should be doing, but...