Caroline Cochrane

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this morning, I would like to recognize our language board members who are here in the gallery: Tammy Steinwand-Deschambeault, Jonas Landry, Deanna Marie Jacobson, Emily Kudlak, Richard Latourneau, Vance Sanderson, Angie Lantz, Sarah Gargan, Bella T'Seleie, Betty Elias, Joshua Oliktoak, Karen Mitchell, Mary Cardinal, Mary Rose Sundberg. I want to thank each of you for sharing your expertise and stepping forward in our efforts to revitalize and strengthen our languages. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "NWT Indigenous Languages Action Plan: A Shared Responsibility 2018-2022." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Aurora College foundational review is one piece of the puzzle. The big thing is our post-secondary education. This is not something that should become political in he-said-she-said and what are you going to do about it. This is our future. This is critical, so I have made a commitment, and I would like to say, if I'm allowed, and I might get slapped on the hand after, but the Chair of the Standing Committee on Social Development is onboard as well.

We need to work as a whole government on this one, so I am not going to be the Minister to stand up and say, "This is what I am doing." I am...

Mr. Speaker, I would first like to start with saying I found it very interesting that the MLA actually expressed her mandates for education, culture and employment because, in my personal opinion, we need more women in leadership. Nothing against our Premier, I love our Premier, but wouldn't it be wonderful to see a woman Premier that could actually give mandates out to departments? I would like to start with that.

What are my mandates? Of course, I do have to listen to our Premier because I do respect him and I like the man very much. He has actually given me a direction that I have to abide...

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce the release of an action plan to support the 2017 NWT Aboriginal Languages Framework.

The Northwest Territories Indigenous Languages Action Plan has two goals. The first is language revitalization, with efforts intended to slow down, stop, and reverse the decline of Indigenous languages in the Northwest Territories. The second goal is to improve people’s access to public services in the nine Indigenous official languages of the Northwest Territories: Inuvialuktun, Inuinnaqtun and Inuktitut; Gwich’in, North Slavey, South Slavey, Tlicho, Chipewyan, and Cree....

I apologize. The Member is correct. I should have been a little more blunt. I'm excited about the possibilities.

The document, the Aurora College Foundational Report, will be tabled next week. We are already in the process, so it will become public next week. We are already in the process of working with the standing committee on the review and how we move forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Monday, May 28, 2018, I will move that Bill 16, An Act to Amend the Social Assistance Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

People who know me know I'm a hard worker. Staff who have worked with me in other departments know that I'm a hard Minister. I don't plan on letting either of those go. My priority within this, the remainder of the time, is to actually make sure, as I stated just before, that all of our education supports are based on best practices, that they are accountable, that we have measurable outcomes, that we evaluate them regularly. That is often called accreditation. I'm not asking people to get to the point of accreditation, but I think we need to work towards that. So it's about quality...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the effect of urbanization is affecting not only the Northwest Territories; it's small communities throughout Canada; internationally, actually. It is happening that people are moving from smaller communities into the regional or larger community centres because there are more opportunities there. So we have to work on it.

Pathways, like I talked about, making people look at their options earlier is one way. One new thing that we're actually doing as well, and I have to thank the MLA who brought it up in the community of Ulukhaktok, having three graduates who did...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize one of our Pages today. She is from Range Lake, Ms. Makayla Lane. Welcome. Thank you.