Jackson Lafferty

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate Ms. Simone Gessler, principal of Weledeh Catholic School in Yellowknife, on being recognized as one of Canada’s Outstanding Principals for 2014.

The Learning Partnership recently announced Ms. Gessler as one of 40 exceptional educators from across Canada. Through her leadership at Weledeh Catholic School since 2010, literacy rates have improved substantially, with 100 percent of students now demonstrating significant improvements in reading, sense of confidence and self-efficacy, and 70 percent are reading at or above grade level.

To achieve this, Ms. Gessler...

Mahsi. That’s the information and the direction that we need to work with the child care centres and especially the daycare operators. They would have a handle on how many are in the system, how many are getting their certification or diploma and the degree programs. So 2016-2017 onward we want to identify those individuals.

We have, I believe, if I’m not mistaken, approximately 30 individuals that are in the professional fields in post-secondary. Obviously, we want to attract them to the Northwest Territories to work in our centres across the Northwest Territories. So this will be an incentive...

Mahsi, Madam Speaker. I don’t have the breakdown of how many times we met or how many agencies, but I can provide the breakdown to the Member.

With the proposed funding that’s within the budget, we are allocating upwards of $511,000 towards this wage subsidy. There were suggestions and ideas that came forward and, again, we have to backtrack to the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative, Early Childhood Development Framework, the engagement we have had with the general public, the agencies, the child care workers. They’ve told us their wage is so low, minimum $17,000 to $22,000 a year, so we...

Yes, I did make a commitment to sit down with the board of governors. Mahsi.

These are the discussions that we need to have with the community of Aklavik and the Beaufort-Delta Education Council and Public Works and Services as we move forward. These are the discussions we need to have about the needs of the community and also the school, but number one will be the safety of our students and the public safety. So, I will be keeping the Member informed of our progress. Mahsi, Madam Speaker.

We are working diligently with various agencies like education councils, the school and Public Works and Services. Solutions to this problem are being considered and recommendations will be made to the Hamlet of Aklavik. The GNWT will participate in finding solutions that will be in the best interest of safety for the students and the public at large. Mahsi, Madam Speaker.

Yes, it will take time in various areas, but we, as a department, will be working closely with the daycare operators because we want those individuals to achieve their goals and dreams of either certification, diploma or a degree program. We will be establishing up to 10 $5,000 scholarships for these individuals to access. So we’re doing what we can to send those individuals out while they’re still working. So, obviously we want to create some incentives. That’s what we’re doing and this is a process where we are currently working with the operators at this point in time. Mahsi.

The money that’s identified, once it’s passed through this House in the budget we will then be working with licensed early childhood centre operators to ensure the funding is applied directly to increasing of staff wages. So those are the targeted individuals, individuals with low wages so we can at least subsidize them. In 2014, in April, that’s when the $2 addition will be added on. The following year in April will be another $1 addition and the subsequent years will be based on certification, diplomas or degrees they’ve obtained will be waged at the top of this. Those are just the...

This is an area that I need to have a discussion with the board of governors of the college, having a direct dialogue with the board of governors and the students. We have to have an open dialogue. That’s a discussion we need to have with the board of governors, the board chairs and the president. You know I have the authority, but I need to sit down with them first to see what kind of discussions they’ve had in the past and how we can move forward. Those are discussions, and I’ve made a commitment in the House to proceed with that and I’m going to do it, Madam Speaker.

Mahsi, Madam Speaker. I have already made a commitment in the House that I will be meeting with the board of governors’ chair and also the president, both of them together, to highlight the Member’s concern that the board of governors should be meeting with the students.

I don’t want to be in a position to dictate to the board of governors or the district education councils or authorities to tell them what to do. We have to work hand in hand. We have to work closely together between the departments and agencies, so we continue to strengthen the relationship we have with the agencies and DEAs...