Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Since I came to office in 2007, we have made some changes not only to income support but other programs as well. As you know, Education, Culture and Employment has a variety of programs under us, even under income support that can provide… There have been some additions; there have been some changes. I can provide that detailed list to the Member. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, we do provide basic fundamental funding to the clientele that we service, the income support clientele. The funding that we provide is shelter, food and clothing.

Again, we are working through various programs such as Municipal and Community Affairs have numbers of programming through NGOs such as we do.

As the Education, Culture and Employment department, we provide almost $7 million in various NGO funding that consists in a breakdown in the communities of various funding that is accessible by the parents, by the children, by the community members. Continuously we have been...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I do believe there were three or four questions in there; I can only answer one. With the distance that has been brought to our attention through the poverty strategy that we have engaged with the public, NGOs, it is important for us to be part of that as income support. We have made some changes over the years, even major changes in 2007 that reflect on communities’ needs. Along the way we have been making changes. We are glad we are part of the Anti-Poverty Strategy that is coming forward in this Assembly, along with other strategies as well. It is important for us to be...

Yes, we are part of the strategy for anti-poverty. We will continue to provide our resources through that strategy as well. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This is an area with a broad perspective beyond the ECE department and beyond the school boards. It is the GNWT as a whole, because we do have all the professions within the GNWT. So if we need to change that regulation, then it would have to be the GNWT changing the regulation. If we do it for one, then there will be others lining up.

So I think we need to strategically look at the overall regulations we have, how they impact on different departments. So that’s what we need to discuss, and we have discussed that with the Housing Corporation and Human Resources in the past...

Part of, again, the process is apprentice training on the jobs that we have. We currently have a wage subsidy, and that’s provided to the small employers so they can be competitive with the larger employers as well.

Most of the programs, as you know, there are limited financial resources with a high demand exceeding supply. With the feedback from my colleague, the Minister of ITI, on the Economic Development Panel, part of the role, I guess, is apprenticeship is something that we will review in light of supply and demand, and as you’ve heard from the panelists, there’s a high demand for...

Mahsi. I do believe this question is timely. As you know, the Minister of ITI delivered an economic development report that was tabled last week. Part of that consisted of training, training Northerners. With the Apprenticeship, Trades and Occupation Act, it was recently revised. It came into force October 2012, and full implementation this August 2013. So that is part of ongoing development that we’re going through.

The review also consisted of various partners involved, stakeholders, industries, apprentices and the Apprenticeship Board. So those are just some of the processes that we have to...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, that Bill 12, An Act to Amend the Education Act, be read for the second time.

This bill amends the Education Act to:

establish a definition of bullying;

provide for the establishment, by regulation, of a Territorial School Code of Conduct;

require divisional education councils or district education authorities, as applicable, to ensure the development of safe schools plans.

Mr. Speaker, that is 2014-15 we have earmarked for the funding for a planning study. If there are any changes, we will definitely let the Member know in advance. Mahsi.

This particular school, Trout Lake, along with the Colville Lake school, has been brought to our attention on numerous occasions, even through a Rural and Remote Committee that I sit on, and also the Members. We are pushing that forward.

Part of the process of, again, education renewal will focus on the small community schools. We’re fully aware that some of the small, isolated communities are feeling left out when it comes to infrastructure. Those are some of the areas that we are currently discussing and engaging the community, the DECs, DEAs, and also meeting with Aboriginal leadership on...