Jackson Lafferty

I was just looking at the list and I’m not sure if it’s all 33 communities, but I do have quite a list here. It does capture early childhood, disabilities, district education, friendship centre, daycare society, nursery, library committee, and playschool and so forth. But I need to find out if it does capture all 33 communities, and if not, why not, and those types of questions. But this is all based on proposals that we receive from the communities. That’s what we have to date, the 2011-2012 actual numbers that we’re using, proposals that we receive, so I can provide that information to the...

I agree with the Member and the students that brought that petition forward. There should be degree programming through business administration into our great campuses across the Northwest Territories. There is also the Social Work degree program that students wish to be delivered in the Northwest Territories. I just signed off a letter, I believe this morning, pertaining to that, that I would obviously like to deliver a Business Administration Degree Program. This has gone to the chair of the college Board of Governors. As soon as I hear and once we meet, then I can provide Members with the...

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Through the reporting mechanism, the president works closely with my deputy minister and also assistant deputy ministers pertaining to operations within the college. We provide funding on an annual basis and they provide a report at the end of the year. Then there is also a reporting mechanism within the college through board chairs and myself, as the Minister responsible. At the same time, we are going through a review of the reporting structure and accountability framework between the college and also working closely with my Department of Education, Culture and Employment...

Mahsi. Sorry about that. I was referring to option two. Number three is early childhood community outreach, $670,000 that’s been budgeted and to date we’ve spent that on various initiatives such as public awareness, elders’ sharing circle, there’s a Healthy Family Program working with the Health and Social Services department. ECD, Early Childhood Development Framework, again, working with Health and Social Services, an engagement plan, the regional committee members travelling to various sites and so forth. Children’s resources for Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, supplies and...

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. I feel the frustration of the Member and I do get those requests as well. As you know, we are going through some changes and recommendations being brought forward from the office of the Auditor General. That gives us an opportunity to improve our programs. As you know, these are regulations that we follow. It’s part of the Auditor’s report that we have to be stringent and follow our policies in place. There are some areas that we can be somewhat flexible and I’ve instructed my department, when it comes to professionalism, we need to treat everybody with respect.

We’ve...

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. We did over time receive correspondence from the college. Just recently we received one that showed an expression of interest on the campus itself. That is an area that we are currently exploring within our department. We will be going through the capital planning process, and it will be addressed at that level too.

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. Some of the areas that we talk about, the heritage centre, $491,000, the cultural projects, preserving, identity enhancement, traditional cultures, and contribution to administration and operations, those are just some areas that will capture it. I understand where the Member is coming from with the arts council. New Northern Arts Program does capture to some degree northern film, part of the heritage.

I do take the Member’s comments into consideration, and we can definitely, well, we do have some highlights of what kind of organizations we currently sponsor. Based on that...

The quickest answer would be everyone. We’re all responsible. We provide funding to the school boards. Even the parents and grandparents have to play a part. The school programming, there is an accountability framework that happens where my department and I work closely with the divisional boards to make it a success for the students. When we say who is responsible, I believe that we are also responsible. We have to make sure that the school boards are following the Education Act and the money that flows to them goes to the direct cause of student success. Those are just some of the areas that...

Yes, Mr. Chair.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Heritage centres do receive funding, as well, of $491,000. Again, arts councils, culture projects, cultural organizations, when you really look at it in detail, cultural organizations, cultural projects do capture heritage because you work closely with the museum. In the Sahtu region there was a project on the go with ice. So those areas do capture heritage. It may not be upfront, but almost every one of them do capture heritage. Mahsi.