Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. That specific area I did make a commitment in the House that we need to follow through with it. We did explore areas and my understanding is that this is part of the Early Childhood Development Framework review that’s currently in the first phase and going on into the second phase. We’re going to change the programming and there will be opportunity and time to do that. This is an area that’s been brought to our attention. It is in the works with the review that’s been undertaken.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. We will provide as much information as we have. It could be detailed information. We’ll have to work with Public Works and Services in that respect as well. Yes, definitely we’ll share the information that the Member is referring to. Mahsi, Mr. Chair.

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. This, as the deputy stated, is the money that’s been identified last year and is going to be sunsetted. The organization that’s been delivering that have, of course, been doing good work in this area. We have to look at this from an interdepartmental perspective. It’s not just our department. I need to work closely with Health as well, and other organizations, I guess. The money has been run out at the end of this fiscal year. That’s where it’s at right now.

The Member is asking who is going to be delivering that. I’m sure that we provide funding through various programming...

Again this could fall under SFA review. As you know, we service over 1,400 students for the Northwest Territories. There are some issues that may come before us. There might be some delays in responding, depending on the certain days. Customer service has been addressed here in the survey. We will do what we can as a department to rectify the issue, because expedience is, of course, our priority. We want to respond back to the students as soon as possible, but there are occasions that there may be some delays. Our priority is to respond back to the students, each and every student, as best as...

Mr. Chair, the ALCIP program has been around for a while now. It is an area that we continue to focus on and put more pressure, because definitely we need those Aboriginal-speaking individuals that can come back to teach our kids. There are 20 courses over the two-year period and we realize some individuals are taking a course at a time, but this is another opportunity that they can take advantage of. We are also focusing on the ALCIP program, how we can improve in those areas. The Member did address that concern with me and we are looking at how we can improve in those areas as well. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. We can provide that information to the Members, the breakdown of what we have within our department, the expenditure that he’s referring to.

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. I have with me Dan Daniels, deputy minister of ECE and also Paul Devitt, director of business and strategic planning, ECE. Mahsi.

Hand games have become a popular form of games in the communities, the traditional games. We as a department sponsor to some degree in association to hand games. We may not directly sponsor the hand game tournament.

As you know, I’ve been to a lot of hand games in the past and I guess one can see it as gambling, where money has been dispersed left and right. The perception is out there and we have to be careful as a Department of Education, Culture and Employment. We support the cultural preservation and what can we do to support that. If youth are getting involved with various hand game...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. That information that we received we are following through with the various comments that were initiated. The customer satisfaction is, of course, our first priority. We need to rectify if there’s an issue or concern or challenge that’s before us. My department has been instructed to look at it seriously on the comments that came to our attention. We will follow through with that.

Mr. Chair, no, it’s not.