Jackson Lafferty

Mr. Speaker, this particular capital plan that we’re talking about, we need to work with the divisional education council as well. Also, I need to work with my colleague the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs with respect to the recreation, the gymnasium area. We have done that in the past where we’ve had communities partnering on a certain expansion in the schools. Those are the discussions that we can certainly have with the Member and also the Member’s leadership at the community level. I think, Mr. Speaker, this particular issue that’s before us, we’ll discuss it further. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. There is an added position, assistant curator position as part of collection and exhibit renewal at the museum, website and multimedia coordinator position also added at the museum. Another position added as an aboriginal student achievement coordinator to deal with the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative. Another position is an administrative officer for an aboriginal language position as the Official Language Implementation Initiative. Mr. Chair, another position as an SFA loan officer position through the Student Financial Assistance Initiative. Another position...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We did send off another letter to the federal Minister of Canadian Heritage in January, this last month, reminding them of the critical stages we’re at to expand the phase two of this particular school. Not only that, but we’re trying to expedite the process. As I highlighted earlier, gymnasiums and other additional administration and learning support and the building services area, that’s the phase two that we’re talking about. At the same time, we are waiting for them to give us the go-ahead.

When I said the discussion is ongoing, we are continuing the discussions with the...

Mr. Chairman, with the child care spaces, we do have approximately 1,810 spaces that we support. Out of that, there are roughly 117 programs across the Northwest Territories. With the School Community Counsellor Program, it has been delivered through, as you know, the college for a number of years. There has been some interest, of course, in restarting that. Those are the areas that we are looking at as we speak. We need to have more discussion in that field. Mahsi.

This week is Heritage Week and each year the City of Yellowknife recognizes one resident for their work preserving our northern heritage. I want to congratulate Yvonne Quick, who is the recipient of the 2009 City of Yellowknife Heritage Award. Over the years she has served on the City of Yellowknife’s Heritage Committee, the Northern Frontier Visitors Association board of directors, the Wildcat Cafe Advisory Committee, the NWT Mining Heritage Society and the Float Plane Fly-in and Air Show committees. She is also the current coordinator of the Arctic Ambassadors and represents the Northwest...

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, there are a lot of important comments that have been initiated here that we will certainly continue to work with. In the Sahtu region, of course, the high school grads have been brought to our attention. We do provide tools for the students to continue on with their high school and also post-secondary. There are other options that are available to the students that we’ve talked about in the past, but we will continue to provide the funding to the school boards in that respective region and other regions as well.

At the same time, Mr. Chair, there is a concern about...

I was just chatting with my colleague here. Yes, the health centres do provide those services. Not only that, within the early childhood space the Member is referring to, capacity, we do have the capacity. If not, then the funding that’s been identified is available to organizations that would like to maybe open up a space in that area. Yes, there is a collaboration and cooperation by Health and Social Services and our Department of Education, Culture and Employment on providing more services in this area.

Mr. Chairman, we will have a good streamline process as we move forward. As indicated, this is an area of interest to me and also concern. There has been some work on the way. We have identified a couple of positions that we highlighted; aboriginal student coordinator. That initiative will deal with this matter at hand as well. We want to have a mechanism in place where most of the money expended to the regions, but at the same time there are unique circumstances that are beyond our control at times.

Mr. Chairman, as a department we will do our best to fully utilize the funding that is...

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I have with me the deputy minister, Dan Daniels, to my left, and, to my right, Paul Devitt, director of strategic investment services. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Early Childhood Program delivery is, of course, our first priority as a government and also with my specific department of Education, Culture and Employment. I do not have the breakdown of what the Member is referring to as a deficit, but we are investing more money, as you know, within the budget that will be before us and that we’ll be discussing further on the huge investment that we’re allotting for that particular area of early childhood. So we’ll continue to invest in those areas, because this is a prime example of a worthwhile investment into a system.