Jackson Lafferty

We will provide the latest update of all those we have engaged because it’s very important that we hear from the day home and the daycare operators from their perspectives and their concerns that are brought to our attention.

I’m not sure what leaving right away would mean in the school system, whether that is during class or when they leave school. We want each and every child, 8,000 students across the Northwest Territories to graduate with the credentials that they can move on to further education with. There are some challenges we are faced with today. That’s the whole reason we are developing Education Renewal and Innovation, so we can capture those individual students who may be struggling, whether it is with issues at home or personal issues they have encountered. Part of the ERI is to capture the wellness...

That particular review, I’m just getting some information here that it is due in March. Obviously, since we’re discussing that the overall review, we want to be on the right track.

Also, within the review process we want to touch on all funding aspects as well. What the Member is referring to will be captured. We’ve been hearing from the day home and daycare operators their concerns and opportunities that we may consider. Those are discussions that we are currently having.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Part of the process is that we have heard over and over from the parents, the grandparents and the educators that we need to have those individuals along with their peers. At the same time, we are currently working with the parents. We have to deal with attendance and various areas of improvements within our educational system. We are doing what we can as a department. We need to reach out to the parents. If students aren’t attending schools, they fall behind. When they fall behind, they fall behind in the curriculum, the areas of study and way behind in their homework...

Anytime we do a payment plan or subsidy to our clientele, obviously, there is a cost factor to it. I don’t have the actual figures because this is the first of its kind of RRSP clientele requesting income security area. We need to do further work in this area of the cost factor. Once the Member is compiling all the information with my department, we should have a clear idea of where we stand on this.

When we speak to income support and Income Assistance program, it is a program of last resort that helps the most vulnerable of community members in the Northwest Territories. When I speak of vulnerable citizens, I mean those that do not have anything to fall back on as opposed to RRSP, that there is financial support that is available to them.

We have to be very careful how we deal with policy changes when it comes to these particular areas. That’s why I am very cautious of changing the policies with respect to this particular area that we are faced with.

Mahsi. The specific information, which highlights how much it would cost us to reach out to the key people, the stakeholders, the industry representatives, community members, leadership, I don’t have that information here but I can provide that to the Member. But this is an area that we need to seek input. The more information the better, then we can develop an action plan. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. That information that we received, whether it be the 21 different strategies, there was the 30 recommendations. Our government has done a lot of work in this area. Most of the information that we collect, obviously, is through our negotiation with the federal government through the Labour Market Development Agreement, Labour Market Agreement, the Canada-NWT Job Fund that we successfully negotiated. We compiled the information, shared it with the Minister of the day with the federal government. That is information that we’ve been compiling.

Obviously, during our engagement...

I am fully aware of the framework that was initiated in 2009. It has been six years now. A lot of things have changed over that six-year period, such as employment and training stats. We’ve been told over and over, either by this Assembly or the general public, that we need to engage the public. We need to seek their input. We need to gather that data. That’s what we’re doing, Mr. Speaker. Over six years there’s been a lot of work put into play and now we want to build on that. That’s what we’re doing. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Part of the forum we are having in these communities, more specifically Hay River, Fort Smith, Fort Simpson, Inuvik, Norman Wells, Yellowknife and Behchoko in February and March, is to gather all the information, the data that we require that will lead to the development of a strategic framework that will set out a new direction for adults and post-secondary and skills training in the Northwest Territories. That will be followed by an action plan, monitoring and evaluation and also an accountability plan. So there is a great deal of work ahead of us, but we want to compile...