Jackson Lafferty

Within our Government of the Northwest Territories, we’ve been talking about, just recently, the wraparound, the services. That has been in discussion. Obviously, this will be a topic of discussion that the Member alluded to when I meet with interagency and other departments here when we talk about the funding itself. Yes, this will be, obviously, part of the discussion that we’ll be having.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Obviously, there is a school funding framework that we follow through with and it does consist of various categories for individual school boards to qualify for. Some of the areas for counselling, obviously, the funding would be for school community counsellors, inclusive schooling, that there is funding for counsellors and inclusive schooling and funding for counselling and healing. These are just some of the areas that we’ll be capturing what the Member is referring to as community school counsellors. Part of the Dehcho Divisional Education Council, we are contributing up...

Mahsi. Yes, we need to provide as much support to our students as we possibly can, especially students coming from the remote communities, and all communities as well.

This is an area that I need to address with the college because the college dorms are under their umbrella. So, that message will be relayed to the board chair and president, what’s the status on that and how can we assist those individuals, the students, if they’re struggling. I will get the status for the Member. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Colville Lake’s school has been in the discussions for a number of years now, even through the local DEAs and at the regional level with DECs. We have to go through, obviously, the capital planning process where we have all these different areas of capital infrastructure coming forward. We, as a department, hope to get those key initiatives such as Colville Lake into the hopper. So based on that, we’re following through on what will be approved through this Assembly and moving forward. Part of that, obviously, is the Colville Lake School that we’ve been talking about for a...

Mahsi. Obviously, we welcome any organizations, any industries coming to our schools to provide incentives, whether it be focusing on attendance or on-the-land programs. There are all these different partnerships out there that come into our school system and do partner up and contribute towards our programming or students’ well-being. So, we’ll continue to push that forward, seeking out partners, and we’ll do our part as the Department of Education, working again, with the DECs and DEAs as well. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The whole Education Renewal and Innovation will obviously capture that. The attendance issue has been at the forefront of our discussion through the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative in which we’ve engaged with the general public over the years since 2010, and we had a forum on education renewal. The poor attendance, obviously, is a symptom of underlying issues where students are disengaged in our school system.

Examples of our ERI that I can share with the Member, one of the focuses is student well-being through safe and caring school practices and also providing...

As I stated in this House, I did make a commitment to reach out to those operators and the stakeholders and that’s exactly what we’re doing through the Premier’s statement. The review, obviously, will go beyond the 23 communities and engage the education authorities, licenced daycare centres, day homes, Aboriginal Head Start programming and stakeholder groups. We also have to keep in mind there are parents we have to engage with, as well, and the general public over the coming months. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Those are discussions that we had just a while ago about the title, Junior Kindergarten, versus potential other names. We are going through a comprehensive review, as the Premier indicated. We do have some time to discuss those matters. Right now we are currently delivering into 23 communities. The title, obviously, is Junior Kindergarten, so those are just some of the discussions that we need to have as a department and with the communities as well. Mahsi.

Any funding that Health and Social Services can provide to us is greatly appreciated. At the same time, it is an interagency meeting that we need to have with the Department of Health and Social Services and my department because we talk about the school community counsellors and also counselling and healing. There are separate pots that we provide, as the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, to Fort Liard and other communities. Yes, I did commit to working with the Department of Health and Social Services. They have been our partner along the way and they will continue to do so.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Yes, there are three particular projects that this budget earmarked. There’s Chief Julius School, Fort McPherson, the addition of washrooms for JK classes completed September 2014. Mangilaluk School in Tuktoyaktuk, also similar work, completed September. Also, Colville’s school in Colville Lake. That’s been completed this month, October.

So those are areas of JK infrastructure for the amount of money identified. Mahsi.