Ronald Bonnetrouge

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The committee commends the commission on improving their website. This includes enlarged buttons and increased colour contrasts to aid persons with visual disabilities. Other improvements include that documents and resources are made in an accessible format, such as MS Word documents.

Now is the time for government to update its web services, focusing on online communication and digital access. The government response to the COVID-19 pandemic relied heavily on online service.

Committee encourages the GNWT to take this important step to open the doors to persons with...

There are grave concerns from my leadership that the virus could spread into our communities without a proven way to test each person for the coronavirus. There are confirmed cases in the Northwest Territories from people who have travelled out of territory. For the benefit of medical travel patients, which could mean a shorter stay at the isolation centre, and for the comfort level and certainty for local leadership, can the coronavirus testing be conducted on the travellers upon arrival to the NWT?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

This concludes the Standing Committee on Government Operations' Report on the Review of the 2018-2019 Annual Report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of the Northwest Territories. Committee again wishes Ms. Keenan-Bengts well in her retirement and looks forward to working with the new IPC.

The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the GNWT provide a response to the recommendations contained in this report within 120 days. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I would like to speak about the exemptions of many of the medical travel patients and their escorts, which, in most cases, include family such as children. Many of the patients have to go to Edmonton to see a specialist for serious ailments as there are not many or very few specialists in the Northwest Territories. Upon return to the NWT, they would have to self-isolate at a regional centre for 14 days. According to the document, thresholds and criteria for exemptions to self-isolate in a non-hub community for compassionate or exceptional reasons, the Chief Public Health...

The chief and council of my community are upset that a nurse from the South is allowed to self-isolate at the local health centre where the residents of the community go for healthcare issues. I have also received another complaint of a social services employee returning from a visit to the east coast and is currently back on the job at the health centre. This is the health centre where all our people go who are the most vulnerable. There most likely was not any requirement for COVID testing. This again provokes the notion as to whether we are playing Russian roulette with the lives of the...

I thank the Minister for those explanations, especially the "passing the buck" one that he kind of hooked on. The Auditor General's Report states that the department invested heavily in the Northern Distance Learning program, something he alluded to. Did the department evaluate the Northern Distance Learning program as it relates to meeting high-quality education outcomes?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My Member's statement alluded to the Auditor General's finding on education delivery by the department of education. Of interest, I noted the department piloted the junior kindergarten program across the territory during the 2017-2018 school year. The Auditor General's report stated the department's analysis of a small number of junior kindergarten students during the pilot program scored better on a number of indicators related to developmental readiness for learning. The report also goes on to state data from the JK program needed additional data to be collected over...

We look forward to the findings of that rollout, considering we do have language immersion programs included in the JK programs up to grade four. The Auditor General notes the department made commitments to ensure equitable access to quality education for all the small communities but did not explicitly identify actions required to achieve this commitment. Can the Minister provide information as to why the commitments were not actioned to ensure quality outcomes or equitable access to education?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment is responsible for the Northwest Territories education system from junior kindergarten to grade 12, which includes all of the small communities. I realize the department does not deliver the education services directly to the students. As they have stated on many occasions, that is the responsibility of the regional education boards. This is like passing the buck so they would not have to take responsibility even for oversight.

Mr. Speaker, the Education Act states that students must have access to the highest possible...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. As I have been going on about our elders, our knowledge-keepers, to keep them in our communities, this is so that the children, their children and grandchildren, and other residents of the community can have direct access to them within the community without having to drive out-of-town or to another centre. If they go to another centre, you've got to understand from their point of view, the elders, the ones that are displaced into another centre, that they don't have family around. They're in a totally strange environment. They've never ever left the community that's the...