Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to start off by thanking the Member for raising this. We have a very beautiful tourism industry to match our very beautiful landscape here in the Northwest Territories. We're certainly very aware of the challenges that the low water levels pose on our remote lodges across the territory, and ITI continues to work closely with NWT Chamber of Commerce and NWT Tourism as well to make sure that we're understanding the specific needs of lodges and who is in that situation, and until we know more information about what that looks like for...

[Translation] [Translation Ends]. Mahsi.

Today, I am proud to share our progress in addressing these recommendations. To make the support assistant role more effective and supported, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment updated both job descriptions and the Inclusive Schooling Handbook. The Government of the Northwest Territories also forged a partnership with Douglas College to pilot an Education Assistance and Inclusion Certificate.

This virtually-delivered program was tailored to the needs of NWT support assistants in several ways. Participants followed a cohort-based model...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, ITI does maintain a number of territorial parks across the Northwest Territories which do have turnarounds for RVs. That being said, we also did just increase our fees within ITI in order to create space for privately-owned campgrounds as well. Historically our rates were quite low, and we needed to raise those to make sure that they were both competitive and doing a better job of keeping up what it actually cost us to operate our parks, which I will say are still subsidized within the territory.

For turnaround stations that are outside of our...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, the North is definitely spectacular, so thank you to the Member for that.

Ensuring the safety of tourists and residents during forest fire emergencies is certainly a top priority for the Government of the Northwest Territories. It's important, though, for tourism operators to have robust business continuity plans and also appropriate insurance coverage in place to manage such situations. As far as communication, we do have our public safety page on the GNWT website, we have things like Cabin Radio who has always been very active in making sure...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know I don't have to tell you this, but coaches play a vital role in our communities. Good coaching isn't only about enhanced sport performance, it's about something much more important.

Eighty percent of people who received coaching report increased self-confidence. They establish and take action towards achieving goals, become more self-reliant, gain more job and life satisfaction, contribute more effectively to their teams on and off the court, take greater responsibility and accountability for their actions and commitments, and work more easily and...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Prosper NWT 2024-2025 Corporate Plan. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, from within the ITI umbrella, we do have a support for product development enhancement through the well established tourism product diversification and marketing program. This is specifically funding to reinvent, improve, and expand tourism products across the Northwest Territories. And we also have funding for business planning for product packages for marketing efforts. Within ECE, we have wage subsidies. And then if you head over to some of our other departments, there are opportunities to build business in the Northwest Territories for sure. I can say...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues for talking about our students, the importance of education, and also this Assembly's priority on building a strong economic foundation for our whole territory.

Mr. Speaker, changes were made to the Student Financial Assistance Program in 2023-2024, including increases to the benefit rates for remissible loans. ECE is analyzing the impacts of the changes, including impacts to the SFA loan limits, which is expected to be completed at the end of the 2024-2025 academic year.

Mr. Speaker, while I...

Yes, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like the opportunity to find out from the Member exactly what it is that he is looking for as far as support and be able to find out how we can help one another make sure that this happens, but I'd like to better understand what it is that he's looking for. Thank you.