Caitlin Cleveland

Mr. Speaker, we have arrived at the routine session day where I speak to proactively increasing our population size to achieve our labour market needs and grow the economic potential of our territory. So settle in, friends, as I plant a wish list for immigration.

First is a shift to relationship building that pulls immigration staff out of offices and into our communities through an industryfocused effort to support economic development by supporting unfulfilled NWT staffing needs. Establish an Immigration Advisory Council that serves as an expert panel to recommend improvements to current...

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories declare the overrepresentation of Indigenous children and youth in child and family services a crisis and develop a whole of government response in partnership with Indigenous governments. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

No more questions, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Member for Great Slave, that Committee Report 2619(2): Standing Committee on Social Development Report on the Child and Family Services Act Lifting NWT Children, Youth and Families: An All of Territory Approach to Keeping Families Together, be received and adopted by the Assembly and referred to Committee of the Whole. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, along the same vein as far as affordability of food being a key component of food security across the territory, I'm wondering if the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, specifically income assistance like, I've noticed that that they are not in this mandate or this list of mandate items under this priority, and really the participation of income security is huge as far as being able to afford to put food on the table. And so given the increase to food costs, is income assistance looking at increasing their own amount that goes towards...

Mr. Speaker, no one is more precious than our babies, children and youth.

Every child deserves to live and grow in a healthy home where they are cared for in a stable learning environment. I do not doubt that all parents, grandparents, and caregivers want to give their children the best But not all have the means to do so. In the language of child welfare, the difference that emerges is not what parents and caregivers want for their children; it is what resources they have available to fill those wants and needs.

For too many, safe and adequate housing, nutritious food, health supports, and...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. And I guess just to carry on where my colleague from Great Slave left off there, I am happy that Nutrition North is part of our priorities and made it into a mandate commitment because it is such a key pillar program of food security in the Northwest Territories because food security really, at the end of the day, is about affordability of food. It's a question of income, and it's a question of ensuring that there is affordability in every household for healthy nutritious foods to make it on to the table. And so this conversation about Nutrition North is...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, my question was in regards to tracking. And so I'm wondering how the government is tracking housing needs as it relates to increasing employment in small communities? And I use the example of the communities of Tuktoyaktuk wanting to hire a mental health counsellor but that they could not do that because there was no housing in the community for that person to live in. And so that meant that Tuk was unable to hire that person to work in the community. And so how is that information being tracked by the GNWT and supplied to either Executive or the...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my final question is in regards to the OAG report. And the OAG report that came out near the beginning of our term stipulated that ECE must change the way that it's collecting data. And the example of that was the reporting of graduation rates.

Improved data collection analysis and reporting and better use of data can increase equity, improve student achievement and outcomes, and improves decisionmaking as well so that it's evidencedbased decisionmaking.

So I'm wondering, do the changes to data collection and data analysis extend to identify and...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for that response from the Minister.

My second question is in regards to the action item develop greater integration of services for children and youth in the education system through expanding regional capacity. This action item has also been delayed, and I'm noting that it also includes explore regional approaches to expand the current capacity of the territorialbased support team and identify a pilot or a demonstration site for the model to be deployed and evaluated. So when is this work expected to be completed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.