Caitlin Cleveland

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 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, 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...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the things that we have heard from education bodies across the Northwest Territories, and specifically people who are in the role of classroom support positions, is that they wanted to have a fuller toolbox to be able to help students. And so one of the programs that ECE worked with education bodies to put into place over the course of the last few years was training for classroom assistants through a partnership that was formed with Douglas College, which I look forward to speaking about more in the House this week, and we are just...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, to my left I have deputy minister Pamela Strand. And to my right, I have Nina Salvador who is the director of corporate management and finance.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I didn't hear a question, but I very much look forward to discussing with the Member and absolutely very much look forward to hopefully travelling to the Sahtu. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that in 2019, so almost some years ago now, that the Sahtu leadership came together to discuss issues of education and a vision for the future of education in the region and that this led to a fiveyear strategic plan that will be expiring in June of 2025. So I appreciate the Member for bringing this forward because it sounds like the timing is right. And so if leadership from across the Sahtu decides to come together in an education conference next summer, I would be more than happy to attend and to listen in to this and...