Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, it is absolutely true that Members would have heard, as well as the public, that there is an intent to streamline arts spending within ITI and immigration within ECE. It was important to me that that announcement be made as soon as possible so that the work could then follow in a much more transparent and public way around making sure that we were transitioning stuff so that the staff that are involved in those programs so intimately could be involved in that planning process, and so you will definitely still see budgets reflected in their...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, it's definitely a twofold one where if we want to be able to pay people on par with education assistants, then we definitely need the additional funding. Part of the additional funding hope as well is that you would incentivize more people to enter into that sector and then, of course, we also do need the infrastructure funding as well to be able to pay for more spaces to be built.

And, Mr. Chair, through yourself, can I please pass as well to the deputy minister who would like to add something.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, it is a supplement for people. Once you reach a certain age, you get a small amount of money that is provided to you. And for further detail than that, I'd like to pass to Mr. Saturnino. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. And thank you to the Member for that clarification. So that portion there is a portion of the funding for the Indigenous languages diploma program that I spoke of earlier. That was money that was put in our budget so that we would have it for Aurora College when they came forward with their diploma program. But, unfortunately, that has not happened as of yet. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, those regulations are still in development. And so they go through a process where they are we work closely with the Department of Justice to do that. And then before they can go public for consultation sorry, engagement, they must be translated. And so that's the part of the process that we are in right now. And so as soon as the translation is complete, then those will be available for public engagement. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, unfortunately, we don't have a master waitlist or a database capable of ensuring that people are only on a waitlist once in the territory. We have anecdotal information from day homes and daycares but unfortunately we know that it's not accurate because having been in the situation myself, I can attest to the fact that as parents, we put our names on multiple lists to ensure that we make it to the top, hopefully, of one of them when we need child care. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department did put out a call to education bodies as a whole to ask them, you know, what would work, do you foresee a possibility to offer up some dollars from your budgets. And without any surprise, of course, the answer was no, which we a hundred percent respected because, like many members have said, you know, our foundation to our economic foundation begins with educating our youth. And so we absolutely respected that. But what the education bodies did offer up were some suggestions of where to create some savings within the department...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, Skills NWT and Skills Canada are still very much a thing in the Northwest Territories. Just this past week, students from the Northwest Territories just returned from the national competition. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I think what we've established today, by going all around the room, is that the need exists everywhere. This is not a channel that is shared only with Northwest Territories communities; it's also a challenge that's shared clear across the country. And so that's what this group is coming together to do with engagement, is to figure out, okay, how are we going to do this how are we going to see these dollars flow out the door. And the reality is as well not everybody is going to have shovelready projects available right away. So there is going to have...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. The department has asked for, in this budget, what they feel they will need. And also I hope that with the increased ability for residents to keep some of their earned income and work with client navigators as well as career development officers that hopefully we will be able to support residents to create pathways to employment, entrepreneurship, as well as education by combining our business plans with the dollars that we do have available. Thank you.