Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the department did have money set aside in the budget anticipating that that program would be developed and come forward and had hoped it would come forward sooner. And so it has been part of ECE's budget for a number of years and money that they have received/approved by this Legislative Assembly for that purpose. Given that the program is not yet in existence, that was identified as a potential cost savings to the department and dollars that could be directed elsewhere so that we're ensuring that we're directing it to where it can best be used. And...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we're just looking for it because it  it didn't disappear. It was simply reprofiled under the art strategy funding and so it is still in here. We're just determining for the Member where specifically it did move to. But I can confirm for the Member that it's not sunset. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I would like the opportunity to pass to the assistant deputy minister Shannon BarnettAikman.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, in addition to, you know, students who want to go through like the SNAP program, there is also the career education advisors. But can I just confirm the Member was talking about what's being done for JK to grade 8? Thank you. Oh, yes, I'm getting a thumbs up. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, the new curriculum that is being implemented in the Northwest Territories would have more practical courses that could relate to employment readiness. And the other thing that I think is really valuable within the new curriculum is that it's a lot more...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I was able to confirm with the assistant deputy minister that the Indigenous languages line item that's found under contributions just a few line items above, for $5.36 million, is the line item where that funding is found. 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. Chair. Mr. Chair, just to be clear, we did not decrease our contributions or change the funding formula. The funding formula is enrolmentbased, so it would be based on the number of students attending a school based on the numbers provided by that particular education body and particular school. And as far as you know, if the Member is asking how enrolment numbers changed year after year for schools in her region, I'd be happy to access that information but it's not information that I have at my fingertips right now. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, as far as the implementation plan of what this will look like and how it will be done is something that is currently in the works within each of the departments, and so it's not something that I was able to, you know, quickly go and do in a rush over the last six months in order to make sure that it was separated out before we got to this part in our term together but I wanted to ensure that this is something that can be done in this fiscal year. So I guess my best response to the Member is stay tuned, and I will make sure that I am doing my best to...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I took that as a comment. I didn't hear a question from the Member.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'm very happy that Members have been so vocal in the House about the use of this program and how successful, or how reliant I should say, seniors and elders are. I think it's really important that everybody have the opportunity to hear what is working for residents and what is not. And so I'm very thankful to Members that they've shared that this is definitely something that is needed.

The reason that you see the difference of just over $500,000 between the revised estimates for 20232024 and the main estimates for 20242025 is that due to the increase...