Jay Macdonald

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to thank the constituents of Thebacha. I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to each one of you for your trust and support in electing me to be your representative in the 20th Assembly. This journey has been made possible through the dedication and the hard work of my incredible election team whose commitment has been unwavering.

To my esteemed colleagues of the 20th Assembly, your trust and support mean the world to me. I am honoured and humbled to serve alongside each dedicated individual in this Assembly.

To my beloved family my wife Karen...

Thank you, Madam Chair. And the Minister's numbers are correct. Those are funding contributions from ECE. Their primary funder is Employment and Social Development Canada so that's where they tend to get most of their revenue. But they may be able to fund other partnerships with individual education bodies across the territory as that's their direct link into schools. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. As the Minister mentioned earlier, I think, when responding to a previous question, the GNWT has determined that it needed to reclassify this funding. So previously it would have been categorized as funds or funding carried or programming carried on behalf of others, in this case the federal government. That's now been shifted into operations. So that's why these positions are showing up now in a different way where they wouldn't have been as visible before because it would have been federal funding. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. ECE has also applied to and received funding from the federal Department of Employment and Social Development Canada for what's called Skills 4 Success Funding Program. And this funding has been in turn transferred to Aurora College and in another instance to the literacy council for programs such as what the Member mentioned. So in the case of Aurora College, it's really to develop curriculum and the mechanisms to be able to support apprenticeships. So that's exactly what that is intended to do. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And certainly lots of experience with Northern Youth Abroad. They're an excellent partner, and they have been for many years both here in the Northwest Territories and in Nunavut as well. Other than their core programming, which I think most of the Members would be quite familiar with, ECE, with the development of northern distance learning, has partnered with Northern Youth Abroad on what's called a postsecondary bridging experience. So we really rely and leverage their expertise with working with youth, organizing youth to travel. And they take northern distance...

Thank you, Madam Chair. And the Minister's absolutely correct. The Canadawide agreements that were negotiated by all 13 provinces and territories late in 2021 all focus on creating roughly equivalent a national early learning and child care system which is modeled off of the Quebec model. That system is generally focused on licensed facilities and, at least the initial focus of effort over the initial five years of that agreement, is to roll out that system. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Family day homes are treated in the regulations, Child Daycare Act standard regulations. So it's how they're licensed. They're licensed for three space types. They can have two infants, four spaces for preschools, and two for out of school spaces. So, really, there's a limit to the number of children that they can have in care. And that's really what differentiates them from a centrebased program which has another set of space and supervisory requirements. And, again, because the current Child Daycare Act is really focused on child safety, wellness within the context of...

Thank you Chair. With respect to this additional funding, one of the things that we determined was that we needed to support the various heritage centres to be able to plan to undertake any type of capital enhancements to their facilities. So in addition to the typical operational funding that we have been providing to them prior to receiving this additional funding, we've provided each of them with what we refer to as infrastructure planning funding.

So that's intended to support them, to help them come to us or to the federal government with a clear sense of what their needs are. So each of...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think where the Minister was going was that because the department and education bodies, as well as the teachers association, as partners are all embarking on the curriculum renewal, that transition is, as you can imagine, very comprehensive and is taking everybody a great deal of effort. You know, things like training of staff, you know, changing systems, records management. It touches on every aspect of a system, including inclusive schooling. So, really, what we're trying to do is get that moved along to such a point that then once we're fully shifted toward...

Thank you, Madam Chair. So with the supporting child inclusion and participation program, the Member is correct. For those more familiar with a JK or a K to 12 system context, it is roughly analogist to inclusion where the ultimate purpose of the program and the funding is to support in this case licensed programs to be able to more effectively support children who may have exceptional needs of some kind or another.

In terms of how the program is broken out, there is an opportunity for support for community programs, such as family and tot programs. There is also a stream within it that focuses...