Kieron Testart

I believe I'm being asked a question, Mr. Speaker, so I'll clarify. A resource dividend would be paid out to everyone in the Northwest Territories just like they have in Alaska. That's done through interest. Is the Minister willing to make changes to the heritage fund so we can extract interest from our investments and pay it out to Northerners? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yeah, thank you. Well, just do it. So in the I mean, I was part of the I was one of the MLAs who passed the statutory review, so I think it's important to do it. I think one thing we learned from COVID is when kids are out of class, education results suffer. All the evidence, all the science is showing us that, that if I could have, like, ten more seconds just to conclude my thought but, like, that is where the science is showing us that when you pull kids out of the classroom, academics suffer. And they still have not recovered from all that time that was lost during the pandemic. So I am...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to follow up on the questions raised by the Member for Yellowknife Centre on the Aurora College transition.

In the media, it has been reported, there was a very prominent headline, it is a concern of my constituents that the transition has been paused. There is some confusion whether it is a pause, if it's a delay, if it's still ongoing. Yes, there's a new mandate letter coming, but what is the state right now and why are representatives of the leadership of the college start like saying that this is paused, this transition is paused? Thank you.

MR...

Awesome, Mr. Chair. That's great news. I wish you the best of luck. And if you need any letters written, I can certainly help out.

I just want to point out with this as well, often when there is an announcement around minority language funding for French languages, for French language education in the Northwest Territories or other programming, there seems to be a tugofwar between Indigenous language funding and in a sense that Indigenous languages are being left out of that, but these are completely separate programs and separate funding streams. And I think it's really important we support...

Mr. Speaker, I am sure the Premier is aware of how important jobs are in regional centres and small communities. Especially centres that provide a lot of employment. How is the government going to make up for the loss of jobs and employment in Fort Smith as result of the closure of the facility?

HON. R.J. SIMPSON:

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I too would like to raise the minority language education and secondary language instruction, in particular or the French sorry, the French funding, which is decreasing by I believe my calculations around one point just shy of $1.5 million. And I understand that's a sunsetting from the French language cooperative agreement. The Northwest Territories is has a great reputation and success rate for producing bilingual students through its JK to 12 system. Sorry, I'm getting all my numbers lined or my letters and numbers lined up. So and this is great. I...

Mr. Speaker, the only person who wants to shut down correctional centres is the Minister of Justice. It's not this Member. In fact I would rather see all of our correctional officers keep their jobs and continue doing good work for the territory. Is the Minister not looking at SMCC because it's in his riding? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So of course, the safety of children is always paramount and should be the key consideration to any policy around their care. Will the Minister commit to reviewing the ratios with the daycare association and other daycare providers this fiscal year? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, these efforts are largely designed, I think, to combat organized time. What are we doing about community policing to make sure there's, you know, reassuring community safety officers on the streets, providing that support at the local level, connecting with people, especially the unhoused population that make a big difference in Yellowknife. We have a pilot in Fort Liard. Is the Premier willing to bring that pilot into Yellowknife and into other centres, like his community of Hay River, so we have more presence on the streets keeping people safe? Thank you.

Okay. Finally, an area that we really  everyone needs to get better at, especially in the North, is creative industry around digital property and trademarking and copyrighting and all this kind of stuff. If we can get our artists to preserve their IP and then get it into the international supply chains that can produce stuff elsewhere, have global reach  but we got to teach people those skills so they are empowered to take part in the digital economy, especially our Indigenous artisans. Thank you.