R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the Member's asking me for my opinion, I don't want to give my opinion about situations like this. I'm not a police officer. I don't know the ins and outs of the situation in Fort Smith. But the RCMP are aware of their staffing numbers. This is not the first time that they haven't had a full complement of officers in a community. And as the Member stated, they have sent someone in to that community. They have the ability to send in additional officers to that community if they feel that they need to. So I would say that the RCMP has this situation in hand, and if...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. These are very complex questions with many aspects to them. I will do my best to try and remember everything that the Member asked and provide some answers.

So as the Members know, we have the Early Childhood Infrastructure Fund, and that is being prioritized for communities where there are no childcare programs. There's currently 12 communities with no childcare programs, and that $1 million is available on application to communities to help them build that type of infrastructure.

We also have existing programming to help retrofit or make spaces more appropriate for...

Thank you. And to question 1(b), I can say that the ECE has processed the January to March payments for all programs and the majority of programs have received payments for the current fiscal year as well. And there is a 60day window after receiving that that programs can start flowing that to parents, understanding that, you know, it could take a little bit of work.

The 2.3 percent increase was based on historic averages. And, you know, I understand that historic average is comprised of highs and lows. And so going forward, we don't have a cap set for the upcoming year. We've moved some money...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So curriculum needs to be updated, you know, every once in a while, and it's been quite a while since our current curriculum was updated. Updated curriculum is generally better at, you know, teaching students, giving them the skills they need. My hope with the BC curriculum and how we can integrate northern culture directly into the curriculum, not as some sort of an add on but into the curriculum, my hope is that that will engage students more in school, make them want to go.

One of the biggest problems we have is that the attendance rates, especially in small...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not sure if that's the team that would support principals and teachers in small communities. If that's the case, that has been delayed. But we are working on that one. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that Bill 47, An Act to Amend the Employment Standards Act, No. 2, be read for the third time. And Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded vote. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Every time I speak with a federal minister, I bring the concerns of the territory to that Minister. And this is a perfect example of an issue that I'd be happy to bring to the Minister and have those discussions to let them know about the unique nature of the Northwest Territories, the rates of violence that we see here, and the concerns that are being raised. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't have that information. Perhaps I can check the dashboard. Everything in the action plan that was a response to the Office of the Auditor General report is online in the progress tracker. And so when an item is in progress, that is noted on the online tracker. So I don't have that information but I can check that out and let the Member know. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member's likely aware, the Public Prosecution Service of Canada recently established a sexual violence legal counsel team, and that's independent from the Department of Justice; I won't take credit for that. But that's a new development that's quite recent. And the department is also currently developing a new program to provide free legal advice and navigation supports for survivors of sexual, intimate partner and domestic violence, and assault. So we've secured funding to do that as well. So we are taking steps to address these very issues. Thank you, Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There will never be enough money for Education. I think that's fair to say. You know, we can always do more. But I can say that we have made some changes to the funding formula that do benefit small communities. The way communities are funded, they're based on school population and at times there's a bit of a cliff when the school falls below a certain number of students it can experience a drop off in funding. So we have smoothed that slope for a number of different funding streams. And so that is something that happened this year that is benefitting small communities...