R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker, today is Pink Shirt Day, a day when we take a moment to pause and reflect on how we treat one another.

Pink Shirt Day began in 2007 in Nova Scotia. After a male student was harassed for wearing a pink shirt, teenagers David Shepherd and Travis Price organized an antibullying protest in which they handed out pink shirts to the students in their school. Fifteen years later, Pink Shirt Day has become a global calltoaction as schools, communities and workplaces are flooded with pink in solidarity against bullying.

This year's national theme continues as Lift...

Madam Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: Yellowknife Catholic Schools 20212022 Capital Plan Amended. And the Yellowknife Education District No. 1 20212022 Capital Plan Amended. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I don't know, maybe. The Member raises some very valid points, and sometimes I joke that he's just trying to chip away at the workweek with the more holidays and paid sick leave but the fact is this pandemic has shown us that when you're sick, we want you to stay home. But not everyone can afford that. So we are reviewing the Employment Standards Act in the upcoming fiscal year which starts not that long from now, and we are going to be going out and speaking with employers and asking them these questions, how they feel about it, and then speaking with the public as...

No, we don't have those numbers. When employers implement things like this, they're not required to inform employment standards. However, under the Employment Standards Act, I believe there's around between 15,000 and 19,000 employees in the territory who fall under that act, and I would imagine for the most part they don't have paid sick leave. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the 16 to 1 ratio is a minimum, and it's a legislated number. We actually fund to about 12.8 to 1. And that is just including teachers, program supports, staff. So it is basically instructional staff. So that number is a minimum, and we already exceed that number. And I will be the first to say there's never enough money for education; there's never enough teachers to go around, and so I appreciate the Member's comment and the school board's comments. But unfortunately, we've talked a lot about competing needs today, and we've talked about our overall debt, and our...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to make that commitment. But, fortunately, there are mechanisms in place where schools are in situations where they have extraordinary enrolment compared to what they are funded for. And the school, if it meets certain criteria, if there's a certain increase in their student population, they can apply to ECE to receive additional funding to cover that, recognizing that there are extraordinary circumstances. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to say yes, but I can't commit to something that's already happening. I don't want to take credit for it. That is what's happening. And if the Member knows of specific instances where it appears that it's not happening, please let me know. We want to find out. No system is perfect. And if there are some gaps in the system, we want to figure out how to address those. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm happy to report that we have reversed that trend, and the numbers are on their way up. We hit an all time low about two years ago, or actually last year, and then we have reversed and we've made up ground by a couple years. So there's a long way to go, but the work is underway and there's a number of initiatives. I won't preempt any of the Member's questions by talking about them, but I just wanted to let everyone know. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the funding formula is quite complex, and the funding that is provided to education bodies is complex in general. There's actually additional funding available for inclusive schooling on an application basis. And I've seen those applications come across my desk, and we've been approved.

We are always looking at the funding formula. There have been some improvements made to the formula during this Assembly. I expect to see some more made before the end of this Assembly. But as for a wholesale revision, I can't commit to that given that the Education Act is become...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If schools meet the criteria, then there shouldn't be an issue. But there is a criteria. It is not just anecdotal evidence that there's changes in student population. And in places like Yellowknife, there are a number of different schools, a number of different school boards so there is movement between those schools as well. Some might see increases, some might see decreases. But it's not a change perhaps in the net population of students. Overall, we've seen about a .4 percent decrease in the numbers across the territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.