Mahsi, Mr. Chair. That’s correct. It’s always been attached to the enrolment funding. Mahsi.
Okay, thank you. That was clear. So I understand that the numbers of students have gone down; that’s fine, that’s cool. But my information from education authorities is that although the total number of students is going down, the number of special needs or students who require inclusive schooling are going up and, as well, they’re not only seeing an increase in inclusive schooling students, but the ones that they are seeing are the ones who require a very large amount of assistance. They’re very heavily...children who need a great deal of assistance whereas someone who has got a slight disability can relatively easily be dealt with in a classroom without incurring a large amount of extra expense. But when there’s a student who may, for instance, be a quadriplegic with a feeding tube that requires full-time assistance, that’s what I’m referencing in terms of students that require a great deal of assistance. So if authorities are seeing more students who must be inclusive schooled and they are more severely inhibited, why is it then that we are not funding the authorities to a higher level rather than a lower level? Thank you.
Mr. Chair, this inclusive schooling is general. It’s not student specific. It does cover a variety of areas, such as a speech pathologist or other special needs. Yes, this is part of the enrolment, the formula funding that we have initiated a few years back, and I did address this with my department on the decrease of that 0.5 percent, how it’s going to have an impact. So we currently are continuing to work with the school boards, the education councils, on specific to the inclusive schooling, because they’ll feel a minimal impact there, but how we can deal with the ongoing operations that we have currently on hand. But if I may have my deputy just maybe elaborate a bit more on the inclusive schooling area aspect as well. Mahsi.
Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Deputy Minister Daniels.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The money that we give for inclusive schooling, as the Minister indicated, it’s not tied to individual students, but it’s a part of an overall formula where we give the money to schools so that they can come up with plans and initiatives to address the various needs of students in their school where there are students with special needs or students who are gifted. It’s really meant to try to come up with programming that is responsive to as wide a range of needs of students within their school populations as possible. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Daniels. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thanks to both these gentlemen for the answer. I appreciate that this is the way that it is, but I think it’s probably creating stresses and strains on education authorities if they’re getting less funding, even though it may not be a huge amount of money, but they’re getting less funding, but at the same time they’re getting more and more students who require individual education assistance and one-on-one situations with particular students. So I’d like to ask the Minister whether or not this problem has been identified for him by the chairs of the education authorities at their meetings. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Chair. This particular area, of course there’s always been a request for additional funds to deal with the special needs in the schools, but we do provide funding to education councils. This is an area that we’ve been looking at how we can improve in those areas. So, Mr. Chair, yes, it has been brought up in past chairs’ meetings along with other concerns for other opportunities that they’ve given us, and this I’m sure will be another topic of discussion when we meet with the chairs again in April. So it’s one of those ongoing discussions that we have in order to improve our particular programs that we have with the school boards. Mahsi.
Thanks to the Minister for the answer. I think you probably are going to hear from authorities in relation to this. If they’ve identified it as a problem, they’re going to continue to go after you for adequate funding to deal with these particular special needs students. I’d like to know if there’s any consideration within the department... Has the Minister considered changing the approach for funding for inclusive schooling instead of doing it as a lump sum based on total enrolment? Is there any possibility that funding may be changed so that it is applied to a particular student and the needs of that student?
The other difficulty that boards encounter is that a student may be in my school this year, so the funding gets earmarked for a particular special needs student in one year, but then the student may move in the next year and the funding stays with the old board. So is there any thought within the department to change their policy so that the money follows the child, basically? When the child moves, the money goes to the board where the child is, where they’ve moved to. So two things: is there a possible change in the approach of the department with regard to funding special needs kids and is it possible that the money can follow the child? Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, those are the types of discussions that we continuously are having within our department and also with the board chairs. Just a review of the K to 12 cost factor and the overall program review on how we distribute funds based on the enrolment. So, Mr. Chairman, we will continue to have our dialogue with the parties that we sponsor and if there needs to be changes, then those needs will be initiated. We will certainly get back to the standing committee if there is going to be some changes to the program, but currently, as it stands, we are following the enrolment funding formula, but this is up for discussion. Mahsi.
Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Next on my list I have Mr. Krutko.
Thank you Mr. Chairman. My question is on the next page, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Committee, we are on page 10-17, activity summary, Education, Culture and Employment, education and culture, operations expenditure summary, $181.532 million. Agreed?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Page 10-18, activity summary. Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just on 10-18 at the top of the page, grants, community broadcasting grants, $52,000. I think that I understand the importance of community radio stations. I think you have to realize, especially for communities and the people that live on the land, that is one of the main means of communication and I think that it is a vital system that we use for getting our messages out. I think the communities that I represent -- Aklavik, Tsiigehtchic, Fort McPherson -- all have local radio stations and I think the importance of those radio stations and I think that CBQM and the work that was done on that station from the National Film Board in realizing what a key piece of community infrastructure the radio station is by way of messages and, more importantly, the different government organizations who take the time and go on the radio station and have an hour in the morning or an hour in the afternoon where they give the community an update on what they do and, more importantly, what is happening in their different organizations, giving people information updates dealing with alcohol, drugs or dealing with policing in the community, dealing with nursing services and also dealing just with getting people messages. I think that we can’t lose sight of that, so I would just like to ask the Minister exactly how many communities are accessing that $52,000.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Minister Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. Currently we have eight different projects on the go, I believe it is eight different communities as well. We can provide that information. Mahsi.
Just using the number eight, I think that $52,000 for eight communities, I believe somebody was looking at a newspaper the other day which was put out in regards to something about, from the Department of Education, in regards to nutrition, food and whatnot, and I think that advertisement in the newspaper is somewhere in the range of -- and you can clarify for me on that -- $2500 for a full-page ad in a newspaper which is circulating throughout the Territories. So I think you can figure out that for eight communities for $52,000, we don’t really give them much by way of assistance. I think it is important that we as government find the systems that work in communities, the best means of communications, but, more importantly, how those systems are being used to get government messages out.
Again I go back to CBQM in Fort McPherson. Every timeslot is filled by different organizations in the community. It is either the alcohol centre, the RCMP, the DEA or the different elders councils, so I am to look at how the systems are there for communication and for how that plays, especially for people that are on the land and for people that are on the road and whatnot, that you are still able to get that communication out there. So again for me the issue is, what is the possibility of increasing those amounts so that we can support those radio stations in regards to eight communities or basically eight organizations? But again, you figure it out, eight into fifty-two, you are only looking at somewhere around $5,000 apiece. I think for me it is a question of for $6,000 is there any way we can increase that to, say, $10,000 per group?
This is an area that we can look at where the communities that we sponsor currently, the eight communities, how is the program being run or is it a successful program. Because we do a contribution agreement through those communities on an annual basis, so if we talk about an increase, then, of course, we have to find the funds to offset that cost, but we can look at that request. Mahsi.
Thank you, Minister. To help him out I will move a motion, that way it is on record.
Thank you Mr. Krutko. The motion is being distributed. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question is being called.
---Carried
Committee, we are on page 10-18, activity summary, Education, Culture and Employment, education and culture, grants and contributions, grants $52,000, and contributions. Agreed?
Agreed.
Page 10-19, activity summary, Education, Culture and Employment, education and culture, grants and contributions, continued. Agreed?
Agreed.
Page 10-20, activity summary, Education, Culture and Employment, education and culture, grants and contributions, continued, $159.919 million. Mr. Krutko.
Thank you Mr. Chairman. One of the things I would like some clarification from the government on is how often to assess these programs to see the uptake that is out there, because especially for the North there is a lot of great performers, you know? One of the main attractions we have in the North is the cultural events, the different types of festivals, the arts festivals and things like that. I think for ourselves as the North, that is the key component that makes us unique and I think, if anything, have we ever looked at evaluating or assessing that to see... Because, I mean, you talk to a lot of non-government organizations, you talk to a lot of performers, you talk to a lot of people that are struggling just to keep themselves involved and most of them are having to go elsewhere. I would like to just ask the Minister... I noted that most of the dollar amounts are similar year after year, so is there a way that we can do an evaluation or do an assessment or look at some sort of evaluation system where there is a high demand by way of applications or by way of intake what people want, but yet we don’t have enough money to get to all the people that need it. Realizing that there is a demand out there for these types of programs, have we ever looked at that way of having a system in place to increase the funding where we realize there is a demand and, more importantly, where we have a major uptake versus where there are programs that continue to lapse money? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Minister Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this particular area, of course, we use the guidelines of the Arts Strategy that was developed a few years back and working close with the NWT Arts Council as well. They usually bring forward, let’s say, a request or a proposal and it does fluctuate as well. As you see here, there’s been some increase to the arts funding due to the request that has been made. So, Mr. Chair, those are the areas that we continue to make changes as needed in the communities. So what the Member is asking for is an area that I think we continue to make progress. Mahsi.
Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Committee, I’d like to take a brief second and recognize a member of the Order of Canada, Arlene Hache, and also a resident of Weledeh.
Thank you. Committee, we’re on page 10-20, activity summary, Education, Culture and Employment, education and culture, grants and contributions, continued, total contributions, $159.867 million. Total grants and contributions, $159.919 million. Agreed?
Agreed.
On page 10-21, information item, Education, Culture and Employment, education and culture. Agreed?
Agreed.
We’re on page 10-22, advanced education. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I did have a couple of questions here. As I alluded to in my general comments, recognizing the cost of living and the need for community-based expertise to address things like cost of living but also some of our environmental priorities, the need for local economic development, the need for technological and administrative expertise in our communities, I’m wondering if the department has finally responded to the Standing Committee on Social Program’s persistent recommendation that Aurora College programs be developed for sustainable community administrators and renewable energy technologists. Can the Minister tell me where we’re at on that? Thank you.
Minister of Education.
Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I do believe my department has met with the Aurora College on what the Member is referring to. Of course, we need to discuss further on what other programs are out there. I know the Member is passionate about the non-renewable resource area and the program that he has suggested in the past. Those are the discussions that we continue to have with the college. The college will likely come back to our department and identify different programming, enhancing their programs, compared to what other jurisdictions are offering. So, yes, those are the ongoing discussions we are having with the college. Mahsi.
I appreciate that that discussion has started, but I have some of the same frustrations as others, that I really think this department should be giving direction and I don’t think it’s suitable to be waiting for these things. We’ve been calling for these for years now. Time is passing by, as everybody knows. On that basis, I would like to propose a motion, Mr. Chair, if I may go ahead.
Mr. Bromley. You have a motion. Go ahead.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment move in a timely manner to develop and introduce an Aurora College diploma program for sustainable community administration and renewable energy technology. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Bromley, your motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question is being called.
---Carried
Next on the list, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On page 10-23, apprenticeship and occupations, I just want to ask the Minister if there’s an expansion in the program. There is a couple hundred thousand dollars added to from the revised amount. There’s a real need in the small communities for apprenticeships. My feeling is that all tradesmen in small communities should be given an apprentice to create all kinds of economic possibilities in small communities, whether it be Public Works, NWT Housing Corporation through the housing authorities and whatnot. I know in my communities we have tradesmen that don’t have apprentices right now, and we have tradesmen that do have apprentices, but I think that there’s a great amount of economic spinoff for small communities and so on when there are tradesmen working in the community, especially when it’s very difficult in small communities to get any work done on your own housing unit and so on. And the whole philosophy of the Housing Corporation, once you become a homeowner, that you should, if you can afford it and if you have the income, be able to maintain your own unit, or at this point, even if individuals in communities had the money to maintain their units, especially in fly-in communities or communities that are serviced by barge, for the most part, like Lutselk’e. Even in Fort Resolution, you have to go to Hay River to get a journeyman to come in and service your furnace if there’s no one available in the community, or carpentry work and things like that. I guess I just wanted to know if there’s an expansion in the program that we’ll be seeing more apprentices in the small communities.
Minister of Education.
