I’d like to note that the child worker programs we have at Aurora College do not produce child workers that meet the current federal standards. Will this include an assessment of that specifically? Hopefully towards correcting that gap.
Yes, this would also cover that area as well.
I’m very glad to hear that. I think the Minister has heard me speak numerous times on the important opportunity and key opportunity we have during early years of a life, to really provide the essential support to that person developing to their full potential. I think having qualified people working in our child development system is an important aspect of that.
The other thing I just want confirmation on, the Minister said in his response to general comments that he will consult with various parties involved. I’m wondering if he could just give me a little bit more information on who that might be.
That information we can certainly provide the list of names of organizations. Part of the discussion that I was referring to in general comments was the Aboriginal organizations that also deal with the Head Start Program. Those are some of the areas that we’ll be consulting with.
That’s good to hear. I can think of a number of others. Would the Minister be planning to come to committee to have some input into that and maybe the terms of reference for this review?
I would be more than willing to do that, too, with the Members. Mahsi.
Before I go on on this one, I want to confirm that this is part of this section, the student financial assistance. Is that part of this program on page 10-17, education and culture?
Mr. Chair, no, it’s not.
I’ll wait on questions on that for later. I just want to comment a little bit on the Aboriginal language and culture-based education and the official languages.
The Minister has again heard me and has made commitments to help tune up, I think, it’s the community Aboriginal Teacher Education Program. It has been where it’s impossible to complete the degree short of 10 years sort of thing with courses only being offered in Beaufort-Del, and I see now it’s going to be offered in the South Slave. Will this resolve the problem of students who want to get this program under their belt, having to do it slowly and agonizingly over quite a number of years? Is it now possible to take care of that issue and allow them to finish this program in a reasonable time frame?
Mr. Chair, the TEP program, the Teacher Education Program that we delivered in the past and we continue to deliver as well going into the South Slave, definitely, those students are involved with taking the program, whether it be the Aboriginal Teacher Education Program, the ALCIP program. There’s a great opportunity for them to pursue even more with the TEP program, Mr. Chair. That’s an area that we need to explore further, how we can attract those individuals to taking on these particular programming. Mr. Chair, I believe this is an opportunity for them to pursue these with this program. Mahsi.
I don’t doubt that this is an opportunity to pursue this. I’m particularly concerned about the ALCIP program. How many courses are required to complete the ALCIP program and how many courses does this department offer per year in the South Slave or Beau-Del? Thank you.
Mr. Chair, the ALCIP program has been around for a while now. It is an area that we continue to focus on and put more pressure, because definitely we need those Aboriginal-speaking individuals that can come back to teach our kids. There are 20 courses over the two-year period and we realize some individuals are taking a course at a time, but this is another opportunity that they can take advantage of. We are also focusing on the ALCIP program, how we can improve in those areas. The Member did address that concern with me and we are looking at how we can improve in those areas as well. Mahsi.
Thank you to the Minister for those remarks. I guess if I can try and paraphrase both the text and the subtext here, we are not offering programs, courses that allow students to complete this in a reasonable time frame. Presumably, the South Slave program is an improvement and contributes to an improvement of that, but a student can grow pretty long in the tooth before they’re able to complete the program because of the lack of offerings. Would the Minister agree with that? Thank you.
The ALCIP program, we’ve extended that from one year to two years, a diploma program. Really, it’s up to the students as well. Some students are taking it full time, some students are taking it part time. We have to respect that as well. But I am working closely with the Aboriginal organizations on identifying those individuals who are willing to pursue a higher education to become teachers, of course, so we will continue to do our part in that respect. Mahsi.
Thank you. I have other Members on the list so I’ll get back to you if you want to add your name to the list, Mr. Bromley. I have Mr. Menicoche, Mr. Beaulieu, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. There’s certainly lots of activity under this description here, but I think where I’ll begin first is in the opening comments. I didn’t have a chance to raise with the Minister that the access to a public library is still high on the agenda for residents of Fort Simpson, and I will continue to pursue it and find a resolution about how to house the one in Fort Simpson to make it more than a resource centre and re-establish it as a full library. I do see an increase in the public library service line item by about $500,000. Maybe if I can get the Minister to explain what the increase is for.
Minister of Education, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Chair. We have been working with, of course, Fort Simpson, the community, and we have developed some options. We’re also waiting for them to get back to us, I guess, on those options, but we’ll continue to work with that.
With respect to the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative of $600,000, it’s to provide public library services as an ASA Initiative shifting its focus, of course, to literacy, and the investment will be used for a new community library coordinator and to fund five more school community libraries. That’s in the area that has been allocated. Mahsi.
Maybe I can get further details on where the library coordinator is going to be and which five communities are getting libraries, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
Mr. Chair, yes, we can provide that information, but my understanding is that the position will be based in the region, Hay River. Mahsi.
If the Minister has got the detail of which communities are being focused for increasing their library service, I would certainly like to hear that, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Chair, those services will be based on an application basis. We haven’t identified the communities yet. We’re still waiting for applications to be submitted, so we are just waiting. Mahsi.
Just with that, knowing that even though the district education authority in Fort Simpson is still deliberating on their library services, is this a possible pool of funds they can access to further their need to develop a library in Fort Simpson? Thank you.
[Microphone turned off] …support the schools that don’t have libraries or where there’s no library in the community at this time. It’s really to try to fill a gap where there is a lack of existing library facilities in a community.
Just for the record, it was Deputy Minister Daniels. Mr. Menicoche.
Mr. Chairman, I am glad to see that we agree that Fort Simpson doesn’t have a library, so they should be able to access these funds. However, I will just leave that alone. Still, like I said, it is still high on my agenda and the agenda of the community of Fort Simpson to find a resolution around this and how to best fill our public library. I have always thought that establishing Fort Simpson as a regional library service makes it and that becomes a legislative library. It has to be funded is the way to go, if there is any way this line item can help and we will see the next movement from the district education authority in the community of Fort Simpson on that.
Having been shared with Government Operations committee and we have done all that work on the languages and the Minister’s office also did quite a bit. I see that under our official languages line item, there is an increase of about $1 million over last year. Maybe the Minister can advise where these expenditures will take place.
Minister Lafferty.
Mr. Chairman, that official languages area, as the Member indicated, there are a few line items that have been discussed. Some of the areas, of course, we have to deal with the French implementation, improve government communication and also service delivery in French by implementing the GNWT Strategic Plan on French Language Communications and Services. We had to follow through with that in response to an order by Justice Moreau. Another area, of course, is the Aboriginal Languages Summer Institute expansion of $300,000. Those are just some of the key highlights that I just want to address with the Member. Mahsi.
Mr. Chairman, I also see that under the line item Aboriginal language and culture-based education there is an increase of about $300,000 over last year. Can the Minister explain how that will enhance and encourage Aboriginal language in the communities, if that is one of the activity areas in the department that will assist in developing our Aboriginal languages, Mr. Chairman?
Mr. Chairman, that funding is based on enrolment, the funding that we provide to the schools. That is the increase. Mahsi.
We are on page 10-17. Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So the Aboriginal language and culture-based education, the Minister says it is part of the contribution that goes to the schools and that is how I imagine the regional educational council is the one that decides which schools get how much and the guidelines and parameters about what kind of program to use maybe. Maybe the Minister can just give me a typical program area on how this is expended.
Mr. Chairman, that is correct; we provide funding that flows through to district education council and then it flows down to the schools or DEA and then they decide where their priorities lie. They do share those priorities with us as well. We work hand in hand with the district education council. We are fully aware of that information that has been shared with us. I can give you an example where Fort Providence has a language immersion program K to 3. That is just an example. It is up to the school board to decide where they will spend their money. Mahsi.
Mr. Chairman, I just have one more line item that had a little bit of an increase of about $300,000, which is culture and heritage. I am just interested, once again, if some of that expenditure is for Aboriginal languages, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, the culture and heritage, there has been some increase, just over $300,000. First is forced growth. It is an information request, residential school claims and litigation. There is an incremental cost. There is also renewal of museum exhibits and collections and just to renew plans and collection renewal strategy to reshape the existing museum. There are some displays and exhibits that have been produced. The plan is to deliver those into the Northwest Territories and also on-line exhibits. Those are just some of the highlights of the expenditures. Mahsi.
Next I have Mr. Beaulieu, Mr. Hawkins and Ms. Bisaro. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am interested in asking a question to the Minister on the Early Childhood Development Program. Mr. Chairman, I am wondering if the department has a criteria of allocating dollars in early childhood development dollars that are there to support daycare, child care and any sort of preschool, kindergarten, anything that is covered under the early childhood development, if the department has any criteria on which communities get it and if such a criteria exists, how it is applied when they determine where the money goes. I would like to start with that, Mr. Chairman.
Minister Lafferty.
Mr. Chairman, we do have a program in place. The funding is available to those individual organizations that want to either have an establishment, but it is based on an application basis. Those individuals wishing to set up or already operating, seek funds, then we do have funding available for that. Mahsi.
Mr. Chairman, in the smaller Aboriginal communities, I see that everything is tied together and the first problem exists with the lack of employment in small communities. With the lack of employment in small communities, then people are home taking care of their own children, so they don’t necessarily need daycare. However, if we continue, then it will always exist. We will always have low employment numbers in the small communities and people will always be home taking care of their children and not making any other productive choices to change that from being employed so that the employment exists in the small communities as well to get some sort of balance here.
As many of the programs exist, I know that not only this department but every department I don’t believe uses any form of community criteria to determine where dollars should go. I am saying that it is essential that early childhood development dollars that are supportive in nature go into the small communities where they can’t afford anything else, that they can’t afford to pay for their own daycare in communities. Where you have two full-time employed people, they can afford daycare, they can afford to pay private daycare to support themselves and put their kids in a private daycare. In small communities that option is not there. If the people want to educate themselves to make themselves more employable, they can’t afford daycare. So again, I want to know if this government specifically looks at those types of things when allocating, let’s just use daycare dollars for now, in allocating daycare dollars? But I’m talking about everything -- kindergarten, support for preschool and so on -- but for now we’ll talk about daycare. Does the government have some sort of system in place that determines where that money goes?
Within our depatment with the funding allocation, it is based on the application. We don’t have a specific criteria to say there’s a small community that’s in high need, because we have to deal with all the communities of the Northwest Territories, but this is an area that we can discuss further in the Early Childhood Development Framework that’s currently under review. We’re at the first phase and in the second phase what changes need to be made. So I will be addressing this with my department as to where it can fit in. So we can discuss it further. Mahsi.
I thank the Minister for that response. I think it’s essential. These dollars become essential to small communities and may not be essential. They are dollars that are nice to have. In small communities it’s nice to be able to have daycares and city of Yellowknife daycares in the regional centres for kids to go to. I just wonder if any of that support is given to those daycares, because it appears as though the money is not avaialble to small communities in a large way.
For two days I asked the Minister questions on daycare, preschool, and I kind of came away with the feeling that the department doesn’t do infrastructure, for example, for daycares, which is understandable and it’s pretty simple, they go out and get the mortgage, but can the department provide subsidies for the daycares in small communities so that they can afford to go out and get a mortgage, build a unit to house a preschool, a daycare and so on? A proper unit, not just an old trailer that belongs to the band or one corner of the community hall, but a proper buildling. So I’m going to ask the Minister if there could be some sort of a strategy in place, some sort of criteria in place, some sort of point system, if that’s what it comes down to in order to determine where dollars in this area, or dollars in daycare and preschool and so on, using community standards like the level of employment, the level of income into the communities to determine if this is used to support and get evreybody up to a certain level if we just keep everything the same based on application.
The application I’m assuming would be based on the fact that there’s people that are employed, there’s a need for child care. But my concern is more in subsidizing that. If this govenrment is spending $4 million in early childhood development, $7 million in early childhood development, whatever it is that’s targeted specifically for this, is it going to the larger communities or the smaller communities? Thank you.
That funding that we have, again, is available to all communities in the Northwest Territories. What the Member is referring to is the program, the subsidy program. We do provide funding already. Maybe we can share that detailed information with the Members.
The information that we have, or the program that we have is to subsidize part of a mortgage and also the rental of the premises. Not only that, but the oprational maintenance of the facility itself. So out of that they hire people in the communities. So, Mr. Chair, again, this could be part of the Early Childhood Development Framework review, because what we’re talking about now is possibly making some changes that reflect on the small communities.
What we have today, the budget before us, is the current status that we have with the programming. But I do take the Member’s note and we’ll have to take those into consideration during our second phase of the review. Mahsi.
Just to finish off on the same topic, I think that the department should consider making a shift to our small communities, to start supporting small communities. Make it possible for people in small communities to make the productive choice to ultimately be able to support themselves. The benefits of people working are many in the Northwest Territories. There would be a savings in education, health, housing, income support, all of those areas. If we could support the people to help them with things like taking care of their children when they’re trying to make productive choices, go back to school, have jobs and so on, I think it will go a long way to benefiting all communities, including the larger communities. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
This is an area that we need to explore with the committee and the small and remote committee, a community committee. With the current funding that we have and also the review that’s being undertaken, phase I, phase II, that’s an opportunity for us to make some changes.
We clearly hear from Member Beaulieu that this is a concern for his constituents and others in the small communities. So, Mr. Chair, I’ll commit to looking at this with my department during the review process. Mahsi.
Thank you. Next I have Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The area I’d like to seek some further information on early childhood development in a different vein as raised by a previous colleague. Mr. Chairman, I’d like to find out how many institutions are funded under this year’s program of $7.3 million and does the Minister have a list that he could provide me with a breakout of that funding formula. As well, on a last note, by community and by how many students that attend those particular facilites or, I should put in brackets, we anticipate to attend. Thank you.
Minister of Education, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Chair. We can definitely provide that information. I do have it here. There is a number of licensed early childhood programming. Overall, in total there’s 124 and I don’t have a breakdown of the communities at this point, but we can provide that as well. The number of licensed early childhood spaces in the region overall is 1,855. So this information we can share. I don’t have the specific communities, but I do have the regions. So I can share this with the Members. Mahsi.
I’m sure that information would be useful to all Members, of course. I think the Minister alluded that when he said he’d share it with the Members, he meant everyone.
Mr. Chairman, just to continue on this, I’m trying to find out what support services we provide for early childhood development programming. I’m going to pursue the area of assessment. That’s the particular area that I’d like to pursue. Assessment, when I refer to it, is things like speech language behaviour and play and motor skill development. What type of support do we provide?
