I’m tempted to ask when we’re going to actually see something on the ground, but I’ll protect our budget discussions here and maybe bring that up at another time.
Just with Aurora College, I believe the Yellowknife Campus, we must be just about into our last year of a lease. I’m wondering when that lease runs out. The Minister has probably told us, but maybe he could remind me when that lease runs out. Let’s just start with that. Thank you.
The lease is due to expire around the end of August 2012. That’s an area that we are working with and we need to have a plan in place early this fall. Mahsi.
Obviously this is very imminent and we’re into that fiscal year with this planning here. Has the department confirmed that it’s possible to extend that lease at least for the window of time we think we need to decide what we’re going to do on the infrastructure side? Thank you.
Mr. Chair, we will need to extend the lease because it will take some time to plan towards the infrastructure, the capital planning process. Those are the discussions we are currently having and we’ll be talking more on the lease extension. Mahsi.
I assume the lease will probably be at a higher rate than currently. Without being specific about amounts, I’m just asking if the department has planned for that greater expense in this budget. Thank you.
Mr. Daniels.
The current lease will carry us through the ‘11-12 budget year and we will need to come forward if there are any proposed changes to cost in our future budgeting process.
That’s really it, Mr. Chair. I got my budget years mixed up there and I realize August ‘12 is after the ‘11-12 budget year. So that’s it for now. Thank you.
Thank you. Next I have Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanted to first ask relative to apprenticeship and occupations, I know that the department works in conjunction with the Mine Training Society and they are doing a great job of providing training and jobs basically for many of our young people. I am somewhat concerned, though, that the funding, the federal funding for that program restricts applicants to Aboriginal persons and I’ve had several inquiries from constituents whether or not there is any space within the Mine Training Society for P2s as opposed to P1s. I’ve been advised that if there’s space, that P2s can get in there, but that’s a pretty hit and miss proposition. Both times I’ve been informed that the constituents have tried and have been advised that the program was full. So I would like to know from the Minister whether or not there is any consideration on the part of the department to hold, basically pay for, one, possibly two spaces or seats at the Mine Training Society for P2s. Thank you.
Minister of Education, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Chair. The Mine Training Society does deliver programs on behalf of the federal government through ASEP, Aboriginal programming. So there is a priority for Aboriginal, of course, because of the title and it is federal funding, but my understanding is that others can also apply for training programs, the Aboriginal Skills Employment Program. Mahsi.
I’ll try again. Mr. Minister, I know that the program is funded by the feds. I do know as well that it is supported by the Department of Education, but also know that when non-Aboriginal students apply they are on a very low priority and it totally depends on whether or not there’s any space. My understanding is that there’s some waiting list of about 20, I think, persons trying to get into the next application for the Underground Miner Training Program. So if anybody wants to get into that and they’re non-Aboriginal, they don’t have a hope.
I also know that as much as a year ago, I think it was March of ‘10 in a presentation to one of the standing committees, De Beers indicated that there needs to be spaces in the training programs for P2s. That’s one of the things that they cite as a challenge to the northern hiring for them as a company. So I understand that it’s a federal program, but what I’m asking for is for this government to make it a priority to enable one or two P2 residents to be able to take the mine training that Aboriginal students do, not with the federal funding but with GNWT funding. Is that a consideration anywhere in the realm of possibility for this Minister? Thank you.
With the current funding that we provide, not funding but the in-kind services to the Mine Training Society, that’s our partnership towards that organization. The overall funding that they receive is from the federal government and there are certain criteria that they do follow, the Mine Training Society, but this is an area that we can definitely discuss with the Mine Training Society.
As you know, their program is also sunsetting next year at the end of March 2012. So that’s an area that we are also voicing our concern about, as well, with the federal government, to possibly expand or extend the programming. So we’ll do what we can with the federal. But we as a department can sit down with the Mine Training Society and discuss this further with them to see what kind of options are available. Mahsi.
Thanks to the Minister. Two or three Members recently met with the Mine Training Society. They are totally desirous of having the opportunity to provide training for P2 candidates. They agree with the diamond mining companies that we need to have more candidates take the training and they’re funding, yes, it’s only Aboriginal, but, Mr. Minister, what I’m trying to say is, will you consider putting some money into the Mine Training Society Training Program so that P2s would have an opportunity to get a seat there? Thank you.
Mr. Chair, this is an area that, like I said, we need to look at. We’re not sure if the Mine Training Society is going to survive the end of next year and we need to explore those options as well. We can look at it and see where it can take us. We haven’t really identified funding in this budget to allocate a certain amount of dollars towards this Mine Training Society because that wasn’t a part of the plan, but I realize there will be a motion coming forward and working with them and also the federal government, but I can commit in this House that this is an area that we need to discuss further with the Mine Training Society. If we need to allocate funding, then we’ll plan on that. Mahsi.
Thanks to the Minister and I appreciate your commitment to look at it. I do want to just add that I know of at least one young person who couldn’t get into the Mine Training Society Underground Miner Program and has since moved to Manitoba. So we’ve lost our 22 or $25,000 annual payment for that young person.
I wanted to also ask a bit about the adult basic education programs that are run in pretty much all of our communities. We as Members did get a bit of a report from the Program Review Office quite a while ago, but it did have some telling information about adult basic education programs. You know, there’s really no evaluation of those programs. Students register for a short period of time and then don’t come back or they may take one course because they have to, because that’s what income security is telling them to do. They may take a course and then not finish it because they get a job or they get disinterested. There are all kinds of things, but students are not staying, or most of them are not staying for any sort of reasonable length of time.
I wondered whether or not that review by the Program Review Office had any impact on the planning for the department for the ‘11-12 budget year in terms of adult basic education. Have you looked at the value of the ABE programs that we currently deliver, with a view to maybe making them more efficient? Thank you.
The adult literacy and basic education, as the Member indicated, is a review that is being undertaken right now. The final report is due later this spring, 2011. Coming out of that, of course, will be recommendations and if we need to make changes, then that will reflect on the budget as we move forward. So, Mr. Chair, the program review will be completed later this year. Mahsi.
Thanks to the Minister. It’s kind of unfortunate. The information I saw was almost a year ago now and yet we have not taken any action. So it’s a little disappointing.
On another note, I do want to ask a question with regard to the territorial Nominee Program. My understanding is that it’s a three-year pilot project. I think I got that information from a document somewhere and I wondered at this point whether or not the department has done any kind of an evaluation of the success of the program. Thank you.
Deputy Minister Daniels.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Member is right; the funding is in place for about a three-year period of time. The uptake on the program has not been extensive, as we initially projected it might be. Right at the time we launched the initiative is when the economy went down. So we haven’t had as much demand for the program as we initially anticipated, but we are getting requests from employers and from individuals who are going through the nominee process. We recently had an individual who went through the nominee process and it did prove to be accelerated compared to what they may have gone through had they not gone through the nominee process.
Thanks for that information. It’s good to hear that it sounds as though perhaps it is a better process than what we had before. I just wondered if the uptake has not been what we expected, whether or not the department has considered enhancing the advertising for this program and trying to make the general public more aware that the program is there, or even if it’s targeted advertising. That’s it.
Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. I agree with the Member that we need to advertise more. We are doing that currently with the website and working closely with employers, as well, to identify those individuals. We may have to be fed up a bit within our department that we are aware of that.
Page 10-23, Education, Culture and Employment, activity summary, advanced education, operations expenditure summary, $45.908 million.
Agreed.
Page 10-24, Education, Culture and Employment, activity summary, advanced education, grants and contributions, contributions, total contributions, $33.493 million. Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Just with the college contributions, Aurora College to deliver adult and post-secondary education in the NWT. Just before Christmas on a constituency visit to Wrigley it was brought to my attention that there is no actual Aurora College facility there in terms of computer and/or training materials. The leadership were saying how are we going to advance education skills in the community if there is no equipment there. I did ask the Minister’s office how they do deliver Aurora College services in Wrigley and I think the answer was they use school facilities and some band facilities. I think the best way to do it is to have some on-site equipment. I don’t know how much it will cost, but to deliver programs and services, adult education and those things, it’s necessary in this day and age. We do have the necessary IT infrastructure for it. I’d like to ask the Minister, in a small community like that or even other communities, what strategies are in place and what kind of facilities are available to deliver programs.
Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. I think the Member touched on that already. We utilize school facilities or other facilities in the community for the time. As you know, the federal government has allocated community learning centres to three communities just last year and we’re hoping that other communities will be identified as well. We’ll clearly continue to make that noise. The small communities that do not have community learning centres or an establishment that we can utilize or certain on-site equipment, this is an area that we need to continue working with either the school boards, the community, and there’s also a lease that we can possibly work with to access space in the communities where necessary.
I realize the challenges in the small communities. We’re fully aware of it. We’ll do what we can as a department to work with the communities to provide those services or strengthen the service that we provide currently.
It’s absolutely important and imperative that the facilities are there to everyone to improve the sustainability, the workforce background and basic adult literacy is fundamental to this in the smaller communities. If we don’t have the facilities there, how exactly are we going to do that? Right now I think the only option is... I don’t know how often they do it, but someone does have to come in from Fort Simpson and/or a larger centre and scrounge around for equipment. I think the better strategy is, and I would certainly urge, that Wrigley get on the high priority list for identifying equipment and facility needs up to and including a community learning centre initiative if and when it happens again. What other types of strategies does Aurora College have in delivering adult literacy programs and/or upgrading programs in small communities like that?
For those communities without those establishments, and small communities, we are exploring different areas, whether it be expanding on the mobile training that is similar to what we have in the Beaufort-Delta. We are currently exploring those areas because it has been very successful to date. It is producing talented individuals in the community. We want to tackle those areas. That’s where it’s at especially with the small communities without the establishments.
Next I have Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just have one question on this page. The Community Skills for Work Program talks about funding to support adult basic education and job-related skills for income assistance clients and other individuals. I was curious why this is listed here under advanced education. Is it a college program? Is it funded as a college program or is it funded through income security? It just seems a little out of place in this section.
Mr. Daniels.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, the funding does go to Aurora College to deliver community skills for work programs.
Page 10-24, Education, Culture and Employment, activity summary, advanced education, grants and contributions, contributions, total contributions, $33.493 million.
Agreed.
Page 10-25, Education, Culture and Employment, activity summary, information item, advanced education, active positions.
Agreed.
Page 10-27, Education, Culture and Employment, activity summary, income security, operations expenditure summary, $38.823 million. Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I don’t know, the Minister can correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought the income security guidelines and procedures were going to be reviewed. Because this particular winter and many others I’ve had lots of inquiries, most particularly with the seniors’ home heating subsidy to help low-income seniors pay for the cost of heating their homes. It’s often done just before December, but sometimes the most common one that I’ve had is because there are additional householders living with them and often it’s the case of a daughter or granddaughter or a male that’s living with the senior because they need assistance in living.
I’ve got this one particular case where the daughter does not have income tax and hasn’t done it in a while. I just want to know how firm they are on that. Is there an alternative or way around it? For various different reasons it’s going to take another month or so for her to get her income tax statements completed. In the meantime, the senior does need the fuel. Is there another way around addressing this situation?
Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. In those situations, especially pertaining to income tax, we do allow individuals to provide that documentation, because it is important to provide that documentation. We allow up to May to provide that information.
So does that mean she’ll get her fuel in May, when February is the coldest month? I’m not too clear about that. I’m just wondering, the documents as they’re in the works, is there an alternative in the meantime? Can she file a statutory declaration that she did not work in 2010? There must be another way around this.
Mr. Daniels.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We do try to be as flexible as possible. If there’s something that’s outstanding like a tax return, we give people until the month of May. We do try to find other ways of responding to the needs of clients where they might have some documents that are outstanding.
Okay. In this particular case I’ve been dealing with the Minister’s office and they haven’t really been that flexible on it. I kind of question the deputy minister on that and I’ll be glad to resubmit my inquiry in support of my constituents in that matter. We’ll leave that for now.
Then I have another instance where a nephew does not actually live with the elder. He might stay over one, two or three times a month, yet frontline workers are saying that person is actually a resident in that household but he’s got no fixed address. He’s one of our young people who loves to travel. He spends two or three days a month. What’s their definition of a household, somebody that lives in the household? This senior was actually approved for fuel subsidy and the frontline worker said no, I saw a nephew there so the nephew is living there. He lives in the household so we want all his documentation if he worked or not last year. We’re, like, that person doesn’t live there. So what’s their definition of who lives in the household and how strictly do you enforce it? Does that person have to be there 20 days a month? How do they determine who lives in the household when their whole family knows that person doesn’t live there at all. It’s the same like me. Sometimes I get friends or cousins that stay a day or two but they’re not really living in my household. I’d like to know the department’s stance on this issue.
Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. If individuals are living there, they are considered as part of the household income. If they are temporarily there for short periods, then they will have to base it on a case-by-case basis. We’ll reassess the elder that the Member’s referring to and we need to get, we just have to follow the paper trail, the policies that we have in place, because once we open that up there will be a lot of people that will be using it as the drifters and, of course, some people are making good money, as well, and we don’t want them to take advantage of the elders as well. But this is an area that’s been brought to our attention on numerous occasions and we’ve been working with our policy how we can be flexible. May was another one that came up. This has been brought to our attention so we are seriously looking at it as well. Mahsi.
