Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's my point; right? It's support to northern performers, and we need something to do that and be specific in providing that level of support.
I want to be clear for the record today that I am not advocating we reduce funding to festival organizations. They are a very important part of our Northern culture and our communities, and I would never recommend removing any kind of funding from them. What I am talking about is that there is a real need that northern performers, some of them nationally recognized and awardwinning northern performers, have brought forward to this government and are looking for additional support.
I will conclude with this: in the review of our arts strategy, will some dedicated effort be given to this idea of a northern touring grant, and can that be part of the work going forward? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Like any other of our strategies that we have worked on developing, we would have to create a discussion paper. As I mentioned, I have to talk with my colleague in the Department of ITI moving forward before we see what those discussions will look like. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Testart.
Thank you. Can the Minister, then, commit to talking to artists who are looking for this additional funding? I don't think I am doing it justice, clearly. This makes a lot of sense to me, but can the Minister commit to involving artists in this work so that it is not just a departmental analysis of total arts funding? That is not at all what is required here. We need to talk to the artists who are looking for additional support. Can the Minister commit to doing that? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. By getting strategy that we have come out of within the Department of ECE, we have always engaged our partners, we have always engaged our stakeholders to ensure that they give us the input and the expertise that is needed to develop such a strategy of where we are going to be moving forward over the next number of years. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Testart, your time has expired. Minister, just for the public's information, I know ITI produces a grants and contributions guide every year; does the Department of Education, Culture and Employment produce something similar that shows the organizations that received the grants and in what amounts?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Currently, staff of the department are working on a document like that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Next, I have Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I am looking at page 38, near the bottom of the page, Indigenous languages broadcasting, and also I see a bit of an increase, almost $100,000, in that area. A little bit of background of we are facing: some of the communities that I represent are not getting the broadcasts from the Aboriginallanguage radio station, CKLB. I am wondering if this money is money that will be used with the intent of bringing some broadcasting back into the communities. I have one community where there is no broadcasting at all, of any sort of radio, because there is something with the equipment. I am wondering if this money can be used to support that, to get the communities back online for that radio station. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, that is what exactly that funding is for, is to support our current radio stations and, like you mentioned, MLA Beaulieu, that we can look at new communities, as well.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. One more question: Mr. Chairman, earlier the Minister was reading a list of northern performers, support to northern performers; I was wondering if the Minister could commit to just agreeing to provide that list to committee later on. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member is looking for a commitment from the Minister. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I can provide the list for the NWT Arts Council funding support to northern performers, as well as the arts organization operating funding. We can provide that to Members. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. No further questions from Mr. Beaulieu. Seeing nothing further from committee. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I, too, would like to thank the Minister of Finance. I don't do it very often, so I hope he is listening. I would like to thank him for the commitment of 200,000 extra dollars for the NWT Arts Council, and the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment for agreeing to undertake a review of arts programs. I just want to ask about the scope of this review. Is it to just review existing programs, or are we actually going to be developing a new arts strategy? The last one I am aware of dates, I think, from 2004 for ECE. What is the objective here, a new arts strategy or just a review of existing programs? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we will be looking at refreshing the arts strategy. As I mentioned earlier, we will be reaching out to our partners, our stakeholders, to make sure that we get the right input and feedback and contributions in developing the strategy. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the commitment of the Minister to engage the public and the arts community in preparing that strategy refresh. Is part of that also going to be an opportunity to look at how we approach the arts? Right now, it is divided between ITI and ECE. Is there going to be some look at how we might restructure those programs to make them more efficient and effective? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have already reached out to the Department of ITI and started those discussions on options moving forward. With the questions in the House earlier on in this session, we went ahead and started that dialogue. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, again I just want to thank the Minister, then, for confirming that the scope of this is not just going to be a review of existing programs, that the Minister is open to looking at how it might be restructured to make this a more effective and efficient approach to the arts on behalf of all of our residents. Thank you very much, Mr. Minister.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Member for the comments. Thank you.
Thank you. Anything further, Mr. O'Reilly? Nothing further from Mr. O'Reilly. Seeing no further comments, I will call this activity. Page 36, culture, heritage and languages, operations expenditure summary, activity total, $19,422,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Moving on to our third activity; early childhood and school services begins at page 40 and continues to page 44. Does committee have comments or questions? Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, on page 41, I see that the revised estimates for the current fiscal year and the estimate for the next is the same for inclusive schooling, and yet, in the budget address, the Minister announced there would be an additional $881,000 available for inclusive schooling. Could the Minister please clarify? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That announcement of the extra funding was done towards the end, at the last minute before the mains were printed, so it will be reflected. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. It will be reflected where? Could you please clarify?
Sorry. It will be reflected in the overall commitment that we made with that $881,000 and what was made in my statement in the opening address, as the mains were printed before we made that change for the increased inclusive schooling for $881,000. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. So this money will come through a supplementary appropriation? Is that what you are saying?
Yes, that is correct.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the clarification from the Minister on that. My next question has to do with reworking the inclusive school funding. Could the Minister please provide us with an indication of whether there is any work going on to rework the inclusive schooling funding formula? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you. In terms of the funding formula for inclusive schooling, not at this moment. We are still going to use the same formula.
I just want to correct myself, that it is not through a supplementary appropriation that we will be bringing that $881,000 for inclusive schooling. It will be an internal reallocation. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am going to go back now to the inclusive schooling money. Where is the money coming from? That is the $881,000. Which program or programs is it being reallocated from? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. If you look at the program detail under schools, it is coming out of that line item. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Am I correct in understanding that it is coming out of schools, and it is going back into schools versus inclusive schooling? It is just changing hands within the same pot; is that correct? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
