Thanks, Mr. Chair. That is helpful to know. The shortfall for the two formulas for Aboriginal languages are $36,000, and the other one is $267,000. I know that is based on enrolments as predicted for JK. Is the Minister then going to be bringing forward a supplementary appropriation if he wants to increase the funding for Aboriginal languages to include JK students? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think we would have to get that directive done first, and like I said, it will probably be in the next couple of months. Maybe my deputy minister can elaborate to that a little bit more. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly, your time has expired. Next is Mr. Beaulieu. Oh, I apologize. Ms. Haener.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As the Minister indicated, we are currently working through the directive. It is not clear at this point what resources would be required related to the directive, but as we work through it and that becomes clearer, we will examine options in terms of addressing those resource needs. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Haener. Mr. O'Reilly, your time has expired. Next, I have Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I am on page 42 in the descriptions. I see an increase in the early childhood worker scholarship of more than double the budget. I would like to ask the Minister what type of uptake there is for that program.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We are pleased to say that we do have great uptake for students going into early childhood development programming. Also, with the increased funding that I had mentioned with the Government of Canada, there were increases to providing more scholarships so that we have more staff and workers that are working in daycares, day homes, and into the junior kindergarten system trained and qualified. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask the Minister a question on the two programs that are called Early Childhood Program Grants, $80,000, and Early Childhood Worker Grant Program for $890,000. The definitions for both of those programs are the same. I just wanted to know what the difference is. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister.
Mr. Chair, the Worker Grant Program is specifically for workers. There are subsidies and increases sometimes when they increase their training and their level of education. The grants are just for childcare programs.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I am on page 43, the third item down, healthy food for children and youth. It talks about "nutritious food to support breakfast, snack, or lunch programs." I would like to ask the Minister if there are some active allyearlong breakfast programs in any of the schools. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we do provide all of our education councils and authorities funding for breakfast, lunch, and snack programs. I believe every school offers those programs. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, just on a bit of clarification I am seeking overall: I needed to ask the Minister about early childhood development education, so I am talking about early childhood development educators. Aside from the grant, is there anything in this particular activity where the money is used to educate early childhood development workers? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There are various items that we do have in this area. One is the scholarships. We continue to provide support for those who are wanting to increase their training or qualifications. Every year, we also do professional development and hold a symposium. That includes JK educators as well as Aboriginal Head Start instructors and our daycare operators, as well, throughout the North. So, yes, we can even get the specific programs for the Member if he likes. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I am hoping that, with the strategy for the department to train, increase capacity, and create jobs for some of the small communities, there is definitely going to be a need for daycares, and I guess my question is going towards whether or not there is going to be an easy place to educate the daycare operators. I am wondering if the Minister could maybe advise me: I do not think we have to be too specific, but if he just generally has the knowledge on, say, for example, if we were to restart the daycare in Lutselk'e, where would the daycare operators train, like which location? Would the educators come to Lutselk'e to train, or would they come here or somewhere else? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we do have staff who actually go into the communities to do some of the training. We do have that symposium that we hold every year, early childhood symposium. If anybody is wanting to start up a daycare, as well, we would be more than welcome to work with communities. We do have really good startup funds, subsidies, for daycares and childcare spaces. As I mentioned earlier, we have 11 communities that we would really like to get into and provide that daycare and childcare to families who do need it. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. I see nothing further from Mr. Beaulieu. Anyone else who has not spoken on this section? Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I, too, am going to ask the Minister if he can clarify this budget commitment to increase junior kindergarten funding or the inclusive education side of the junior kindergarten funding, because I am still unclear. The Minister spoke to a lapse in funding that has allowed the department to fully fund inclusive education and that the mains could not be printed in time for us to see that in the document here, so I would like to ask: where can I find the funding that has lapsed?
As one of the Minister's witnesses said, there is lapsed funding, and that is where we are getting it from, et cetera, so where can I see that in this activity? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I mentioned, in the program detail, you will see schools at $128,822,000, so next year, when we get the mains and the business plans again, you are going to see that number being revised. That is going to reflect that internal reallocation of $881,000. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Testart, this has been explained twice before. Could you please specify perhaps where you are having issues with this because we are repeating ourselves now, Mr. Testart.
I am looking for where I could see it in here. I understand the issue, but I did not understand where an average reader who is trying to connect the budget address to the main estimates could see this detail. I understand now. Are there any other areas of this department's budget that are not accounted for in the document before us, that we might have to be notified about?
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, there will not be. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Testart.
I thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate your allowances. This is confusing, or it was confusing, and hopefully we are a bit closer to understanding all of the issues. For me, the important thing is that the formulas are changing, and that is fine. I would like to ask questions about the early childhood worker scholarship. That is on page 42. The activity is listed as grants to support fulltime, facetoface, postsecondary education in early childhood development at the diploma level or higher. Is the policy intention of this to retain those workers here in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That would be the plan and the priority, to keep our early childhood workers here, as we are looking forward to sustaining our daycares and our day homes right now as well as our investments in the communities that do not have daycares. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Testart.
Thank you. So how is this program evaluated, I suppose? I mean, I have no problem with scholarships, but, if they are designed to bring people back to the North, how are we doing with that? Are we actually seeing the recipients of these scholarships returning north to work in this field in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just like, I guess, any other scholarship, it is a grant that we give to the students. They have to submit an application. They have to submit their marks and their grades after they have completed their courses, as well.
Thank you, Minister. I just remind the Minister to indicate when he is done speaking. Thank you. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So my question was not: are the obligations of students receiving the scholarship being met? It is: are we actually bringing home the recipients of these scholarships? So, essentially, if the reason we are granting the scholarship is to train more northern workers in this field, is it working? Are we getting people back? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I mentioned earlier, the scholarship is fully utilized. That is a good thing, that we are actually getting residents out there taking the Early Childhood Development Program. Yes, we can look into evaluating how many of our students actually take the program and get to do some work, either in the JK classroom or in a daycare in the community. Yes, we can try to get that information collected. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Testart.
Thank you. Similar to the early childhood program operator subsidy, is this program fully subscribed at this point? Is all the money getting to day home operators? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As Members know, we did make some improvements to our early childhood program operator subsidy last year, providing more funding to our operators to give them the support to run a daycare. It is fully utilized every year, and that is another really good news story in terms of working and supporting early childhood development in the Northwest Territories with our partners. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Testart.
