Thank you, Madam Chair. Probably a lot of my comments are similar to my colleagues here. I am definitely happy to see the 3.6 percent increase in the budget. I think this is a department of great potential for this territory. Education is very important to the development of us. Obviously, the activity in Early Childhood Development is very proactive of us to be involved in that. I am definitely happy to see the Student Financial Assistance enhancements, as well as some of my colleagues have indicated that getting money back into the Inclusive Schooling would be a definite asset to us.
Some of the areas of concern in this department that I have is we’re dealing with budget, we’re dealing with budgets from, from my perspective it’s from the community of Hay River, but they’re dealing with the South Slave Divisional Board’s budget. So some of the areas of concern in that area is the flexibility of funding from the board’s perspective and from the DEA’s perspective. A lot of the funding is provided to them in columns. These are what the funds are used for and if they’re not used for that then they have to be returned. We’re having some difficulties in communities like Hay River with some of the funding not being allocated and spent when there’s dollars that are being overspent, let’s say for busing, where we spend a lot of money in busing because the community of Hay River is spread out all over the place. Other communities don’t even do busing and still get busing funding. So I think flexibility in funding, and we’ve seen some of the same issues with Health and some of the other departments where a lot of the funds are given in columns. It would be nice to have flexibility in the funding.
My colleagues have discussed some of the official languages and the numbers. Some languages are doing really well, very strong, but some are very, very weak. I think we have to look at that and the way we fund those, and look at different ways that we can build those very weak ones and see if there’s a way to do more with the little bit of money that we’re spending there. I think there’s potential to keep some of those languages on the go, but it’s very difficult when there are very few people speaking those languages. So we have to be very creative. I challenge the department to find ways to do that.
One of the other areas that I’m happy to see the department working on is some of the education that’s going to be happening with all the development throughout the Northwest Territories. The excitement in the Sahtu area and even the potential in the Beau-Del area as far as educating people and where some of the work potential is going to be… If we ever do that Tuk to Inuvik highway, there’s going to be training requirements. Obviously, the Sahtu work, there’s all kinds of educating people and having skilled people so that we can keep Northerners working in the North.
So I think it’s a very exciting department, a very big budget. I think those are my general comments and I’ll have more specific questions as we go along. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thanks, Mr. Bouchard. Next on the list is Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I’ve looked at this department and I’d like to make comments. First of all, I’m glad the department is responding to the oil and gas activity by the planting of two positions in the budget so they can come and work with the people in the Sahtu to handle the increase of oil and gas activity. As to their role in the community, I’ll probably ask the Minister later as to what type of work they’re going to be doing to get the people in the Sahtu ready for the oil and gas activity.
As you’re well aware, we also have the new hospital and long-term care facilities. So there’s some activity happening there. So I wanted to really nail down and specifically focus on the training programs for oil and gas, construction, health care and also for providing some access training programs for teachers from our small communities that want to enter into the profession of teaching.
So we’re ready to move in the Sahtu and I think the spark for us was the number of oil companies that are investing into our region. It’s a God-given signal that we’re finally going to get some attention after many years of not having much activity.
So I’m going to focus on the investment and this has been an overall highlight of the introductions to this department; investment and where do we invest, how much do we invest and what type of investments will get the best return on the dollars that we’re going to spend in the North and in the Sahtu.
As my colleague Mr. Bromley has said, I’m glad that the Minister has written down something that he said a year and a half ago about putting elders into the school. I have to wait on this one here with that old face. I will believe it when I see it. I want to see how this program is going to be enrolled. I’ve been at it for a long, long time so I’m not too excited until I see a program, which we’ve talked about for a long, long time. I have difficulty understanding why it took so long. We’ve been at it for a long, long time and I don’t know what sparked the Minister to say, well, this is it. So I’ll wait and see, take a wait and see approach. I’ve been stunned once, so I have to watch the second time.
I’ve looked at the budget, and the Minister is embarking on some of the development that we’re going to have in the Northwest Territories. The most important development I see now in the Sahtu is the development of the young minds in our education system. I, like my colleague from Nahendeh, think our school is the most important piece of educational infrastructure in our communities. That’s where we develop the young minds of our students and this shows when we have graduations that our students are not graduating with the quality of a diploma. That really concerns me and it concerns a lot of people in the Sahtu. When we graduate our students, it’s not the same type of quality of diploma as in the larger centres. That’s where we have the haves and have-nots of our education. I think that the Minister needs to go to the federal government and ask the federal government if it’s owning up to its fiduciary responsibility obligations in educating our children and the funding that should be under that responsibility by the federal government. Too many of our students are going back to school and it’s become somewhat of a joke in our communities that if you graduate, you can just go back to Aurora College or are you going to go upgrading or are you going to work, because their diploma is not where they think it’s going to go in terms of post-secondary education institutions.
Mr. Dolynny talked about Skills Canada. Some of our schools don’t even have those types of services and programs in our schools to have our students go to Skills Canada. So we need to look at some of those things. If we’re going to be on equal par in having our students reach their fullest potential, then I think the Minister and his new team should really look at how do we really shake up the education system. So if I had my children going back into the Sahtu and when they finish they could be just as good as the students in Yellowknife, Hay River or Inuvik in their education, that’s what I want, I want the fullest potential. Maybe we have to do things so differently in our smaller communities because we cannot compete with the larger centres. We just do not have the chemistry or biology or science program in Colville Lake. We’ve got to look at that. We can’t have a cookie cutter. I applaud the students in these larger centres. They’re doing good. But we’re one or two or three grades. We hang them. We’re not reaching their fullest potential. I think we need to shift our education almost into a charter-type of school, because the public education right now with the passing requirement or the social passing is not doing us any good. We can only fool ourselves, and someone’s got to save the empire. The emperor has no clothes on, and that’s what we’re telling our students. I hope that we can have some discussion on that. I believe that the staff could help us here. How do we reach the fullest potential of our students and get our parents in the Sahtu communities saying yes, my student finished Grade 12, and that’s a Grade 12. That’s not a Grade 12 with two more years of upgrading to get into a college or to get into a university.
Students in the Sahtu want to go to university, they want to go to college. Some of them want to be trappers and hunters. With the oil and gas coming into the Sahtu, and if we give the green light to do the new technology called fracking, then we need to prepare them to take that training. It’s very scientific. It requires a lot of training and a lot of educating. I think that we’ve got to look at many ways to help our parents help the kids to reach their fullest potential.
Sometimes it’s not all education. Henry Ford had what, less than three months of schooling? He became the richest man in the world. Thomas Edison didn’t even reach high school and he became one of the world’s greatest inventors. We could have that in the Northwest Territories. It’s how you look at education. It’s the mind, it’s the way people think. Right now I think the education is to collect information and memorize it and stamp it. We’ve got to develop that type of thinking with our education system. That’s what I’m talking about. We did not survive as Aboriginal people for thousands of years by… We had to be really smart to survive. That’s what I’m saying.
We’ve got to tap into that potential, and that’s why I am somewhat cautious as to the Minister’s announcement on elders. That’s who our true teachers are. That’s the Aboriginal way of having these teachers recognized as teachers, and not just coming in for prayer and singing and say a few words. Is there a certificate program? I don’t know. I’ll have to wait and see.
I think that our contribution to the North and to the Sahtu has to be recognized. The Minister has talked about some things in his opening comments that I’m going to go through when we go from detail to detail, but the Minister has a big department, a big responsibility, and we’ve got to do our best to support him and the staff to do this.
I say these words because I’ve been sitting here close to nine years. I’ve been going through the budgets and hoping and hoping. I say this because I care about the people and I care about the work that we’re doing, and I see it in the regions with our elders, with our school kids, our language and culture, social assistance, things that we need to prepare for what’s happening in the Sahtu. There is lots of oil and gas activity happening. We have to get our plan ready for educating and training. I hope to see a Sahtu trades centre there. Mr. Ramsay says, well, when the oil and gas are proven up, we need to look at some of those things. If that’s proven up, then that should qualify for a Sahtu trades centre.
I have much more to say but I wanted to tell the Minister that I will work with you and I will work on some of these things, but I need to see some things that are going to make a difference. You have made some, don’t get me all wrong here, but I’ll go through the department on a line-by-line. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Committee, we are on general comments. Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Where I’ll start today is maybe on the topic of bullying. It seems like a timely subject to bring up today and, of course, now that we have the Minister and the officials before us.
I would say, I, too, would like to give compliments to the Minister, and certainly the staff that brought forward the initiative of the corsages. It was kind of a neat little touch and that went well for us to help support the youth, so I want to thank the Minister and the department for that. I think that was a nice thing. And, you know, those little things go a long way, you know, oddly enough, and it’s the little things that count.
The reason I’m bringing up bullying is because the issue of bullying legislation, and certainly, in some form, regulations, is how that will roll out one day. We look forward to hearing those details. I’d like to hear some details on where that initiative is going. One of the critical components, as we all know, is that this has to be done not in isolation but in partnership with our teaching organizations and our teachers, because they will be a fundamental component to the success of this type of program. I mean, we can make all the laws in the world we want but, I mean, they’re useless if they’re not enforced or are not supported. That said, it has to be done in a manner that works with them, not against them.
I don’t see the teachers, in my view, if I may say humbly, as the enforcement, like the police of bullying. What we need to do is help give them tools that we can help support these types of initiatives. That may not be everything that needs to be said today on that topic, but it’s about tools and helping them and supporting them. We saw the outcry today. I mean, the Minister had his eyes wide open, the same as everyone else that is, in the manner of seeing how many young people were here today. It was very touching, deeply touching.
I can even tell you as a parent, as well as I know many people here in our Assembly here today are parents, and you hear your kids come home and talk about bullying and also you hear the voice of hopelessness when they talk about it. I can say even for myself, I heard my own son, the youngest one, say the other day how he didn’t want to go to school because of bullies. It’s not about my kid. It’s about everybody’s kid. I mean, how many parents like to hear that story?
School is supposed to be an exciting place to go. Maybe not on test day or, in my case, test result day or report card day as well. That said, school is supposed to be a wonderful time and it’s supposed to be embraced with great memories as we look back and say that was a happy, safe time, and that I want all students to look back and say those are memories that when times are tough they always look back, and I want those to be the memories that they remember and make them smile.
Another area I’d like to touch base on, again, briefly. It’s funny how 10 minutes goes by so fast. To no surprise, the Minister will hear me bring this topic up, which is Aurora College. Aurora College, I realize, is a capital project, but the planning starts with the seeds within the department and its initiatives. The ground breaking begins with the first pen hitting a piece of paper as a plan that develops an initiative that finds partners. I continue to raise this subject, and I wish we’d get to talk about how we get there. I know we don’t have the capital budget before us. That’s no illusion to me. I know we don’t have the, whether it’s 10, 20, 30, 40 or 50 million, dollars to just say here’s the new campus, but it all begins with the first piece of paper. I mean, it starts with the initiative of drawing up a plan, bringing the discussion to the table, creating a roundtable. I mean, the Minister could do this if he really wanted to. It would be very groundbreaking to start this type of process off.
The fact that Aurora College needs an independent campus in Yellowknife can no longer be ignored. I believe we’re punishing the students in some form or fashion, maybe not formally when we think of the word punishment of the old strict ruler against the hand form, but more so in the sense of we’re denying them educational opportunities here. We’re denying all Northerners educational opportunities by the constrictive sense of the building it’s in. It’s a good building. The building was built for a great purpose. It still serves a fantastic purpose of helping people.
But by the same token, the obligations of a government to think beyond its present circumstances is critical, and it needs to look beyond today and say where can we bring education in five years. They should be asking themselves why do we not have more southern students coming north to get educated. We have great programs we can offer. Why don’t we have student housing that has an excellent mix? And we could be doing all these things. Maybe not today, maybe it’s a five- or 10-year plan, but those plans have to start with the first pen to paper.
My colleagues, people like Mr. Dolynny, spoke well on film, and I won’t speak any further other than to say the industry tells me they are looking for grants and resources. Grants are more useful than tax breaks. Tax breaks only help if you make money. So it’s critical in that view.
As I mentioned, the other thing I would like to talk about is community employment initiatives created by the department. What I think is small community initiatives, employment initiatives are key to keep people healthy. We need people working, but they also have to be tied to education. I’m well aware that the federal government has recently allocated I think $8.6 million to education programs for adult eds who did not graduate. Yet here I continue some days joyfully, but on the other hand sometimes painfully.
I rail against the Minister of ITI about not living up to what I feel are true expectations or fulfilling the socio-economic agreements. I’m going to say he’s also correct: it is an adult education problem too. I didn’t even look up when I said he was correct. So I do give him credit for the fact that he is right, that it’s a component of the issue.
But we’re not here to talk about socio-economic agreements. Education is a critical component. I think enough has been said about inclusive education. I share the concerns that have been raised.
One thing that was mentioned, but I think was also overlooked, was there was discussion by you, I believe, Madam Chair, about the Languages Commissioner and the boards or the two boards that come together. It was my understanding that at one time it was suggested that the Languages Commissioner’s role be phased out. There was a package delivered to my office sometime late last year, sometime in November or into December, where it seems as if the Languages Commissioner is taking on the role of what the department should actually do. Although it’s done with good stewardship and good intent, I feel the direction of it is…The Languages Commissioner is not doing what the commissioner’s job is directed to do by legislation. So although it’s recognized as important work to be done, I feel the role isn’t being properly fulfilled. That said, maybe the Languages Commissioner’s role either needs to be expanded, or needs to be examined at the very least.
To continue on language, the issue was spoken very well by other colleagues, but one of the things that I continue to see as an obvious problem – and I have yet to hear how the department is going to challenge this – is how is the department building partnerships with regional languages and regional governments. We put such importance upon language, we should be building fundamental partnerships with these Aboriginal groups who have Aboriginal governments. What better way to rebuild a language than building a partnership with these folks? It is in their very best interest to ensure the languages continue, and I certainly support that.
The GNWT cannot go it alone. We can’t be the only people trying to worry about these things. Yet we hear very little about the partnership other than us giving them the money. To support that, I support mechanisms that strive to keep these things alive because they are fundamental to culture. I recognize that as very significant.
I think I mentioned inclusive school, but if I didn’t, it’s important, and that hasn’t changed.
One of the things and another area I was kind of looking to hear more about was skill and training development. I think Mr. Dolynny mentioned trades. But when you speak to industry, they actually talk about wanting more skills and trades development done in the North to draw down on those critical skills. Ironically, I say more in the sense of surprise, because you are going against the old stereotypes where they are saying they’d rather have the women in trades because women do a better job. They are more reliable than the men, and I think it’s a demonstration that stereotypes need to be put away. It’s the women that show up to work, the women who do the work, and I think that’s great. That’s a great thing.
What I would like to see is more trade development. I come from a family that’s a blue collar background, and we were always taught about how important trades are. Here it is 25 years later from when I was finishing high school, and trades were almost an embarrassing thing to get into. Here it is 25 years later, and they are one of the most critical components where we’re lacking skills in that area.
The last thing I would like to say, and I know my time has come to the end here, but obesity rates in children continue to significantly rise. There are more reports in the news that continues to demonstrate this as fact. What I’ll leave as my last thought on this particular issue is that there needs to be more programming to get kids active. The sad thing of today is the old Huckleberry Finn lifestyle of getting out and having adventures is long gone. It’s replaced by fast skidoos or Internet. It’s a real shame. Our kids have lost the joy of playing or lost the joy of activity or sports, and it’s a real challenge getting them out there. I wouldn’t mind hearing some thoughts on how we are going to get kids active and fight those obesity rates.
Madam Chair, my time is over, but I will have more questions and comments on specific pages. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Are we agreed general comments are concluded?
Agreed.
I will go to the Minister for a response, if he chooses.
Mahsi, Madam Chair. I would just like to thank the Members for their comments. There are a lot of important comments pertaining to this budget and a lot of areas for long-term strategies as well.
First of all, there was a discussion on Sachs Harbour boarding and so forth. I believe part of the discussion that we had regarding e-learning is that is the way to go now. There’s been a question whether there will be an investment in eLearning and why we didn’t see it in the budget. This is a brand new area that we are exploring. I’d like to see us invest in those areas the next business planning cycle. It may not be here now, but this is an area I am interested in, and it’s the way to go.
Part of the heritage, the structure, I realize the Justice department is working on that as well. Part of my portfolio is heritage, so I will definitely work closely with the Member and also with the Justice Minister, because it’s been addressed in this House already. We want to be involved in that, as well, because it’s part of our heritage and history. So we’re looking forward to our continued discussion in this area, Madam Chair.
Increases in income support/income assistance in the Beaufort-Delta due to potential low activity happening at this point, we are monitoring that. We are doing what we can to provide more opportunities, like training. We talk about labour market development agreements for individuals that don’t qualify for EI. We addressed that earlier in the House as well. We need to maximize the programs we have in our department, along with others.
In the Beaufort-Delta, as you know, there’s going to be activity that will be happening, and we need to prepare our people for that, whether it’s on a contract basis through ITI, whether it be qualified, skilled individuals. We heard “skilled individuals” on numerous occasions, so we will be working on that. Part of our goal is to have a decrease in income assistance throughout the Northwest Territories. Every time I meet with my department, I always stress that. We need to decrease that number.
Increase in film, this is an area that ITI and my department… My department deals directly with arts and crafts, ITI deals with the film industry, but we are working hand in hand and we are getting involved even further. We’ve had some requests in the past, as well just recently, and we are working towards that. So I’m sure you’ll see some increase in the funding as we continue our discussion for next year’s business planning cycle. I believe there’s more than one individual organization that has been requesting. Then there have been several meetings with Minister Ramsay, as well, through these groups.
Official Languages Act, there’s been talks on numerous occasions on more efficient operations, compiling all of the information, the resources. I think we’re working towards that. As you know, there’s going to be a symposium that’s going to be happening on Aboriginal languages in the next couple weeks, and we want to seek input and ideas on the second phase of our approach, the Aboriginal Languages Secretariat, how it’s going to look, and part of the whole organizational structure is to amalgamate and also compile all the resources that we have within our department. I’ve stated before, we have over $14 million within our department and we want to have that available to the communities. So we’re doing what we can to be efficient and effective in that area, and that’s part of the reason why we’re establishing this Aboriginal Languages Secretariat.
Early childhood development, the renewal. The framework itself is very complex. We’ve had a lot of good discussions, very positive. We had some elders, over 80 elders came in, in the last couple weeks, along with stakeholders. There have been three of the most powerful speakers that came out, as well, experts in the field. So we had a lot of input and now we’re getting ready to start developing a plan towards that, their recommendations, their discussions. Out of that you’ll see a lot of great opportunities that we need to move forward on. Obviously, that would be the next business planning cycle. This business planning cycle was initiated last fall. So, obviously, this is an area that my department is totally focused on. It’s one of the first priorities. So we will be coming back to this House with a package in the spring session to table a document. That’s our target.
The student support, working with the various school boards, I understand that we need to make some changes and we need to have different methods where inclusive schooling has been brought up on numerous occasions. We currently provide funding to school boards based on a formula, but we’ve been told that it’s not really working. We’re just handing out the funds to the school boards and there’s no results base in return. So this is an area that I’m seriously looking at as part of our education renewal. We want to make some changes. As Mr. Dolynny alluded to, potentially the funding should follow those students, not directly to the school boards. Those are areas that we need to discuss. We do have some time to do that now and we want to get ready for next year. It’s going to be very complex, but at the same time, we’re investing into our kids and we want to find the most efficient ways of doing that, the most effective way as well. So we are diligently working towards that within my department. That’s another priority area for us. We talk about the research on evidence based across the board.
There has been an adult education review, as you know, that has been undertaken. We are working closely with the college on this particular piece of work. The question was, is it ready to go out yet, and that’s a discussion that we’ve been having with the college. I want to present to the standing committee on the status on that, and when the time comes on our business plan, we can talk in detail on that.
There’s been discussion on income support that we should focus on the needs of the individuals as opposed to whether it be computer-driven or a policy. This is an area that I’ve instructed my department to seriously look at, potentially in some areas where there could be some flexibility. It’s been brought to my attention on numerous occasions. So I’ve already instructed my department to look in those areas, how we can work with that. So once the information is available, I will be sharing it with the standing committee. Any changes that we foresee making, then I’ll definitely be before standing committee.
As you know, with modern technology, it’s always changing. The fibre optic, we had a presentation this morning. It looks like it’s going forward within the next couple of years. Obviously, our school boards, our school system, education system will take full advantage of that, whether it be on-line programs and all those digital and various features that will be available to us, we’re just anxiously waiting for that. So we’re very excited, and it sounds like it is moving forward and there’s going to be a lot of discussion. The federal government is a partner in this as well. We’ve already invested in the fibre optic through this government as well. So we can’t wait until it’s up and running.
The small schools, whether it be Trout Lake or Colville, is an area that we’ve been discussing as part of our capital planning process, although we’re not talking about capital here today. This is an area that I’ve also instructed my department to look seriously at how we make that a priority in the small communities. Part of that is also education renewal. As you know, one of the pillars talks about the small community schools. So it does capture the small communities and, based on that, I would like to see some changes. The capital infrastructure, we go through that on an annual basis and we’ve put those requests forward, but there are other pressing needs and so forth. But definitely the small community schools, the two schools that have been addressed in this House on numerous occasions, we will be working with that. I’ve instructed my department to look at it seriously.
Library services, there’s been some increase in funding over the years and Mr. Menicoche has raised that issue on numerous occasions in this House. I still seriously want to work with him on that and how we can get around that. We’ve been working with the town council the last time we initiated our discussion, but I’ll definitely get the latest status on this particular subject and maybe we can continue with our discussion on the next step, how we can go about this.
Economic development, new resources similar to the Sahtu region. The Member referenced that and that’s an area that we have to keep a watchful eye. Again, we will be working closely with ITI, the economic arm. If there’s a need such as the Sahtu, a similar approach, then we will be developing those positions based on the needs of the community. So we will be keeping the Members posted on that particular area.
Senior Fuel Subsidy is an area that I’ve instructed my new associate deputy minister to tackle. We’ve heard it not only here, but even outside visiting in the communities. An elder will come up to us, their kids are looking after them, and I’m fully aware of that. At the same time, there are some individuals that do take advantage of the system, but I’m sure there’s a way we can get around it. So that’s a challenge that I’ve given to one of my senior staff. We will come back with a plan; we are developing a plan of action.
There has been an increase in the $10,000 threshold a couple years ago, I believe. So those are areas that we can still play with, but at the same time, we’re going to come back with a plan.
The language is an area where… We need to focus in those key areas where we’re losing our language, such as the Gwich’in and other official Aboriginal languages. We’ve provided some funds towards that and we are working closely with the federal government, as well, to increase our funding. As you know, we only get $1.9 million a year for Aboriginal languages. The French language also gets $1.9 million. So that’s an area that we’ve been stressing with the federal government to increase that funding. Within our own existing fund we have just over $14 million in different pots that we continue to invest into the communities to revive our languages. There is a languages symposium that’s coming up and we’re investing in that, hoping that we’ll get some returns out of that.
Child and Family Resource Centre, that’s an area that we felt was needed so we put that forward for two communities, Tulita and Ndilo. The funding was supposed to have been rolled out this past fall. We’ve been working with the local bands to make that a reality. At this point, we are, again, continuing to work closely with the organizations to make it a success. Even though it’s a pilot project, I believe we’ll be seeing these types of projects into the communities on a long-term basis, because I believe it’s needed. But at the same time, we are going through a developing framework. How is that going to play out? How it is going to look at the end of the day? Is the family resource centre still a priority within the framework? If it is, then we’ll continue to move that forward.
There’s a question on a child daycare inspector, whether it should be full time or part time. That’s an area that we work closely with various organizations, especially the daycare organizations. They provide us feedback, and based on that, this position came up. We can discuss it further when we’re in detail.
The Elders in Schools has been in the works for some time. I’ve addressed it in the House, as well, just recently. We are moving forward, and this fall, I’ve committed in this House, that there will be elders programming into our schools. We may not capture all 49 schools, but at least we’ll capture some of them. That’s an area that we are focusing on right now. That’s the target date, for the ’13-14 school year in the fall. So we are moving forward and I am very excited about this. It has taken some time, but at the same time, we want to have a product where there are no mistakes. There’s been a lot of confusion and lot of miscommunication in how we can deal with the payments and so forth, but I think we’re finally getting around that.
The graduation rates and getting kids ready for school are also priorities within our department, especially in the small, isolated communities. Again, I have to commend the Beaufort-Delta for undertaking e-learning. That’s an area that’s been successful to date, even though they just started recently. That’s an area that we want to introduce into other regions as well. Especially small communities that cannot delivery Chemistry 30 or Biology 30, so those schools can take advantage of e-learning. My department is working closely with a program, with the Beaufort-Delta and others that are taking on that offer.
We want to increase the graduation rates, of course, and have those students ready for post-secondary, instead of them upgrading over and over again.
Another one that has been addressed is income support. Unemployment is high, and delivery in a respectful way, I totally agree with the Member. We have professional staff who deal with the clientele and they provide productive choices. If there’s a training requirement that should be provided to them, as well, through the various programs we have within our department. So we will definitely follow through if there is an issue there with professionalism. I have even stated in this House, I believe it was a couple months ago, that there was training that was being undertaken for CSOs, client service officers, to deal with clientele. So I can provide more detailed information on that, Madam Chair.
The youth centre is a collaboration with other departments as well. Not only my department, but MACA and the Health department. Again, it’s come down to capital infrastructure, but at the same time, what kind of program can we offer now today? That’s an area that we can deal with interdepartmentally. Members are here; Ministers are keen listeners and they’re taking notes, so we’ll definitely work towards that.
The community learning centre has been addressed on a couple of occasions in the Sahtu region, and now it’s been addressed in other regions, as well, such as Deh Cho. This is an area that we need to work closely with ITI, as well, and with the community organizations. What are the needs of the community? What kind of training is required? With the facility itself, can we use the existing facility? Going into communities, usually there are facilities that could be available such as community learning centres. The college will have to be involved as well. We need to take full advantage of our community learning centres that are in our communities. We will commit to working toward establishing programming into the communities.
There was another one on the potential of doing research, possibly producing books and documentation. I believe we have started that already and we will continue to enhance that. There has been some language programming and language documentation with CDs and DVDs, but this is an area that I’d like to further look into with the Member that raised that issue.
Language and broadcasting. We currently sponsor broadcasting in the North. Obviously, there’s always an outcry for additional funding. We continue to monitor that and we feel that broadcasting is an effective way of communicating to the communities. In the Northwest Territories they only listen to CKLB and CBC. Right now, the federal government does contribute, but I believe there have been some debates over that. We continue with our existing funding to those organizations.
I did meet with my department to find out where we’re at and how we can increase in those areas, whether it be the resources. We talk about nine Aboriginal languages and French and English, 11 official languages. Most of the languages are spoken on the radio, so this is an area that I’m very interested in how we can work with that. We have been working closely with CKLB. CBC has its own funding allocation directly from the feds, but we will continue to work with them.
The decline in K to 12, again, I have touched on that already. The need to better spend efficiently, I totally agree with that. I believe this whole education renewal, part of that is Inclusive Schooling. We need to highlight and also capture the system’s accountability. That is one of the pillars with the small schools especially. The small schools are always left out, whether it be educational value, as Member Yakeleya alluded to, and I want to capture all of that within the renewal. Also, how we invest into our kids, into our schools, the school boards most effectively, efficiently. Within the renewal I would like to see that captured and make some changes towards that. Again, I will be going back to the standing committee with those changes.
Skills Canada, I was there with Member Dolynny. It was very exciting to see our own kids, our own Northwest Territories kids performing very well. We won some medals there. The Try a Trade, we saw them in action. We would like to see them here in the Northwest Territories, the venue. It would probably have to be in Yellowknife because there is so much equipment and so many people that will be coming for part of the project, I guess. Industries will definitely be involved and our department and ITI and various organizations, MACA and so forth, and other Aboriginal organizations I am sure will get on board. This is an area that the Member raised with me. I would like to further explore if there is any interest from potential partners and then I will update the Members on this particular piece of work. We will continue to sponsor on an annual basis to Skills Canada. I have already committed to that over the last few years. We see a real success in this programming, in Skills Canada. So we will continue to make that investment.
The SFA appeals process has been brought up next fiscal year. I would like to seriously look at this as well within my department. We just went through an SFA review and there have been some several recommendations towards the SFA appeals process. It has been brought up in the past. I definitely would like my department to look further into that and see if it can be brought forward.
Part of the discussion that took place was keeping kids in the classroom. Obviously, this will take the whole community to be part of. It won’t be just the teachers or the school boards or the leaders, but the parents and community members. Part of the renewal, obviously, will cover to some degree in that area of small community schools. How can we improve in those areas? Through the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative, when we had undertaken that, we assessed them. We have developed some recommendations in that area. Keeping kids in school was one of the priorities of that initiative. We have provided some funding towards that as an incentive. It has worked out well, but I think we need to do more because we have 49 schools we have to deal with. This is an area that will be part of the discussion of educational renewal.
There has been a discussion about the flexibility of funding. We currently provide funding based on enrolment to school boards. The Member indicated that there should be some form of flexibility for a community. I can address that with the school boards and raise the same issue with the school boards on how we can get around that. The Member indicated that funds given out in columns such as if there is bus service, everybody gets the same but not every community has a bus service. I realize where the Member is coming from, so I will be addressing that with the school board chairs.
The two positions in the Sahtu region, the Member is asking what kind of work that is. We will be getting to further detail when it comes to that. It does highlight what kind of positions, career development and others. This was based on the activity that will be happening in the Sahtu region. We feel that it is a worthwhile investment such as with other departments that are investing in this area too.
The TEP program that the Member also discussed, he was saying that they are ready for it. This is an area that we have initiated with other regions. We are ready to head into another region so that could be the Sahtu region. We will be meeting with the school board to discuss further.
In concluding, the federal government, we were asked how come they are not contributing towards the school. Their policy states that they don’t provide infrastructure funding towards educational facilities. We have approached them and we will continue to do so. I think we found an area that we can probably tackle in another venue with the federal government, so we will continue to push that forward.
Educational shake-up, I totally believe that is going to happen with education renewal. That is coming before the Assembly Members here.
The anti-bullying legislation, as you know, the NWTTA is actively involved. We’re not doing this in isolation. We continue to work closely with them. How it’s going to look is a debate we are going to be having. We’re doing a comprehensive plan right now. There is legislation that we have been tasked to look into from this Assembly. At the same time, we are doing a comprehensive plan to deal with what we currently have within the schools across the Northwest Territories to deal with bullying. That is an area that we will be coming back to this House with this spring. That is within the 18 months.
Aurora College, as you know, is part of the capital discussion, but I have also instructed my department to look further into this where we have initiated some option papers in the past. I want them to look at the options paper again. When we come to that, I can discuss in further detail. Some Members are familiar with the option paper I am referring to.
The Languages Commissioner and the partnership with the community groups, those are key points that we will be having with the language symposium and also the Aboriginal Languages Secretariat that will be established. They will be dealing with the roles and responsibilities or the compiling of all the resources that we have within our department, and they will be working closely with the Aboriginal groups. I think we are on the right path. It will take some time, but we will get there eventually.
Last but not least, obesity is on the rise. Again, my department, through schools, will be working closely with the Department of Health and Social Services. Mahsi, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister Lafferty. We are on page 10-7. Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that we report progress.
---Carried
Can I have the report of Committee of the Whole, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Tabled Document 9-17(4), NWT Main Estimates, 2013-2014, and would like to report progress. Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of Committee of the Whole be concurred with. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. A motion is on the floor. Do we have a seconder? The seconder is Mr. Abernethy.
---Carried
…(inaudible)…
Hey, Mr. Hawkins!
---Laughter
Orders of the day for Thursday, February 28, 2013, 1:30 p.m.:
Prayer
Ministers’ Statements
Members’ Statements
Reports of Standing and Special Committees
Returns to Oral Questions
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Acknowledgements
Oral Questions
Written Questions
Returns to Written Questions
Replies to Opening Address
Petitions
Reports of Committees on the Review of Bills
Tabling of Documents
Notices of Motion
Notices of Motion for First Reading of Bills
Motions
Motion 5-17(4), Extended Adjournment of the House to March 4, 2013
Motion 6-17(4), Gasoline Pricing Regulations
First Reading of Bills
Bill 2, An Act to Amend the Territorial Parks Act
Second Reading of Bills
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Tabled Document 9-17(4), NWT Main Estimates, 2013-2014
Bill 1, Tlicho Statutes Amendment Act
Report of Committee of the Whole
Third Reading of Bills
Orders of the Day
Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Accordingly, this House stands adjourned until Thursday, February 28th, at 1:30 p.m.
---ADJOURNMENT
The House adjourned at 8:22 p.m.
