Thank you, Mr. Blake. Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We had attended the career fair in Ottawa to raise awareness about the employment opportunities in the Northwest Territories, to attract people to the GNWT and advise people of the opportunities and advantages of living in the Northwest Territories as one of the strategies to try to increase our population base and fill some positions that are otherwise difficult to fill. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I would also like to ask the Minister, when is the government holding career fairs here in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We are having open houses at the Human Resource service centres we have across the territory. We had our very first open house in late November in the HR Service Centre in Fort Simpson, and we’re going to follow up with open houses in Inuvik, Norman Wells and Hay River this month. We are also going to have open houses in Yellowknife on March 12th and 13th, Fort Smith at the end of March, and on May 6, 2014, we will be having our last open house at the HR Service Centre in Behchoko. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I’m glad to hear they’re planning to have open houses in the regional centres, but what about the smaller communities in the outlying regions? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, in order to try to reach out to some of the small communities, the department has announced the Regional Recruitment Program. With that program, the department has also hired a regional recruitment specialist that is based in Fort Smith and will be working with all the HR service centres, and also the HR service centres will expand out into the smaller communities. Again, sending the same message out in the communities that the GNWT is available, we have vacant positions that we wish to fill and if people in the communities have the skills and abilities to fill those positions, we are going to give them the opportunity to do so. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to ask the Minister, how does the department reach out to our Aboriginal population? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The department has the Aboriginal Management and Development Program where we are advancing people into associate positions. We are starting at the director/superintendent level where we are advancing six individual Aboriginals into those positions. It gives them a good key position to be able to reach out and try to attract other Aboriginal employees. In the mix, we are also trying to add – we don’t have the money in the budget yet – the next level down and have associate managers. So that’s something that the department will be putting forward to the government. We have an Aboriginal Advisory Committee chaired by one of our Aboriginal deputy ministers that watches over some of these activities, especially these key activities in our attempt to attract more Aboriginal people into the public service. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I spoke about Canada’s recent decline on the global stage of our math performance. Coupled with what we already know about our extremely poor performance on our AAT Grade 9 math scores, the debate brewing between Discovery Learning and going back to basics is clearly circling the wagon at the recent launch of the Education Renewal and Innovation Initiative. My questions today will be for the Minister responsible, the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Our math curriculum for years has been based on the Alberta model. Can the Minister indicate, with the pending ERI Initiative, what changes in math teachings in the NWT and what provincial curriculum will the NWT likely follow? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The NWT and Alberta are part of the Western and Northern Canadian Protocol along with three provinces and three territorial jurisdictions. We have been involved with the math curriculum and teaching resources for the past 20 years to develop a common and use by all WNCP partners.
The NWT has been, and continues to be, extremely active in this process along with other provincial jurisdictions. As you know, Mr. Speaker, there are changes happening within Alberta education. We are closely monitoring that through their education redesign process. With any changes, we are closely monitoring what kind of changes will be happening pertaining to mathematical curriculum. We will be making changes that reflect on that for the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate the Minister’s response. I think I really want to get rid some of the fuzziness around some of the changes that might be pending.
Would the Minister say we are maintaining our math standards towards more of the Discovery Learning or does he see us as maintaining more of a traditional charted course in math basics? Thank you.
There’s been a lot of recent discussion about Discovery Learning versus traditional learning, particularly relating to mathematics. Alberta has again... We are referring to Alberta because we use their curriculum, as well, both nationally and internationally in mathematics education for well over a decade. So we are learning from Alberta, our neighbouring province. The math curriculum that we use in the NWT has been adopted by other provincial jurisdictions in Canada. As an example in Quebec, they have done very well as they embrace a new approach to student learning. They focus on attention to careful learning and the training of the teachers who teach mathematics. This is a…(inaudible)…approach as well. This investment in teacher training is one of the highlighted areas in our initiatives, so we are closely monitoring that as well as working with other provincial jurisdictions.
Again, I’m going to have to go back to Hansard and decipher that response. Again, I’m trying to get rid of the fuzziness around the changes that are pending, especially with this ERI Initiative.
Again, communication is paramount when we launch an initiative of this magnitude. Can the Minister elaborate on what kind of communication process and rollout expectation timeline will we see for this ERI Initiative and will math curriculum be affected in the near future? Thank you.
My department has been engaged with the superintendents and also assistant superintendents over the last week to explain that very concept and ask for substantive feedback from their school boards. As we said, Alberta is developing new assessment tools such as Student Learning Assessment for introduction at the Grade 3 level in September 2014. So those are some of the important key aspects that we are monitoring.
For the NWT, no matter how we decide to engage in the use of these tools, we will, on some level, compromise data for the coming years for Grade 3.
Grades 6, 9 and 12 assessment tools remain in place for the coming school year until Alberta changes their format. Then we have to adapt to those changes as well. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Testing is very important for parents or even students. That is the cornerstone of how we are doing well.
With almost zero testing indicators from what we can see during this ERI Initiative transition, and with little framework of a national grading strategy, can the Minister indicate by what process will the department be able to evaluate our math performance or our success of our NWT students? Thank you.
Part of the process that we are going through is, again, working closely with the school boards across the Northwest Territories and working closely with the provincial jurisdictions. I mentioned the Quebec model and also the Alberta model. We are going to be making changes through the Education Renewal Initiative pertaining to Alberta making changes. It’s coming. We know that substantial changes are coming. So through the mathematical curriculum, we will be making those changes as well. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are also addressed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I want to follow up on my Member’s statement about college daycares and the need for our students to have some place to put their children while they go to school.
There certainly is a lack of affordable daycare for students. As I mentioned, it keeps them in a financial hole and I think it keeps many of them in poverty. It’s not where our students should be if we expect them or want them to gain learning and to gain accreditation and get good jobs.
I’d like to start off by asking the Minister, I mentioned the child care subsidy in my statement and I’d like to ask him if he could provide the House with data on the use of the Childcare Subsidy Program. Was it fully subscribed in the last fiscal year? It is my understanding that it was not. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I don’t have that detailed information, but we can certainly provide the breakdown of the use of the Childcare Subsidy Program over the last year or last few years, and whether it’s been maximized or the usage of that particular subsidy program. We can provide that. Mahsi.
Thanks to the Minister. I look forward to that information. I’d like to ask the Minister, in terms of daycare and the opportunities to provide daycare on campus and for our students, I’d like to know if the Minister is willing to review with the Aurora College Board and the Aurora College president the benefits of on-campus daycare. Will he commit to establishing a daycare if only at one campus in Fort Smith where we currently have our Early Childhood Education program?
Those are discussions that we will be having with the college. There are certain initiatives happening in the college, the review of the overall training initiatives, so there will be those discussions. Aurora College with its three main campuses, serving the 32 communities, are going through their growth and objectives long-term plans. So they will be meeting, I believe in June, and they’ll be discussing this particular subject, as well, to my understanding.
Inuvik and the other two campuses, as the Member alluded to, provide child care programs. Inuvik students have access through the Children First Daycare as well. So there are some facilities that are available within the communities, but I understand where the Member is coming from. We provide a subsidy program to the students and we’ll continue to do that. At the same time, I will be addressing this with the Aurora College Board of Governors. Mahsi.
Thanks to the Minister for that commitment. I look forward to hearing sooner rather than later, I hope, that the college is willing to look at developing on-campus daycares. Certainly, if there are not enough students with children on campus to fill a daycare, I’m sure that the rest of the community would fill it up.
If the Minister or if the college can’t establish an on-campus daycare, as I mentioned in my statement, there are a couple of daycares in Nunavut where the spaces are reserved for college students. So I’d like to know if the Minister would consider that.
Will the college, will ECE consider reserving spaces in community daycares for college students and their children? Thank you.
Mahsi. Those are the types of discussions that we need to have with the Board of Governors. As you know, they’re arm’s reach from us. We provide funding to them. It’s the board that makes the decisions on where the money should be expended and we work closely with them, I work closely with the board chair of the Board of Governors. Every opportunity to meet with them at the annual event through the meetings, but these are some of the areas that Members have alluded to. It is an initiative that’s been earmarked before. So I’m sure the Board of Governors will be discussing that and I will be reminding the board members as well. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thanks, Mr. Speaker. Thanks again to the Minister. The concerns of the students were heard loud and clear when we met with Yellowknife students a number of weeks ago. The value of an on-campus daycare at a training venue is something which I want to make sure that the Minister has understood. So in Fort Smith, for instance, if there was an on-campus daycare, I would imagine that the funding for the Childcare Funding Subsidy Program could be put into an on-campus daycare, and it probably wouldn’t cost all that much more to get that established. It would also provide a venue to train our professionals.
Does the Minister realize that we can have an on-campus daycare that services two purposes? Thank you.
Mahsi. I’d like to thank the Member, as well, for meeting with the students, because it is very important to listen to those students, to hear their ideas, concerns and suggestions. Those areas are being brought to our attention here today, so we will be following up with those ideas particularly to Iqaluit and also Yukon College. Some of the examples brought to our attention here today I will be addressing with the college as well. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Finance. On page 3 of the fiscal strategy of the budget address, the Minister says some of the areas of concern are hundreds of vacant jobs in the Northwest Territories. Then he goes on, and part of that paragraph that I want to focus on, but the Minister also stated that in there, is that they want to embark on an initiative to increase the population of the Northwest Territories in five years.
I want to ask the Minister, in the vacant jobs – there are hundreds of vacant jobs – how many vacant jobs are there in the Northwest Territories?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In any given time there are about 800 vacancies. There are about 400 that we’re actively trying to fill. Those numbers are split between Yellowknife and outside of Yellowknife.
I know there’s probably a little more complexity on the answers, but 800 positions that the government has right now, there are 400 they’re actively trying to fill. So the other 400, what happens? There’s active and inactive. Is that correct and can the Minister also put a financial figure to those positions that are vacant?
Thank you. There are unfunded positions. There’s still a gap of about 7 percent on the benefits that the departments are funded with for positions that the departments are required to cover off. There is money that’s used for casuals to offset the vacancies, contracts that are used to offset the vacancies. Some folks may be away on leave. So it’s a very complicated list. It’s not just empty or full. There are many issues to consider.
One of the things I would point out, as well, in the budget address, is we’re devoting $22.6 million, I believe it is, over three years to put housing in small communities with a specific focus to try to deal with the housing, to alleviate one of the barriers to filling those positions, which is often adequate housing. Thank you.
Thank you. We have voted for these positions in past Legislative Assemblies, past sessions, and still we’re having a difficult time and I’m on board with Mrs. Groenewegen. How do we create some things to do something exciting, something that would fill these positions?
Mr. Blake talked about getting the young people back into our communities or somehow get the northern people back working again. So I want to ask the Minister, on these positions, what happens to the dollars when we vote on them and now we found out there are 800 vacant positions that are not yet filled? What happens to these dollars that we vote on to prove that these are the positions that we want in the government?
Thank you. Once again, this is a short question that would require a very complicated answer if we wanted to cover all the issues. But there are positions, the money is used in some cases to help cover off a gap in benefits, there are casual dollars, there are contract dollars, there are staff that may be on transfer assignments. So there’s a range of reasons why some positions may be empty.
The issue, though, is one of concern to the government that we need to find a way to make sure… We have a couple of competing issues here. We have northern graduates that don’t come home and we have positions that we are going begging in terms of permanent employment, and we have to reconcile that as we move forward. If we could fill all our positions we would go a long way to addressing some of the concern we have about trying to go from 2,000 in five years, in terms of population increase. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I heard on this side that we could be very creative on this initiative as to filling these 400 vacant positions, the active positions. I’m going to make the assumption that the 400 inactive, what does inactive, meaning these 400 positions to fill, and we can embark on that, and as I said, like some of our colleagues, but let’s start training up people in our own communities, start upgrading them. Maybe that’s the bigger picture.
I want to ask the Minister, when will the Cabinet come over to our side and say let’s sit down, let’s figure out how we can resolve this. Right now, as it stands, we have 800 vacant positions within the Government of the Northwest Territories and yet I’m not too sure what the financial cost is of us approving those positions in past Assemblies to have those positions in the GNWT.
Thank you. If the Member will recollect, before Christmas we had a meeting and I indicated to the Members that we were intent on coming forward to try to address this issue and that we would keep committee fully engaged and apprised. We had a first inaugural meeting with the mine presidents as well as the chamber representatives this week, just to see if there was a shared interest in trying to address this issue, and there is, so we’re in the process of striking a high level senior working group to try to look at some of the things like the immigrant Nominee Program, the fly-in/fly-out issue as well as some of the broader ones. It’s not only the government that has vacancies, it’s the private sector as well. So we are going to look at those as well as we are definitely turning our attention to how do we do a better job recruiting our own students to come back home. We intend to get that working group going. If the committee has a specific role that they see for themselves or potentially how they would like to be engaged, if they would let us know, we would be happy to look at that.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to focus a little bit about decentralization and moving jobs to the communities as laid out in the Minister’s budget speech. That’s a key part of devolution. He’s talking about phase 1 and phase 2. Perhaps I’ll just ask on phase 1. What is being planned for phase 1 right now? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Phase 1 was completed last year and we laid it out in the budget last year. Phase 2 speaks to some of the things we are looking at in the more immediate term in terms of devolution and reorganization, the lands, departments being set up in the regional centres and those types of things. Then as we look at our devolution and post-devolution organizational structures and then the longer-term phase 3 is going to be a bit more in-depth as we look at some of the things that are once again impediments to moving positions outside of Yellowknife, which the two main ones would be office space and availability of housing. Then looking at what distinct, discreet functions of government would make sense in an operational sense about where…(inaudible)…located outside of Yellowknife.
