Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Frame Lake, that Committee Report 5-17(5), Report of the Standing Committee on Government Operations on the Review of the 2012-2013 Northwest Territories Human Rights Commission Annual Report, be received by the Assembly and adopted.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. It’s a great pleasure to welcome a friend of mine and a colleague from the Yukon government, the Honourable Mike Nixon. He’s the Minister of Justice and also the Minister of Tourism and Culture with the Yukon government. Accompanying Minister Nixon is Tom Ullyett. He’s the deputy minister of Justice with the Yukon government. Ms. Lesley McCullough, the assistant deputy minister; and also Mr. Dan Cable, the director of policy with the Department of Justice, Yukon government. Welcome and thanks for visiting the Northwest Territories.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize a couple of individuals: Ravan Bedingfield and Jessica Marriott. Jessica and Ravan are policy analysts with the Department of Health and Social Services and I would like to acknowledge their role for preparing for session and for keeping track of all the work that’s going on in the House, and I want to thank them for all their hard work and commitment. Thank you and it’s great to have you both here.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I wish to recognize two Pages from Tu Nedhe, Fort Resolution: Clair Rymer-Lafferty and also Samantha King. They are travelling with their chaperone, Margaret Edjericon. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Page Program, I would like to say congratulations and a job well done to Dylan Steeves and Brandon Hardisty from Fort Liard, as well as their chaperon, Chris Leckenby. I want to say to their parents that they did well and they made Fort Liard proud. I hope you saw them performing on TV.
Also, if I may, Mr. Speaker, just let the Pages know that many MLAs were Pages and some of them are even sitting here today. Mahsi cho.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Just a note on that, we probably have the oldest Page in the Northwest Territories: Mr. Bromley.
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I would like to welcome everybody here in the public gallery. It’s really good to have you with us today.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on my Member’s statement on a very serious subject here and that’s how we’re taking care of our kids, our smallest kids, with questions to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
The ECE pilot Junior Kindergarten Program in Fort Providence takes kids in the morning and sends them to the already existing Aboriginal Head Start for the normal 1:00 to 4:00 program in the afternoon, a program that has carried on for years. Aboriginal Head Start, or AHS, reports that kids are wiped out by early afternoon and their parents must be called to pick them up early.
What does this say about ECE plans for full-day JK for these four-year-olds across the NWT? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I’ve stated numerous times in this House that this whole Junior Kindergarten Program three-year phase rollout has been the voice of the North. We’ve been through various engagements. Through Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative a few years back, and then the Early Childhood Development Framework the action plan was brought to our attention, and also the education renewal innovation. There have been a lot of discussions that have happened. There has also been research throughout Canada and internationally. We brought those researchers here to Yellowknife so Members could have questions of the researchers as well. Based on that, we feel that junior kindergarten is the way to go throughout the Northwest Territories. Mahsi.
I have to say we did have questions for those people that the Minister brought forward. I just wonder about the responses that we received. I wonder if the Minister has been listening.
My question here is: What evaluation has been done on the pilot program in Fort Providence and how long has this been used to help design programs planned for this coming fall? Mahsi.
Mahsi. We have to work with our federal counterparts, because what the Member is referring to is the Aboriginal Head Start program. That is funded through the federal government. We don’t evaluate that, the federal government does. They report to the federal government. We work with them. We work with the communities, we work with all 33 communities and junior kindergarten is optional programming for the communities.
The Aboriginal Head Start program is in the communities. We support them as well. We provide funding to various child care programming in the communities. Some of the communities, as I stated before, do not have licenced early childhood programming, so this way it has the programming into the communities. Mahsi.
Thank you. The question was: What evaluation has been done on ECE’s pilot program of junior kindergarten in Fort Providence? Thank you.
Thank you. As I stated before, there have been various areas of evaluation and assessment of current delivery in the communities, whether it be preschools, early junior kindergarten and some of the development programming in the communities. So we’ve looked at all of that and we’re working, also, with the licenced child care programming, the centres.
This is an area that is not a brand new discussion we’re having today. Over the years of engagement, we’ve been hearing from the parents and the educators that we need to move forward on focusing on the preschool. We currently deliver preschool in our school system throughout the Northwest Territories, but they want us to capture all 33 communities. So, that’s our goal and objective. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t really know where to start. I’m number three in the one, two, three punch and hopefully the Minister is listening here and developing a tender spot. He’s on the wrong track here. The plans to duplicate Aboriginal Head Start programs for four-year-olds and other programs for four-year-olds, wiping them off the map while putting in place their own inexperienced program when the research shows focus is needed on zero to three. What can I say? The Minister calls this collaboration? How is this collaboration?
Aboriginal Head Start has hard-earned experience, expertise, resources for providing ECE programs for four-year-olds in eight communities. Why will ECE not recognize this, work with Aboriginal Head Start to expand their existing service collaboratively and focus department efforts on providing zero to three early childhood development programs that the research said is desperately needed to avoid this achievement gap that lasts a lifetime? That’s where the opportunity is. Mahsi.
Mahsi. Let me be clear. We’re not wiping out the other programs. We’re enhancing the other programs that are in the communities and this is optional junior kindergarten programming for those individuals that cannot afford junior kindergarten in the communities. Ten communities without licenced child care programming, but we are going to be rolling out the program in 29 communities, the small, isolated communities that are without these licenced programming.
We are enhancing, yes there is preschool, there’s also Head Start programming. As I’ve stated in this House, we have an early childhood consultant that is working very closely with the communities, the community operators such as the Head Start program, such as preschool educators. So we’ll continue to push that forward. I want the support of those organizations as well and we’re going to continue to do that. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Earlier in the day I did my Member’s statement on cancer and cancer screening in the smaller communities. I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services, how does the Minister explain the uneven levels of cancer screening in communities of different sizes and what will be done about it? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a number of things that we’re doing across the Northwest Territories, and each of the authorities is responsible for providing the health professionals in their communities, and nurses are out there trying to encourage people to come into the health centres when they’re not feeling well, to get pre-screening and to get regular well man and well woman clinics done.
Prevention is one thing that we need to be doing, and we’re doing that. The other thing that we need to be doing is making sure that people are getting a timely assessment. I would encourage the Member, I would encourage all residents of the Northwest Territories to go to your health centres, visit with your health professionals, do your well man and well woman clinics to make sure that all your health is being taken care of.
Certainly, I know that we do have a Cancer Strategy and it’s well on track, but at the same time, when the Minister says go see your health professionals, we’ve got communities like Wrigley, Colville Lake, Tsiigehtchic, all my other communities, Nahanni Butte, we’ve got no nurses there, and people have not been tracked. They’ve gotten lost in the system and there are cases where follow-up was not done.
How is the Minister and how is our health system going to address this?
I’ve been the Minister of Health for about four months now, approaching five, and I’ve had this brought up to me several different times, and I personally have had the opportunity to sit down with residents in the Northwest Territories who have experienced cancer who have expressed the exact types of concerns that the Member is bringing up with me. We do have a cancer patient navigator position within Stanton. That position is intended to help individuals through the system. But I hear the Member and I know that we need to do a little bit more work there. We do have the Aboriginal health and community wellness division within the Department of Health and Social Services and they’ve been doing a number of things to promote regular assessment and regular visits with your physician but also doing things like sharing circles to make sure that people who are experiencing cancer have the supports they need in the communities. But I do hear the Member. I do recognize that there are some challenges out there. I’m certainly interested in the Member’s input and we will continue to work to enhance this particular area.
The report also talks about morbidity rates, particularly amongst the Dene, Inuit and Metis people is 1.5 times higher, so what’s happening is that more and more Aboriginal people are dying of cancer and some of it is because we are in the smaller communities.
I’d like to ask the Minister, has he reviewed the report, looked at the morbidity rates, most particularly amongst the Aboriginal people, and what will the department do about that?
I am aware of the rates and there are a number of things we’re trying to do. We’re obviously trying to encourage healthier living. We have the Healthy Choices framework where we’re trying to encourage people to eat healthy, live healthy, be healthy, quit smoking and lose weight. All of these things obviously contribute to cancer rates in the Northwest Territories, so we’re trying to help people make healthy choices. We do have system navigators in place to help individuals when they’re through, and we do have health professionals in most of the communities where we’re encouraging individuals to go for their regular visits with their practitioners to make sure that they’re getting the treatment and support they need. Early detection is key, and that’s why we really need people to work with their health centres.
I am happy to say that through the Aboriginal health and community wellness division, communities are starting to engage with their own community wellness plans to promote healthy living but also encourage people to utilize the services that exist.
But I will go back to the previous question. We know we need to do more around the navigation to make sure that people’s journey through the system is as seamless as possible. We want better health, we want better care and we want a better future for all of our residents.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated in my Member’s statement, as well, I’m pleased that our cancer rates aren’t increasing, and I’m also pleased that we’ve undertaken a program called the cancer sharing circles. The report only spoke about three communities. I am supportive of it.
What is the ministry going to do about increasing the number of cancer sharing circles and the frequency of it in all our communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
This is one of the areas that we’ve had some positive feedback on. We need to figure out ways to expand it out and make it more available. There are all sorts of opportunities here. Telehealth is one example. We have an opportunity to bring people together. I will commit to working with the Members to see what opportunities exist to expand this in the future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I brought up the issue of poaching hard-earned cash surpluses from our district education school boards in Yellowknife to fund the territorial Junior Kindergarten Program.
As I indicated today, this method of paying for school rollout initiatives is only penalizing school boards that have sound management in place and I believe this will only breed resentment. My questions today are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Prior to making this decision, can the Minister inform the House, did the department undertake a full-scale assessment of potential negative impact on Yellowknife school boards? Specifically, did the department anticipate an increase in the mill rate for Yellowknife taxpayers? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Yes, my department has been engaged and has conducted a review of the implications for junior kindergarten in each school board across the Northwest Territories. We have also looked at the success of students in junior kindergarten when it was implemented in other jurisdictions, just to see the outcome of introducing a junior kindergarten.
The mill rate question is another one that we haven’t looked at as a department or as GNWT. The mill rate, as it is, is a municipal jurisdiction. Many of our communities are non-tax-based communities. It would be unfair to Yellowknife to have Yellowknife taxpayers pay for junior kindergarten all across the Territories. So, those are some of the things we came up with. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
At least the Minister and I agree on one thing, it will have an effect on our mill rate in Yellowknife, and unfortunately, we didn’t do the math.
Can the Minister clarify, prior to making this decision to affect school board surpluses, what type of consultation was undertaken with the boards? Thank you.
I have said on numerous occasions in this House that the department has been engaged with superintendents of all the school boards since last summer, and August 21, 2013, was our first, initial meeting we had last year, September 18th, November 27th and also January 22nd with the superintendents of all the school boards. So they’ve been fully engaged in our discussions and we will continue to have that dialogue with all the superintendents as we move forward for the next three years of our phased-in approach. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
School board surpluses are used by school administration to enhance programs or offer unique opportunities for our students which are not funded by any other means.
Can the Minister indicate what effect removing these surpluses will have on such complementary programs for our Yellowknife students? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
When we first introduced junior kindergarten as part of our discussions, obviously we don’t want to have impacts on other programs in schools. With this approach, the school programs should not suffer, as the department funds school boards as part of our contributions. Nobody needs to rely on surpluses to fund education. We already provide funding for educational programming for the Northwest Territories, the 33 communities we contribute to on an annual basis. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister may want to go back and talk to his superintendents because the superintendents are being very clear this surplus, a lack of, will affect programming. This approach to funding junior kindergarten effectively curbs the autonomy of district education authorities.
Can the Minister explain what is the rationale behind this autocratic approach? Isn’t there a risk in creating embittered relations between the department and Yellowknife school boards? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The district education councils we’ve been engaged with have a considerable amount of authority in the present stages to make those decisions on education issues and programming in the communities and regions. The Education Act does not define them as autonomous. In fact, we have one education system and it’s paid entirely by the GNWT, with the exception of Yellowknife where approximately 18 percent for YK1 and 15 percent for YCS total revenue for municipal taxes. I would just like to highlight as Minister of Education, the buck stops here with me. I’m in charge and I’m acting in the best interest of all residents, including Yellowknife. Change can be difficult; I know that. I have confidence by this time next year, those experiencing junior kindergarten in communities, we’re going to be seeing positive results. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
