Debates of March 24, 2004 (day 7)

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There is no money going to administration. It’s all program. No additional staff at all.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Would there be any change in the levels of funding for these programs?

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Minister.

No, there is no change to the program. We are still going to have $1,750 maximum per semester for the tuition, for example. This is really related to a volume increase. We’ve had a significant increase in the number of students who are accessing student financial assistance and so that’s really the biggest driver, the numbers of people taking it. The loan side would be driven by cost to cost increase.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. I will now move back to page 9-11, advanced education and careers, operations expense, total operations expense, $72.428 million.

Agreed.

Page 9-13, advanced education and careers, grants and contributions, grants, total grants, $8.578 million.

Agreed.

Contributions, continued on page 9-14, total contributions, $29.903 million.

Agreed.

Total grants and contributions, $38.481 million.

Agreed.

Page 9-17, education and culture, operations expense, total operations expense, $134.837 million.

Agreed.

Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. May I get a breakdown for the other expenses there, please?

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The travel is $480,000; materials and supplies, $234,000; purchased services, $157,000; utilities, $227,000; contract services, $1.388 million; fees and payments, $563,000; other expenses, $21,000; computer hardware and software, $383,000.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Earlier the Minister indicated that the enrolment figures are in and he’s seen an increase. Could we get some more information on that, please? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. These numbers are not completely finalized and that is why I said we would likely be coming back for a supplementary request. In the 2003-04 school year, the contributions to schools was $110.375 million. What we are expecting that will be in the next year is $113.233 million. That’s made up of UNW increases, cost for implementing curriculum, updating of average salaries for the enrolment change and to maintain the 15 percent inclusive schooling directive, basically.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Of that increase that is attributable to enrolment increases, could the Minister indicate as to the regional trend by the enrolment increase in major centres? Is it all over the Territories or is there something distinctive about age groups? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Beaufort-Delta and the Sahtu appear to have had relatively significant decreases. One of the boards in Yellowknife has decreased while the other has increased. It’s almost an offset there. So there isn’t a significant change and in the other regions there is not significant change. The actual enrolment change in the Northwest Territories has not been growth. The total drop in the school system in this year over last is 352 students. So there are 352 students fewer this year than last. Sorry, it’s not quite that. It works out to just less than 100 in total is what the reduction has been. It works out to about .8 percent apparently.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Lee.

I am not going to try to do the Minister’s job, but could it be just forced growth from salary increases that are part of the collective bargaining and not as a result of overall growth in student numbers? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Yes, Mr. Chairman. In fact, that’s what I said. There hasn’t been any growth in the students The number of students has actually gone down. There has been a reduction in the number of students. Almost $2 million of that is due to salary increases.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Lee.

Those are my questions for now, thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to make some comments with regard to the early childhood program. Before I make a comment, maybe I will ask a question. When was the last time the Education Act was reviewed, amended or looked upon by the Territories?

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We brought in a new Education Act in 1996.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Minister. The reason I ask is because education and the curriculum from K to 12 is important. The people in the small communities have a lot of things happening and there are a lot of things that need to be taught to kids in schools such as the land claim agreements that we settled in the Sahtu in 1993. That’s a living document that’s going to be used by future generations and parents are talking about how the land claims document needs to be taught in our school. We need to start educating our children on what it says in that document because that’s the document they will be living with for years to come unless they change it.

The other one is about the history about our elders and the treaties that were signed in 1921. When I went back home, one of my children was writing an essay on Sir Alexander Mackenzie. He asked me about Sir Alexander Mackenzie. He said in his report that he went down the Mackenzie River and the river was named after him. I said you didn’t know that Sir Alexander Mackenzie landed in Tulita and took one of our people with him as far as Arctic Red River? He kidnapped him and took him to Arctic Red River. He got there and during the night, like a good native, he made a quick escape back to Tulita. He came all the way back to Tulita and that’s our history. I said you should write this story because that’s part of our history. I really appreciated that the teacher accepted part of that story and he got a good mark for that.

In terms of curriculum, our history needs to be told in a way that’s respectful. History has to do diligence. We have the education system and we are part of it, but it seems like there is not enough teeth to really say here is the land claim document and it’s part of your curriculum because it’s part of your life. That’s what the people want. They want to see changes like that. They want to see real changes in the communities that make a difference and look upon it as a contribution to the society and helping people who came to the Northwest Territories and live on this land. So far, our curriculum has been one-sided and we need to balance it. It’s high time to balance it. With a lot of respect, we need to look at that.

I know I have said a lot to you and the officials. I want to convey the wishes of the Sahtu region that education is important, no doubt about it. Our elders have said that times are going to be changing and we are going to have to learn to read and write and work in a different way, but we shouldn’t forget who we are and where we come from. It’s important that our history is told to the rest of the world and the contribution we made to the world and how we help each other out. That’s what I want to convey to you and the department. I know it’s a lot of work, but it’s really important. That’s what people in the Sahtu have stressed.

A lot of things have happened, good or bad, right or wrong, it’s happened in our region. An example is the residential school experience. That happened. We dealt with the impacts and effects of it and now we see it in our community. People are seeing this and that, but a lot of people are saying it has stemmed from the residential schools and flow into our family, our lives, into our school and our kids are really getting into trouble. We have to look at what it did to us and acknowledge it and keep on going. That’s what we say. The residential schools also did some good for people in terms of learning about writing and math, but it did a lot of harm for us and we want to look at the true history of the residential schools in our communities. The Roman Catholic report was important. Just in Inuvik alone, in the Grollier Hall facility, 2,500 students went through that system from 1959 to 1979. A lot of damage was done. Just recently it is being looked upon.

I just wanted to say a few comments to ask you about this stuff here. The people in the communities want to see some changes and they want to look at things that would be positive for us and see where we can go as a region in the Northwest Territories and contribute to the Northwest Territories. Until those things are dealt with, we are going to be back here next year and will probably be saying this speech, Mr. Minister. I just wanted to make comments to the staff that you have a big job ahead of you. What we are saying has some merit to it, a lot of merit to it. There are a lot of things that need to be changed and I hope your department will look upon that in terms of getting the message to the people and what is meaningful to the people in those small communities. That makes a difference. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The curriculum should reflect the local culture and history all the time and it can. What we can do in curriculum development is make sure the suggestions are made for specific things to consider when dealing with curriculum.

The issue of treaties has been raised by other people. I think it’s one there is a real interest in seeing there be something mentioned in school about treaties and it would certainly be appropriate in the social studies course. At the current time the curriculum for kindergarten to Grade 9 social studies is under review, and we can make sure that as we’re doing that we keep in mind the Member’s comments about the issues that should be raised as part of social studies that reflect the culture and history of the Northwest Territories.

One of the challenges we’re facing is that with the fiscal climate, the development of curricula has slowed down because we’ve taken resources away from that over the years in order to make sure we can continue to put as much as possible into the classroom. But we are continuing to work on advancing the curricula and we will keep the Member’s comments in mind. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is line items on education and culture. I’d just like to speak on them, but perhaps if I can ask the Minister what the latest initiatives in terms of supporting the acquisition and maintenance of aboriginal languages and culture just in terms of whether there are any recent studies being done to support these important initiatives in this department.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, I’m not aware of any recent educational studies, but I know that a special committee of this Legislative Assembly spent a considerable amount of time travelling around the North talking to people about what was important to them. The inclusion of language and culture in the schools was considered important. We do try to reflect that as much as possible.

The Member for Sahtu has spoken often about how a person is stronger when they know their culture, their history and their language. I think there’s been a lot of research over the years that shows that’s true. You have to be confident in yourself, know yourself and where you belong in the world in order to be successful.

There is a significant investment by the department in monies in the formula for schools to undertake the program of language acquisition, maintenance and revitalization, but to date we’ve left it to each of the regions to determine themselves how to spend that money, by and large. They’ve not had a lot of guidance. But as I’ve said in my opening comments, because there had been some concern about how it’s being spent, we’re working on a directive now in order to make sure there is an agreement that we’re spending the money in ways that can satisfy the expectations of legislators who are providing the money to do that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I’m just trying to ascertain from the Minister whether the priorities that we establish here as the Government of the Northwest Territories, does that become the priorities of the regional divisional education boards?

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Indirectly, yes. This government controls the funding flow to the boards, so there’s an expectation that the boards will follow the philosophy of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment when they’re providing the schooling. But boards are given a significant amount of freedom because they’re elected locally, and as long as they’re delivering the service as set out in the Education Act and subject to the directives and standards that we have in the department, then they can set their program delivery pretty much autonomously.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Menicoche.