Mr. Chairman, the difference is a multi-year agreement for K to 12 school programs covering fiscal years 2009-10 to 2012-13 was signed on March 30, 2010, I believe. Maybe if I can get Mr. Devitt to just give us a detailed breakdown of the difference. Mahsi.
Mr. Devitt.
I believe the Member is referring to the additional funding in the revised estimates. I don’t have the specifics of the program, but we received one-time funding through the agreement for a special project. Thank you.
Thank you. Again, Education, Culture and Employment, information item, revenue summary. Are there any further questions? Page 10-10, Education, Culture and Employment, information item, active position summary. Are there any questions? Page 10-13, Education, Culture and Employment, activity summary, directorate and administration, operations expenditure, $10.296 million. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I believe the directorate deals with document management and so on. The government is implementing an electronic records and document management system, I believe. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment deals with requests for fairly sensitive material I think in some cases relative to a residential school, students and so on. When the Information and Privacy Commissioner made her report a couple of months ago to committee, there was a concern on her part that the government is not necessarily always being as judicious as we should be in looking after our information. In terms of the information that the department has, particularly where it is considered quite sensitive and a lot of student information as well is very sensitive, has the department considered how they are handling their information in light of the Information and Privacy Commissioner’s recommendations to just be aware and be wary of what we are doing with our information? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. The Member is correct about the residential school. There have been a lot of requests over the years. Some of the requests go back 40 or 60 years. We do have some information and some are electronic-based and some are still manual. We are doing what we can to have most of the documentation in an electronic database. There is a lot of information there but we are pursuing it. I am fully aware that it was an Auditor General’s recommendation that was brought forward, so this is part of our mandate of the department to pursue even further to make that a reality. Mahsi, Mr. Chairman.
My question related more to the security of information. It wasn’t an Auditor General’s report recommendation; it was from the Information and Privacy Commissioner. There was a concern on her part that not only Education but every department isn’t necessarily securing their data as well as they should. To that, to the security of data within the department, could the Minister make some comment? Thank you.
We are monitoring ATIP requests on a weekly basis. The ATIP, there is a guideline and criteria that’s in place. We are following through on that. That is my understanding from my department on dealing with those requests that are coming in. Mahsi.
Thank you. Education, Culture and Employment, activity summary. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to ask a question on the Anti-Poverty Strategy development. Am I correct in assuming that currently, as that development is taking place in the planning and so on, that is being conducted by the directorate of ECE in terms of organizing the steering committee and so on? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. We will go to Ms. Iatridis.
Actually, no, it is not being organized by the directorate. I was designated as the lead DM and it’s under the guidance of the deputy ministers of the social envelope and the Ministers of the social envelope under the direction of the Department of Executive. Thank you.
Thank you for that information. Just to confirm then, any budget associated with that effort would occur in the Department of the Executive and there isn’t one in Education, Culture and Employment at this time. If that’s the case, that’s all the questions I have on that. Thank you.
Yes, that’s correct.
Thank you, Ms. Iatridis. No further questions. Education, Culture and Employment, activity summary, directorate and administration, operations expenditure summary, $10.296 million. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Page 10-14, Education, Culture and Employment, information item, directorate and administration, active positions. Are there any questions? Being none, page 10-17, Education, Culture and Employment, activity summary, education and culture, operations expenditure summary, $192.575 million. Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. A couple of program delivery details on here that I had questions in regards to. The first one, obviously, is with the Early Childhood Development Program. Back in 2010-11 we were funding it more than what was asked, and 2011-12 it was at $7.208 million, and this year again nothing has changed and yet the Minister continues to speak about how important early childhood development is, and we’re waiting on some of those infrastructure and programs to help our communities and our early childhood succeed.
With this put in the budget, would the Minister be able to look at possibly looking for other ways to increase that funding so we can see some more programs in early childhood development? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Minister Lafferty.
Mr. Chairman, we have identified the funds in there right now as it is. We are pursuing with the Early Childhood Development Framework. It’s not only our department, it’s with the Department of Health and Social Services and we’re talking about the centres in the regions and having a pilot project in two of the communities. We’ve identified funds already which may not be covered in here, but we feel that it’s important to pursue with the Early Childhood Development Initiative. So we’re doing what we can within our department to find the funds to cover the two centres that we talked about as part of the recommendations brought forward. So it is important to us and they may not be increasing the actual budget, but this is the budget that we’re faced with with our fiscal restraints as well.
So, Mr. Chair, we just have to be creative and innovative within our department. Mahsi.
With the funding that he said that they’ve allocated but it’s not directly in this budget line, where is that extra money? Which line can we find that in? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
When we talk about some areas that we could identify some funds so we can improve let’s say the child and family centres, if we can allocate the funding then we identify those from the different pots of funds.
Within Education, Culture and Employment, the almost $300 million budget, as you can see there is so many different pots that we can access from. There are areas that may not be exhausted all at once and then we can certainly access those areas of funding. So those are some of the discussions that we’ve been having within my department, because I told my department that this is important and we need to do this, let’s find the funds. So that’s what we’re doing. Mahsi.
Thank you. I just want to make a comment that the Minister did say that there were those projects coming forward and they’re not particularly in this fund, that they’re in another line item. Now he’s saying he has to look for those funds. So I just want to put that for the record, that he’s looking and that it’s not actually there.
I know some of my other colleagues have some questions that they’d like to ask as well. I just want to put the importance of the Early Childhood Development Program and if we start focusing some of our dollars there, you see four lines down the inclusive schooling and we’re putting $26 million, almost $27 million into that. That’s a lot of dollars out of this budget for an issue that affects all of our schools in all of our communities dealing with students that might have some learning disabilities, and if we just redirect some of those dollars into early childhood development it should cut down the costs of this budget line item of inclusive schooling in the years to come. I mean, the sooner we do it, the sooner we will start to see those results.
It’s just more of a comment, Mr. Chair. I do have some other questions, but I’ll leave a little bit of room for my colleagues to ask those questions. So more of a comment, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. We’ll go to the Minister if he’d like to reply. Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Yes, the $26 million, it’s a lot of money, but it’s going strictly to the school boards, as well, and if we need to make those drastic changes, I need to work with the school boards. We’re talking about positions as well. It’s not only programming. So the teachers, the special needs teachers and support staff and so forth at the community level and at the regional level. So it does have a potential impact. But at the same time I understand where the Member is coming from, where maybe we can utilize some of those funds towards early childhood. That may be something that we’ve discussed before and an area that we can possibly look at as well. So it is up for discussion and it’s been brought forward before. So we can discuss that further. Mahsi.
Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Moving in my questions, I have Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I have a number of questions as well on this page. Obviously, we’re talking a great deal of money here. So I’d like to just follow up first on that early childhood aspect.
I want to say first off that we have, as a committee, had some good discussions with the Minister and we’re looking forward to developing opportunities in the early childhood area. I think the Minister understands our interest from this side of the House and the priority we’re placing on it.
Just reading the description, the activity description, Mr. Chair, the early childhood and school services division provides direction, standards, supports, as well as program and curriculum development for children from early childhood through to Grade 12 completion. That’s such a massive effort. As the research comes in and understanding improves, we realize that there are significant aspects of early childhood that are really more of a health focus and yet ECE is the lead. I would suggest that they’re starting to realize the importance of this and I’m sure they’ll be a good lead, but can I get confirmation that the Minister understands and supports that statement that during the prenatal through to the time when the children enter the school system, be it preschool or whatever, that there’s a real health and social service focus required?
I’ll just add to that, that I completely agree with the Minister’s description of that earlier, the focus is on the parents. I’ve just learned, I don’t know if the Minister happened to catch the CBC radio program the other night, but I can put him in touch with that, it was a whole hour on this program in Harlem about baby college. They literally go out on the street and encourage any pregnant woman or parent with a stroller to attend baby college for nine Saturday mornings. They’re having amazing results.
But let me start with can I get the Minister’s confirmation of similar understanding? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I believe there is a common understanding that all of these specified items have been integrated into our discussion with the ASA, Early Childhood Development Framework and even a couple weeks ago we had the agencies that came out to talk specifically on ages zero to three with more emphasis on that. So those are areas that we’ll continue to integrate into our programming, whether it be Early Childhood Development Framework or ASA, Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative, because that also captures early childhood development within that as well. Mahsi.
So I know the Minister is interested in getting going with some things this fiscal year. Is the Minister able to confirm what those programs will be at this time?
There are just some areas that we’ve talked about with the agencies and the discussion that we’ve had about the child and family resource centres. I talked about the piloting of possibly two communities. First we need to identify what’s out there right now, what exists in the infrastructure in the community, how can we best utilize and add to it, ongoing support for daycare operations, implementation of an Early Development Instrument, development of revised kindergarten curriculum, updating and revising child daycare regulations, child care subsidy for parents who work or have returned to school, family literacy activities, healthy children initiatives, early child language nests and also early childhood development training for the college, as Members referred to earlier.
So those are just some of the initiatives that we have been discussing. Mahsi.
Obviously there are a lot of programs ongoing already in those areas. Many of them again focus on the school-age children. I’m trying to bring some focus to the age zero to three here. I’ll leave it at that and look forward to further discussions in committee with the Minister and further exploration with my colleagues.
On the Aboriginal language and culture-based education item and my colleagues’ reference to graduates this year, I was very glad to hear about those graduates of Aboriginal language and culture educators. How many graduates did we have this year, if the Minister happens to have that information? What is the duration of the program now to where these students achieve their certificates in this area?
I remember in 2005 when I first got onboard, the ALCIP program was more geared to certificate only. During deliberations, as we are doing here today, we’ve changed it to a diploma program as well. We can provide more detailed information to the Member on the graduates and, of course, the home base where they’re coming from. Some are pursuing even further to get their degrees to become teachers. So, Mr. Chair, there’s been some slight changes from certification to diploma and we are making progress in this area.
I’d definitely like to see more graduates out of this program. So I have the information here. One bit of the information is eight graduates from the Beaufort-Delta ALCIP program in May 2012. That’s just one snapshot of it.
Thanks for that information. Very good news on the eight graduates there on the move to a diploma. Just on the duration, at one point we were offering the programs at such a low rate that it would take 10 to 20 years to achieve all the programs and the courses required for that qualification. So is it possible to do this now in two or three years of going to school? Thank you.
Specifically to the ALCIP program, it’s a two-year program. The Member might be referring to the interpreting and translating program that’s also being offered at Yamozha Kue Society. That takes a bit longer. I’m familiar with that because he raised that issue with me before. We are exploring options in that area with the college campus. We want to improve in that programming to deliver, I guess, you could say expeditiously so those individuals can receive their qualifications in due time. Mahsi.
I do have a couple more questions. Just quickly on the subject of NACC, the Northern Arts and Culture Centre facility and programs, I know they are planning to expand their facility and had submitted a request for some help. I believe that work is happening this summer and was too late for the infrastructure budget. I suppose there’s a possibility of a transfer. Has the department made any decisions on that request for funding? I know they had achieved a major part of the funding from I believe the federal government and had some other partnerships already also contributing. Is ECE playing a role here? Thank you.
NACC has construction happening there. We did, as a department, commit towards this particular construction. So the Department of Education, Culture and Employment will be contributing towards this construction project. I’ve already committed to that. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Bromley, I’ve noticed your time is up. I’ll put you back into the queue. I know you have some more questions. However, noting the time, the Chair recognizes the need for a short recess. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you very much. We will be reconvening in a few minutes. Thank you.
---SHORT RECESS
Welcome back, committee. We are resuming on page 10-17. I have on the list for questioning, the Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a number of questions. This section covers quite a bit, so I may jump around a little. I would like to first of all ask about – and this might have been asked before and I apologize if it has – the Early Childhood Development Program which is under education and culture.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Lafferty.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My understanding is it’s a certification program and it’s part of the on-line program that’s been delivered and it’s in association with Yukon College. It’s in partnership with them that we have this particular program.
So this is an on-line program. So it’s not a classroom taught program? My question was also whether this certificate was recognized nationally or not.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Ms. Iatridis.
Yes, it’s offered through distance education. It’s a one-year certificate that’s recognized through Aurora College and is affiliated with the Yukon College program, but the curriculum has been modified somewhat.
Thanks for the response from the acting DM. I guess my concern with a modified program is, you know, if we put the emphasis on early childhood, whether it be preschool or child care, daycares, playschool-type activity or facilities, and we have teachers and assistants in that facility working with the kids and if they are not taking a course that’s fairly rigorous and that gives them a high level of skill, I would think that we’re kind of cutting off our nose to spite our face in that we’re not getting the best we can for the kids in this program.
I don’t know why the program has been modified. Maybe I’m wrong in my assumption. I would hope that we would try to train our people to the highest standard possible so we can provide the best programming possible to our children.
Under instructional and support services, curriculum review and revision and so on, I noted when we were discussing the business plan that the department is publishing a Science 30 text. I immediately wondered why we are publishing textbooks. It would seem to me that this is an activity that isn’t necessary. Surely to goodness there must be Science 30 texts already published elsewhere in the wide world that we could acquire without having to go through the work of developing and publishing a text. Could I get an explanation as to why it is that we’ve decided we need to publish a textbook?
Some work has been done to develop resources for the science program to ensure that the material is culturally relevant and covers specific topics relevant to the North that are important to share with students. It’s an additional resource that can be used with the program and is just a supplementary resource for teachers to use.
