Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d also like to welcome David Brock, a resident of Weledeh, to the House today.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. I’d like to welcome all visitors in the public gallery here today. Thank you for taking an interest in our proceedings here today.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As discussed in my Member’s statement earlier today, the new PowerSchool student information system was recently launched across NWT school systems. After talking to a number of teachers and board officials, there was a common theme of questions that I wish to share today with the Minister of Education. Arguably, the most common issue discussed was the frustration of the importing of data into the new system. Transfer of data in most cases failed, resulting in administration having to commit excess human resources to make this work. This added undue stress to all staff.
Could the Minister of Education offer an explanation as to why this transfer of data was not better tested earlier to avoid such massive stress across the entire NWT in this conversion?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. With any new changes and new system, it will take some time. It’s a learning curve during the transition period.
The data transfer occurred during the summer months when the school board and staff were unavailable. We had no choice but to replace the former electronic student information system that’s been placed upon us as a department. The work of transferring data fell to the staff of my department at that time, and they worked long hours to ensure its integrity.
We are confident, as the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, that the PowerSchool is an excellent resource for teachers, parents, schools and school boards, and my department, to make it a true success, but it will take some time and we are going through some hurdles. We will find solutions to that.
The training for educators did occur according to the required access to the different levels of the system, while a reasonable amount of support was provided from ECE but it happened too late in the school year, thus not allowing users the time to learn and prepare for the report card turnaround. Many teachers were found holding the bag and scrambling to use the system while trying to maintain their teaching agenda.
Could the Minister explain why this system training did not occur at the beginning of the school year and why it occurred only seven to 10 days out before report cards?
The training for PowerSchool attendance and grade book occurred at the beginning of the school year. My department worked with the school boards, as we do on any new system, to coordinate a half-day training for every teacher in the Northwest Territories. This is an area that we’ve embarked on. It’s a new system. There’s also a request for a second tier of training. We are in the process of training that’s been rolled out to the school prior to report card writing so that teachers would have additional training. So there is additional training that’s been requested and we have provided that.
Having support during such a changeover requires the ability to have the proper access for help. Allegedly, schools were supposed to have a school support person assigned at each school, and ECE did promise to make sure teachers had access to what is referred to as PowerSource. It was a technical Internet website where teachers could get such help or support. However, many teachers were unaware of such access and were somewhat upset that they could have definitely used such a service.
Could the Minister explain why this PowerSource support offering was not better communicated with all educators?
I totally agree that we need to have a better communication plan and dialogue with the teachers and school boards. That’s what we’re doing as we speak. The PowerSchool implementation team is comprised of staff from my department and also the board from each of the eight regions. It is a coordinated effort, and also the team works together to roll out the PowerSchool tools and information to all teachers across the Northwest Territories. Also, the boards are encouraged to provide PowerSource access to every teacher at the beginning of the school year. That is a coordinated effort by the school boards along with the teachers and my department. We will continue to make that a true success.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Finally, the report card part of PowerSchool is being implemented at the same time that teachers are working on report cards. This is not an ideal situation. ECE is not communicating with parents, and school districts are left taking the initiative to inform and work with parents during a very stressful transition into this new system.
Could the Minister commit to immediately work with his department to initiate a proper communication announcement and inform parents more about PowerSchool and what to expect with this new system?
Yes, again, I do agree there needs to be better communication dialogue from my department with the school boards, and most especially the teachers. Those are areas that we are going to improve on. We will continue to work constantly and be in contact with Pearson, where we got the product from, and the eight boards lead to find solutions to these technical issues and challenges that we’re faced with. I’m very encouraged, in spite of all the obstacles and challenges that we’re faced with, that teachers, school boards and the department recognize that PowerSchool will be an incredible tool for our educators. We are looking forward to having this success throughout the schools in the Northwest Territories.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have talked about the trappers in the Northwest Territories. In 2008 and 2009 there were 812 trappers. Of those 812 trappers in that year, 161 were in the Sahtu. People in the Sahtu understand the high cost of living, and trapping is a business. There is a market out there with the Russians and Chinese, who all want northern furs for their own product. Trapping is a business.
I want to ask the Minister of ITI, with the recent increase of petroleum products in the Northwest Territories, especially in the Sahtu where there is gas, trappers are asking if there’s any type of initiative that would help them go out to their traplines to continue supplying the high demand for northern furs.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. David Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for raising the concern over the trappers. It is something that the department is reacting to and something we’ve heard. We’ve addressed that and have $1.1 million that we earmarked through the Community Harvesters Assistance Program. Also $610,000 on an annual basis to the Genuine Mackenzie Valley Fur program.
I must say, the Genuine Mackenzie Valley Fur program is a unique program in this country. No other jurisdiction in this country offers a program like that that encourages and supports trappers getting out on the land. Last year we had sales of just over $1.5 million in furs. The Member mentioned it in his statement that demand is high in places like China and Russia. We’re getting top dollar for our furs and we are providing supports to the trappers to get them out to harvest those furs.
Trapping is a unique skill, and to be a trapper requires a lot of hard work, a lot of smarts, a lot of heart. I want to ask the Minister of ITI, in his role as the Minister, to look at if there is a type of discussion happening within his department to support the trappers and to initiate a type of apprenticeship program for the young trappers that want to come out to be a trapper. That is an honourable position that should be supported, and I commend this government for doing all it can to help these trappers.
Is there any type of discussion happening within the Department of ITI to have a sort of conference that would look at trapping as an honourable job that any young school kid can get into?
The department fully appreciates the role that the traditional economy plays, and that of trapping. We do have a program like the Take a Kid Trapping program. I mentioned it in the House earlier during this session that we’ve had 12,000 young people across the Northwest Territories go through the Take a Kid Trapping program. It’s been very successful. That’s how we’re going to get young people interested in trapping here in the Northwest Territories.
I mentioned the $1.5 million in fur sales. That’s money that goes directly back into the small communities and the local economies in those small communities. It’s something we support. It has a place in the economy here in the Northwest Territories, and we will continue to provide support to trappers across the Northwest Territories.
I’ve always supported the take the youth trapping. As I said, a young lad in Colville Lake, when we asked the young kids what they want to be and some were saying nurses and doctors and teachers, this young guy spoke up and said I want to be a trapper. That tells you that trapping is alive and well in the Northwest Territories, especially in our small communities. It’s an honourable position.
I want to ask the Minister, through the Take a Kid Trapping program, is that like an apprenticeship program where kids can apply for an apprenticeship to learn under the professors in the university of life on the land. Is that a program that is being looked at by this government?
Definitely, the Take a Kid Trapping program is where the seeds are sown for young trappers to learn the skills required to get into the trapping business. Last year in the Northwest Territories we had 706 active trappers that participated in the Genuine Mackenzie Valley Fur program. It’s an active industry here and it’s one, again, that we need to encourage young people across the Northwest Territories and those that are skilled in the trapping trade to take some kids under their wing and show them how to trap, how to get out on the land. That’s something that should happen in all the small communities.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The other part of being a trapper is to be a businessman, entrepreneur. Are there any courses that are offered to trappers, say, in the off-trapping season where they learn to be a businessman, thinking on their feet and thinking quick, in terms of how to put together a budget, what things they need and what tools they would need to be a successful business person? Is there any type of trapping business program we can offer the trappers off-season, so they can prepare for the fall season when the trapping opens up again?
We have very knowledgeable staff not only here in headquarters but in the regions. If trappers have some need for getting questions answered on how to conduct their business affairs, we’d have information available for trappers in that regard, and it’s something that we’d look to support trappers. We have courses on trapping and I can certainly bring this up with the department and perhaps the next time we put on a session we could look at offering some course work on how to operate it as a business. That may be something that’s useful, and I thank the Member for his suggestion.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my statement I spoke of seniors and trying to keep them as long as we can in their homes. My questions are for the Minister responsible for Seniors.
What systems does the GNWT have in place to link all those seniors’ issues? I had indicated in my Member’s statement that lots of the seniors’ issues are in different departments, so that is a question I have for the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The Minister responsible for Seniors, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Health and Social Services does work with MACA and the NWT Housing Corporation to come up with ways to try to keep seniors in their home as long as possible, and to provide services to the seniors in order to remain in their home. I think it’s just a matter of collaboration. I guess that would be the system that we’re collaborating on, trying to make sure that seniors can remain in their homes as long as possible.
That collaboration is something I would like to see go forward as much as possible. I am looking to see what the Minister and the departments are doing to deal with the increased costs associated with staying in their own homes. Have they looked at what the CPI is and are some of our funding programs tied to that type of increase? Because from my understanding, some of those increases haven’t been seen over many years.
In recognition that it is fairly costly to operate a home ownership unit, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has a seniors home heating subsidy. That has been targeted to be sufficient to heat the home during the winter months. Also, the Housing Corporation has a preventative maintenance program targeted to seniors that has gradually climbed up from the beginning of approximately $800-some-odd, and a different program has evolved into a more elaborate program, and now they can provide up to $2,000 for seniors to do preventative maintenance in their home.
I appreciate that information from the Minister. I guess my question was about the linking of those expenditures and those funding programs to some sort of index that shows that they’re going to see increases. Like I indicated, some of those have not seen increases for several years. Is there a way that the government is looking at implementing this to a CPI index to increase those amounts for seniors?
I thought I did indicate that those programs had seen increases. I recognize that if the individual needed to live in their home, to make it more barrier-free for the seniors to remain in their home longer, then that’s a larger program that’s offered by the Housing Corporation called CARE that can do that. But in as far as looking at the Consumer Price Index and how that impacts the seniors, then definitely, the Housing Corporation has made appropriate increases in the preventative maintenance program and the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has made appropriate increases in the seniors home heating subsidy to account for that.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final supplementary, Mr. Bouchard.
As I have indicated, many seniors are struggling to keep up to these increased costs, and some believe that they’re in a situation of poverty. Is the department looking at adding any new incentives for seniors to keep them off the demand of our facilities, which we know is going to be increasing over the next few years? Is there anything that the government is doing to implement new programs for seniors to stay in their homes?
I guess, in addition to the preventative maintenance program and the home heating subsidy, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs offers the homeowner a complete tax break, 100 percent tax relief on their home on an annual basis, which is a program that the senior must apply for. There are other areas, such as cost of living, for groceries and so on. This government has some programs in some communities where they would reduce the cost of their service to the seniors and to others in the communities, but targeted specifically to the seniors, I think those are the three programs the government is proposing to assist the seniors with costs. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Mr. Speaker, I wanted to ask the Minister of Education some questions. I was recently, through my constituency tour, in Fort Liard. I often visit the schools. I am not too sure about the design of the school and parking area, but residents have been stating over the past three years that there is limited parking space at the Echo-Dene School in Fort Liard. I would like to know if the Minister is aware of this situation. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This particular issue has not been brought to my attention, but I definitely will check with my department on what the status is on this particular issue or challenge that we are faced with. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, due to the increased number of vehicles, it is actually becoming an unsafe issue there. I think there are 10 stalls available for staff there, but there are more than 10 vehicles. They are actually parking on the road. It is creating a hazard.
Can the Minister take a serious look at it? Like he said, he can check with the department officials. Perhaps there is already a plan in place, but perhaps the resources aren’t there. If the Minister can do that, thank you.
Mr. Speaker, obviously, the safety is always our first priority. We will be looking into this. If there has been a plan in place to deal with these 10 stalls, there are more vehicles, what kind of other arrangements are being made? That is information that I need to follow up on the latest status. I will be sharing that with the Member. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I think the importance of this is that it should be looked into as soon as possible, because we do have a budget session coming up in February/March and the time for planning is now.
This is going to be my final question. Can the Minister give it a priority item, assess the situation and come up with, hopefully, a plan to have that in this upcoming budget? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, as I stated, this is news to me, as well, as the Minister responsible, but I will be looking into this further in Fort Liard, the status. What is the initial plan, if there is a plan in place? How can we resolve that issue? I will definitely follow up after session today. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
