Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I gave kind of an overview in terms of where the Deh Cho riding is in terms of the status of where things are at in the community.
My question today is to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. We all know that one indicator of economic prosperity is just jobs. I want to ask the Minister if he could provide an update to this House in terms of the current employment and unemployment rates. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. With respect to the employment across the Northwest Territories, it does fluctuate in the communities, but we do provide programs into our communities such as the Small Community Employment Program and the others, the Labour Market Agreement and the Labour Market Development Agreement as well. We work with the community organizations to deliver those successful programs and we will continue to do so.
I will provide the Members with the stats of the current status of the labour market in the community, how we can address those areas and what kinds of programs are being delivered.
I’d like to thank the Minister for giving us another general update in terms of where things are at in terms of employment and unemployment rates.
My follow-up question to that is: What action is the Department of Education, Culture and Employment taking to address and taking measures to reduce unemployment in the communities?
I did touch on some of the programs that we are currently delivering. We work closely with the regional career development officers, and although we may not have them in all communities, those communities that are without it, we do contact through the regional representatives and they deliver various programs at the community level. I will provide the breakdown of various programs that are being delivered at the community level, whether it be the Deh Cho riding, as well, and then the current activities that are happening, whether it be the training that’s currently being delivered in the community.
I remember there was heavy equipment, I believe, delivered in Hay River and other places as well. We also work closely with the college to deliver specific training programs into the communities. I will be providing that detailed information to the Members.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the support mechanisms that we have in place for people that are unemployed is income support. I want to ask the Minister if he could provide, to this House, reassurances to the people that rely on income support, that the government will remain committed and steadfast to ensure that those services remain as is and that they will be available for people that are, unfortunately, unemployed and looking for opportunities.
I would like to thank the Member for that specific question, because it is an important one. With respect to the income security framework, there are productive choices as well. But at the same time, we realize those individuals are looking for employment opportunities. At the same time, we provide those labour market agreements. A labour market agreement is reflecting on those individuals that don’t qualify for EI, so we provide training programs to those individuals.
Yes, I agree with the Member that we need to continue to provide those subsidies, the training programs that are productive choices, and also the Labour Market Agreement to the communities. And also…(inaudible)…community initiative as well. We will continue to provide those services to the communities.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
