Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize two constituents: Ted and James Cayenne from West Point, as well as Grand Chief Norwegian. Obviously, good to see him. We’ll probably see him this summer at some auctions, and some others. Lloyd Chicot, a good friend. Good to see them, and all the leaders from the Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the great things about getting older is I realize how enriched my life is by knowing so many wonderful people and Northerners, but one of the perils are my eyes aren’t so good looking into the gallery. I’m going to try to recognize some of the folks I do see, so I apologize to anyone I miss. Certainly, Grand Chief Herb Norwegian, Chief Tim Lennie, Chief Lloyd Chicot, I believe James Christie, president, Chief Michael Matou, Chief Joachim Bonnetrouge, Chief Gladys Norwegian, Acting Chief Steve Jose, Violet Jumbo, Ria Letcher, Patrick Scott, and certainly Jim Antoine. I’d like to say, of course, hello to councillor Cheryl Cli, as well, at large, everyone up there I may have missed. Thank you for coming today.
The last thing I’ll say as I close is I don’t quite agree with everything my Yellowknife colleague said about decentralization, and I’ll leave it at that.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too, along with my colleagues Mr. Moses, Mr. Nadli, Mr. Menicoche and also the Premier, would like to recognize people in the gallery. I want to first recognize Ms. Crystal Fraser on her achievement of working towards her PhD and her studies. I had a good discussion with her on the residential schools in the North, so good luck with that, Crystal. Good to see young northern Aboriginal people go this far in their academics to get a doctorate degree, so good luck.
At the same time, I’d like to recognize Grand Chief Herb Norwegian with his delegation, the Dehcho government, coming to look at our government here. Maybe one day we would return the favour and listen to your proceedings. Also, at the same time, there are family members in the Dehcho leadership that are close to me, Mr. Lennie, Mr. Bonnetrouge and Mr. Chicot. I want to say welcome to the proceedings. Also, to the staff members from the Dehcho leadership. Good to see people in the gallery today and watching over us.
I’d like to welcome here today Mr. David Jones, our Conflict of Interest Commissioner, in the House today with us.
Colleagues, I would like to draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of 10 young men and women who are visiting us this week. They are participants in the Ontario Legislature Internship Program. I know you will join me in welcoming Clare Devereux, Christine Eamer, Justin Khorana-Medeiros, Emily Hewitt, Kristy May, Kristen Neagle, Patrick Sackville, Jakup Sikora, Mathew Stanton and Aaron Van Tassel. Welcome to the Northwest Territories, and I hope your enjoy your visit to our Legislature.
Also, I’d like to welcome everybody here in the Legislative Assembly. Thank you for taking an interest in our proceedings here today. Thank you for coming.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. In my Member’s statement I talked about the quality of education in our small communities, especially with the fact of finding that our students are not at the same level as our southern students on their education.
I want to ask the Minister what he is doing to bring these numbers up so that we know that our students are getting a quality education and that they can bring the level up to a number that we can be proud of.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Member is raising an excellent point where we need to do something about our quality of education across the Northwest Territories. That’s part of the reason why we’re developing various initiatives such as the Early Childhood Development Framework, not only that but the whole Education Renewal and Innovation. So those are the two big key factors that we’re implementing within our department. It’s going to take some time. There is a short-term, a mid-term and also long-term arrangements as well. There are quite a few activities that will be happening and we’re engaging the communities, as well, on this particular, very important initiative. Mahsi.
Thank you. We certainly look forward to it. I’ve been wanting to ask the Minister of Education… The chief from Tulita, Chief Frank Andrew, talked about the quality of education in our communities and then he noted that at one time when the students finished Grade 12, they finished with a Grade 12. Today we question the Grade 12s who are finishing school.
I want to ask the Minister, is there a way that we are looking at today that when our students finish they do not have to go to Aurora College to upgrade to get into a post-secondary institution. Will our students really complete with a Grade 12, truly a Grade 12 that we can say yes, that’s a quality education we want to give them?
Mahsi. When I first got elected in 2007, the Member invited me to his riding in the Sahtu region. We did visit the communities and we listened to the elders and the community members about this particular subject where individuals completing Grade 12 still had to upgrade and I’ve listened carefully. Based on that feedback we’ve done a lot of research across the Northwest Territories. Yes, it’s true that the smaller communities are somewhat disadvantaged compared to larger regional centres. So those are the very reasons why we’re establishing a very heavy workload within the Education Renewal and Innovation that will certainly capture those small communities that may be lagging behind on these particular subject areas. So, we’re serious about this initiative. Mahsi.
Yesterday I had an exchange with Mr. Premier about the different things we can do in our small communities. This morning I was talking to a resident in Tulita that said I finished Grade 7 but today I have a successful business in Tulita. That’s what I’m looking for in our schools. More of that type of leadership education in our schools where kids today can just do what they have to do to be successful, successful thinking in the schools. That’s where I’m looking.
Is that something the Minister is looking at in regard to education in the North?
Mahsi. Yes, most definitely those are a mix of the discussions that we are currently having as part of our Education Renewal and Innovation. Certainly, individuals may not be ready or entering the college avenue. We want to give them the tools to enter into workforce development or other opportunities that may arise as well. So, those are discussions that we’ve had with the regional representatives. When we did our forum across the Northwest Territories, we did listen and we are making drastic changes within our Education Renewal and also the Early Childhood Development Framework that will capture those key areas that the Member is referring to as well. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Speaker, this has been our last operations and maintenance budget, given that we have just under 300 days for the election to be called.
Will we see anything in the life of this government to know that we’re making some measurable strides to achieve what we want to achieve with our young people in our communities that are attending our education institutions?
Yes, the quickest answer will be most certainly. There will be some things that will happen within the three-year timespan starting immediately. We’ve touched base on improving academic achievement of all Northwest Territories students, increased the number and quality of NWT graduates – that’s what the Member is referring to – improved literacy and numeracy skills of all students, helped prepare them for employment, as well, or further their education after high school.
Mr. Speaker, these are just some of the areas that we’ve tackled. We’ll continue to work with the First Nations, the community governments, because it all takes partnership, working with the college, as well, as high schools. So, all these parties are involved as well. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to follow up with questions to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment as well. When we talk about educating and getting our residents out into the real world with a quality education, it’s all got to start somewhere and where that starts is with early childhood development. Specifically with licenced daycare organizations that we work with, this government funds licenced daycares.
I’d like to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, when was the funding policy on how we fund licenced daycares last reviewed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The last overall review that we’ve undertaken was in 2007. With these different policies that are in place, we’ve talked about conducting a thorough review, and that’s been identified as part of the Early Childhood Development Framework and Action Plan that’s been presented to us by the selected groups as well.
Through the educational childhood programing, we’ve also talked about allocation of funding, and those are some of the discussions we are currently having. But the last changes in the review have taken place in 2007. Mahsi
That brings up concerns. So, over the last eight years we’ve been following a policy for the way we fund our daycares the same way, and in that time, whether the funding pot that we’ve had, we’ve also had an increase in daycare operators throughout the Northwest Territories. I see that in the budget address there’s $1.12 million that’s being allocated to early childhood to improve childhood outcomes. A lot of that money is going into wages and training.
I’d like to ask the Minister, when he’s looking at putting those out into the communities, can he take a look at where we have the highest cost of living or where there’s the greatest need to put these dollars, whether it’s here in Yellowknife, whether it’s in Fort Smith or in Inuvik, where there’s the highest need for the increases and the distribution of these funds. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, that is exactly what we will be doing. There are funds that have been identified as part of a child and family resource centre that we’re fully aware of. Not only that but there’s also a public awareness of the overall importance of early childhood development throughout the Northwest Territories. We’ve allocated some funds towards that as well. There are also iPads for new parents. There is the early learning framework. The framework that we’ve been working on for a number of years now, now it’s ready to roll out. Also, the ECD symposium. It would involve all the stakeholders across the Northwest Territories. Also, there are scholarships for students that are pursuing early childhood development programming. We are providing funding to those individuals as well.
The reason I ask if they look at priority regions and communities is if we put this back in this formula funding that we’ve been using since 2007, that means all regions would get a share of the pie, I guess, and it’s based on enrolments. You might have a region or a community that might not have high enrolments in daycares when this Junior Kindergarten came into effect, because now we’re getting more people out of the daycares, so it’s definitely affecting enrolments, so I’m glad that he’s doing that.
One area that I want to touch on with the daycares is these inspections. There was a news report that was given out not too long ago and why these inspections are not made public. If you or I or anybody that wants to put a child in daycare, we want to make sure that daycare is safe, it is healthy and it is adequate for our residents.
Can the Minister let us know why these inspections aren’t made public?
With any inspection, it is done on an annual basis. My department is also currently developing a way to share the inspection reports with the public with respect to accessing information. We still have to work with the process with the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. We are currently working at that level within the department. We’re making improvements along the way and this is one of the areas as part of our communication dialogue.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the last two years our population has decreased, and if it wasn’t for births and some of the people moving in, it would have a drastic effect on us. In the small communities it’s having a drastic effect on licenced daycare facilities.
I’d like to ask the Minister, are there any other subsidies that some of our daycares can access that will help them keep the doors open, keep the lights on and provide a service for our families, our parents in the communities?
In addition to a direct subsidy that the Member is referring to, we also provide daycare operators and also residents. Residents may also be eligible to helping out with the offset of the costs of daycare. It’s just part of the options that we work with across the Northwest Territories. There’s also income assistance child care allowance that is provided as financial support to parents so that they can participate in the labour force and pursue education or training opportunities. Those are just some of the areas that we continue to push forward as part of our subsidy towards the daycare operators. We’ll do what we can to offset the costs as well.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are addressed to the Premier today. At the outset I would like to clarify, I never in my statement indicated that I was against decentralization. I am against how we are implementing the policy, and I challenge Members to read Hansard tomorrow and tell me where I said that I am against the Decentralization Policy.
My first question to the Premier is to ask the Premier what criteria are used to determine a position to be decentralized.
The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The criteria that we use are to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of programs and services that are delivered by this government.
I challenge the Premier to prove to me that we are improving the efficiency of programs and services when we remove long-standing employees from the position where they have become quite proficient.
To the Premier, I’d like to know what analysis has been done of the actions taken with regard to decentralization to date. What are the results from, I think it’s phase one and phase two that we’ve completed at this point of the decentralization plan? How many positions were vacant? How many were vacant or new positions? How many employees did we lose? How many employees left the NWT taking our $25,000 per person federal grant with them?
I’m pleased to say that we have decentralized 150 jobs to the regions and to the communities. We have a retention policy so that any employees that are affected were incumbents of decentralized positions that would prefer to remain in their existing position are given priority hire so that they can stay in their community of choice. They have the benefit of getting priority hire, so I don’t believe we’ve lost any employees that have moved to the South because of decentralization.
I would presume we haven’t done any analysis since there was no reference to that, and I would encourage the Premier to do that.
It’s one thing to ask somebody to take another job, but when they are happy in their job and they’re good in their job, why are we forcing them to move into a job that they maybe don’t enjoy?
I’d like to ask the Premier, considering our current fiscal situation and the need to reconcile our expenses and our revenues, how can the Premier and Cabinet justify increasing the cost of some person years just to decentralize?
When we look at the benefits from decentralization, we have to take other elements into consideration such as diversifying the economy, sharing the wealth and also the fact that we are investing in the Northwest Territories. We have committed to spending $21 million over three years to build additional housing in remote communities so that we can have houses and office space for positions in the smaller communities.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thanks to the Premier for that, and I think those are all good things. Providing housing and providing office space is definitely a good thing.
I’d like to ask the Premier if he has considered the recent actions of Nunavut, that they are reverting from decentralization back to centralizing some of their programs and services and people in Iqaluit. Have we as a government taken a look at why their decentralization did not work or are we blindly going down the same path?
As a government, we have taken a very strategic approach to decentralization. We have taken a very measured and conservative approach as opposed to we’re not moving whole departments holus-bolus from Yellowknife to a small, isolated community. We are taking a very strategic, measured approach so that at the end of the day when we have completed decentralization, decentralization will continue into the near future, at least the next two or three years, that we’ll see that decentralization has been very successful in the Northwest Territories.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions, again, will be to the Minister of Transportation on the dredging issue. Can the Minister indicate to me what communications have been done with the federal government to get dredging done in the Northwest Territories and the Hay River area?
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our officials have had a meeting with the Canadian Coast Guard and encouraged them to meet with the CMAC and the AMAB, they are two organizations, I guess, known as the Canadian Marine Advisory Council and the Arctic Marine Advisory Board, to see if there can be some dredging done on the Hay River and along the route up the Mackenzie. Thank you.
Can the Minister elaborate on these meetings and how many meetings have happened and when do we expect results to say that this is what we expect to happen over the next little while, over the next two years, 10 years, whatever the expectations are? We’d like to know at least an action plan going forward about the Hay River dredging.
This was our officials in a telephone conference call talking to the Canadian Coast Guard, asking them to meet with the Arctic and Canadian Marine Advisory boards since they had responsibility for that. It’s not something where our officials are meeting directly with individuals that would be responsible for dredging, but rather encouraging one of the key users of the river to meet with these organizations to try to get some money put into the budget. Thank you.
