Thank you, Madam Chair. We wish to continue with Tabled Document 188-17(5), NWT Main Estimates 2015-2016, continuing with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and, time permitting, Public Works and Services. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. We’ll commence with that after a brief break. Thank you.
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Thank you, committee. I will call Committee of the Whole back to order. I will go to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty. Do you have witnesses to bring into the House?
Yes, I do, Mr. Chair.
Committee agree?
Agreed.
Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber.
Mr. Minister, would you please introduce your witnesses to the House for the record?
Mahsi, Mr. Chair. To my left I have the deputy minister of ECE, Gabriela Eggenhofer; to my immediate right is Olin Lovely, assistant deputy minister of corporate services within ECE; and Dana Heide, associate deputy minister with ECE.
Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Committee, we are on page 65, education and culture, operations expenditure summary, $244.200 million. Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Welcome to the department again. I have two areas of questioning regarding this activity summary. First is the culture and heritage main estimates of the $7.1 million. I noticed we did approve, a few pages back, the care and storage of Government of Nunavut museum and archive collection for a little over $1 million. Can I get an idea of what the cost is for the Prince of Wales Museum? Is it the $7.1 million and are we minus the revenues we are getting from Nunavut? So, is it costing us $6 million or is there another type of math that I should be looking at? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Chair. The Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Museum had an agreement with Nunavut to store their archives. There has been a decrease in funding. I will get my deputy to elaborate more in detail. There are some agreements in place as well. Mahsi.
Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Deputy Minister Eggenhofer.
The department is still storing the Nunavut artifacts for this year. The MOU expires next year and we are in negotiations with Nunavut. We have advised them that this is not a long-term solution and they need to make their own provisions for storing their own artifacts. A working group has now been established between Nunavut and GNWT to look at transferring the Nunavut treasures back to Nunavut. Our Minister has written to the Nunavut Minister advising them, as well, that this can no longer continue, but I can advise that the $1 million that we do receive from Nunavut covers the cost of storing their works in our museum and in our warehouse, actually. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Deputy Minister. Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you. I do appreciate that. I appreciate the fact that this is not a long-term solution and I am pleased knowing that. I’m also pleased knowing that the Regular Members did play a key role years ago and making aware that there are archives being stored and there was no return. So we were appreciative of the fact that the government negotiates its restitution or at least some compensation for doing those activities.
That being said, the question of the math, what is the cost of operations of the NWT archives operation at the Prince of Wales? Again, we are seeing $7.1 million and we have revenue from the Nunavut government of over $1 million. Is this offsetting each other or is it costing us $7 million at the end of the day to operate that museum? Thank you.
Mr. Lovely.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The cost of running the museum, including the storage of the Nunavut artifacts, is the $7 million that you are seeing right here. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Lovely. Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess in essence, $7.1 million is what it’s costing us and we have an offset of a little over $1 million. So it’s costing the taxpayer about $6 million. If and when the Nunavut archives are removed from this facility, do we have enough artifacts that are also in storage to meet the needs or at least to put into exhibit or at least curator exhibits? Maybe just a brief description of how many of our archives, NWT archives, are also put to the side as a result, or is this just involving storage behind the scenes and not really being showcased as exhibits?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Ms. Eggenhofer.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. At the museum presently there is a storage facility that is being used by both NWT artifacts and archives as well as Nunavut ones. When the Nunavut artifacts leave the facility, there will be more breathing room for NWT artifacts and they are being circulated through exhibits at all times, so we will have easier access to our own artifacts.
Thank you, Ms. Eggenhofer. Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So it’s safe to say that at a point in time in the future that the museum itself will have a lot more space to deal with more of its own artifacts. Would there be the probability that we could also, with the new space, if and when that indeed comes to fruition, this new space can be used for artwork, local artists showcasing some of our unique culture that may not have had the opportunity to have that type of exposure? Is there a possibility of the department opening up the doors to more local artists to have an opportunity to show their wares?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Absolutely. We are currently doing that already with some of the local artists from across the Northwest Territories. We want to showcase each of the regions as much as we possibly can in the hallway of the museum, and even go further. If we have more additional spaces then we’ll take advantage of that as well.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Dolynny.
That’s good to hear. I think we have a lot of talent here in the Northwest Territories and the space is going to be always at a premium within our four walls, and I’m very appreciative of the fact we’re going to open some doors to some of our incredibly talented artists.
I’d like to continue on with my questions on this activity but changing gears ever so slightly. This category contains compliance with the NWT Child Daycare Act as well as the child daycare standards or regulations. As the department will remember, this committee felt very passionately about wanting to put more money into daycare facilities last year. So much so that we wanted to put an extra $500,000 to augment existing daycare facilities. This committee felt that there was a need in the Northwest Territories. Of course, at that point in time it didn’t come to fruition through the process. That being said, I still want to highlight the fact that there is still a dire need in our communities to have those types of daycare supports. Many of us have talked to many of the key stakeholders in the communities around their family resource centres. These would be perfect vehicles. We already have a lot of infrastructure in place that is not being used 100 percent.
To the question of augmenting daycare facilities, what are the plans for this department to enhance that service and, if so, can it share some of those highlights for this upcoming budget year?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Deputy minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There are two actions in the Early Childhood Action Plan, action 14 and 15, which I believe speak to your issues. Action 14 looks at developing a policy around public sector dollars and private sector infrastructure such as daycares. I believe that the departments of Executive and Finance have developed a draft of that policy and I believe committee is reviewing that policy. That will, hopefully, once approved, give us some guidance as to when the government would be prepared and what conditions to make public sector investments in such things as daycare facilities.
Action number 15 includes a review of all the subsidies and assistance that we currently provide to licenced daycares and day homes, and that review is wrapping up at the end of this month, March 2015. We will look to what kind of improvements we will have to make in order to provide a better governance regime in terms of how we provide funding, the amount of funding we provide, trying to cut red tape and so forth. I look forward to getting that review completed in three weeks.
Thank you, Ms. Eggenhofer. Mr. Dolynny.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the deputy minister’s reply on that. To the subject of daycares, daycare operators in general and the communication and interaction with the department. There have been, I guess, some barriers to that in the past, as a Member trying to facilitate a better collaboration with our daycare providers. What is the department prepared to do in this upcoming year to reach out to daycare providers in the Northwest Territories to engage them in a fulsome discussion, talk about their issues, engage with them in terms of what’s best for them and best practices? Is there a plan of action that we can share with those of us who have daycare providers in our riding that our department is going to be there for them this year?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister Lafferty.
Mr. Chair, most certainly. The daycare operators have been actively involved, giving us feedback and advice on these recommendations that were brought to our attention, and we want them to be involved along the way, as well, as part of our working partners. There is a communication plan, obviously, being drafted, as well, how can we best approach those stakeholders. We will share what we have on file, what we’ve developed with the standing committee so they can share with the operators, because we want them on board as well. If we are making changes and additions to what’s been highlighted here as part of recommendations, we need to hear their perspective as well.
Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Next on my list I have Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m going to continue on with some questions about daycare from where Mr. Dolynny left off. With regard to the review, it’s going to be completed fairly soon, I gather. The end of the month, I think I heard the DM say. I asked some questions of the Minister, I can’t remember, within the last couple of weeks, in the House about consultation and what consultation was undertaken for this review. I asked the Minister if operators had been consulted, and I think he advised yes. Then I asked who those operators were. Can I get, from the Minister or the department, an indication of the names of some of the operators that were consulted, because from what I hear, they weren’t.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Deputy Minister Eggenhofer.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, everybody was consulted in the review of the early childhood programs. There was a symposium that kicked off the review and invitations were extended to each and every licenced daycare operator and licenced day home as well as Aboriginal Head Start, and we actually had a very good turnout. There were quite a few people from Yellowknife who attended, and I believe a response is written to the Member’s earlier request giving you the names of everyone who attended. We did a survey, an online survey. Because of the survey being anonymous, we don’t know how many Yellowknife daycare operators answered the survey, but we had a very good turnout. We had over 75, I think, responses to our survey, and we have continuous conversations with them through the reviews, because, of course, we have the early childhood program review going on but also the junior kindergarten review, and they have been contacted directly by those consultants who are undertaking the review.
Thank you, deputy Minister. Ms. Bisaro.
Thanks, Mr. Chair, and thanks to the deputy minister. I haven’t seen the response. If it’s been written, it hasn’t gotten to my desk yet, so I’ll look forward to that.
I wanted to ask a question, as well, with regard to the training that Aurora College does for early childhood educators. I’ve not managed to figure out exactly the length of the program and I guess the viability of people who are educated under that program if they transfer to another jurisdiction.
My first question would be: What is the length of the Early Childhood Educator Program that we deliver through Aurora College? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Chair. We’re just looking for detailed information on the actual delivery through Aurora College. There have been some programs in addition to what we’ve had before, where we had certification in early childhood programming. Through our southern institution partners, we’ve also been involved and engaged with developing diploma programming. That’s still in the early stages. Those are just some of the discussions that we’re currently having. We’re just trying to get the most detailed information from the college, what they currently deliver, and we can provide that information to the Members.
In the absence of that information, I’m not sure if this question will also be able to be answered. It’s my understanding that the program delivered by Aurora College doesn’t meet national standards for sure. I don’t know if it meets the standards in any other Canadian jurisdiction besides the NWT. If somebody is educated and receives an early childhood diploma or certificate, whatever it is that we produce through Aurora College, how portable is that certificate or that diploma when they go to another jurisdiction, Alberta or Ontario or Quebec for instance? How does our program stack up against other programs across the country, provincially but also nationally? Thank you.
Mr. Chair, obviously we want our Aurora College programming to be adaptable and comparable to southern institutions. That’s why it’s key to have key partners involved with delivering these core early childhood programs, even through our venues of Aurora College campuses and throughout the Northwest Territories. We’ve had this discussion. It was brought up in this House, certification diploma programming. That’s when we came out with the different initiatives on staff grant money and the scholarships. Based on scholarships, obviously we want to attract those individuals to come back to the North who are taking either diploma or degree programming in early childhood in southern institutions, for them to come back. We’re working very closely with the college to identify those key programs, whether they be certification or diploma. We want it to be recognized inter-provincially across Canada, even through my other portfolio as labour market. Even provincial jurisdictions are recognizing those other college programs as well.
We want to deliver a program that’s recognizable by other provincial jurisdictions. That’s our overall target. I will get my deputy to elaborate a bit more on the dual credit for early childhood studies. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Deputy Minister Eggenhofer.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Action 13 of the Early Childhood Action Plan also has the creation of a dual credit course for the early childhood certificate. Since February of this year, we actually are running a pilot between the college and the high schools in Yellowknife, whereby high school students interested in early childhood education can take courses both at the high school and at the college. The courses, if they are successfully completed, will be already accredited towards an early childhood certificate degree at the college. We have had very good take-up. I think there are over 20 students who have expressed an interest in Yellowknife to enroll in that course. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, deputy minister. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m pleased to hear that there’s an uptake on that dual track or whatever course that you talked about. The Minister, in his response, totally used future tense. We want to be portable. We want to be equal. I’d like to know where we stand right now, whether our early childhood education certificate – I think it’s a certificate – whether it equates to any other certificate or diploma or degree elsewhere in the country. If it does not, when are we going to get to the status that the Minister referred to in the future? Thank you.
