I believe the amount for inclusive schooling is a reasonable amount when we allocate it to the schools. With the attendance issue as well, and I want to increase graduation rates just as much as the Member does. One thing that we are doing that I did mention in the opening comments was the Pathways to Graduation. That's something unique and something different through our Education Renewal and Innovation Action Plan. Hopefully, we'll see some great results coming out of that pathways program. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Recognizing Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Minister mentioned graduation rates. You know, during my last visit to Aklavik the principal wanted to know if the department would be open to changing the actual months of the year. As you know, springtime, a lot of people like to get out on the land hunting, trapping. One thing she noticed as well is a lot of students actually miss a lot of school because of hunting and being out. I know in some communities, I believe Sachs Harbour, they start school in August and they finish school in May. She wanted to know if that would be possible, if the Community of Aklavik would change those dates. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. Mr. Minister.
Thank you. There's a lot of, I would say complexities in this one, but we do have a bargaining agreement, NWTTA, with our teachers and the amount that teachers can work during the year, so that's always been a concern or an issue. We do have that e-learning program that is great, but the one thing with the e-learning program is everybody has to have the same schedule as well. It is something that we're also looking at with the Educational Renewal in terms of modules. If a student doesn't get their module or their work done within the term that they would be able to take the same course again. It's an initiative that we are looking at with Educational Renewal. It's helping assist students to graduate and get the classes that they need, the amount of workload.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Blake.
Thank you. Well, it's just something the principal noticed. You know, she felt it would benefit those that are in senior high to be given that opportunity. Just to be clear, the Minister did say it can't be done because of the NWTTA guidelines and labour standards? Thanks.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. Mr. Minister.
It's not that it can't be done. There's still a lot of work to do and we've got to make sure that everybody has the opportunity to either go to the classrooms or even just make sure that we're also taking care of the wellness of our teaching staff as well. It’s something that we can talk to the principal about and the Beaufort Delta education authority to see what are the options out there, because obviously a lot of people do go out hunting in the springtime right around school.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. According to one of my colleagues, in Fort Providence they have year-round schooling. It's just what I've been told, but it doesn't seem to be an issue there, but maybe you could give me a little more details on that. Thanks.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. Mr. Minister.
In terms of that type of work, we need everybody at the table and we need all the information from teachers, from students, in terms of how do we make sure that the students are getting the right education and once again just protecting the wellness of our teaching staff. I’ll refer to my deputy minister, please.
Okay, we'll recognize Deputy Minister Stewart.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I mean, I think the Member is right there are places that do these sorts of things. But as the Minister said, everybody has the same interest here in terms of wanting to get the best outcomes for our students. It's complex, but I think it's something that we definitely should be looking at in the coming years in terms of those alternative school years and, in particular, given our northern context and some of our smaller communities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Stewart. Mr. Blake. None? Further questions? Seeing none. Education, Culture and Employment, education and culture, operations expenditure summary, activity total, $206,243,000. Agreed?
Agreed.
Page 57: Education, Culture and Employment; education and culture; grants, contributions and transfers. Any questions? Information item. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, just a couple of points. One is of note here is the cultural component of sports events. We've made contributions in the past for $40,000 and $50,000 respectively. This year we're indicating no contribution on this line item. Can the Minister give us an explanation of what cultural component of sports events is and can he enlighten us on what or who those contributions went to in the past and why it is that we're not giving that type of contribution this year? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Mr. Minister.
We are re-profiling that amount of money and I will go to the deputy minister to get into the details of how that money is going to be re-profiled. Thank you. Deputy minister Stewart.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Vanthuyne. Recognizing Deputy Minister Stewart.
MR. STEWART: Thanks, Mr. Chairman. You'll notice I believe there's a few items there that are related to cultural aspects that have seen some changes. You'll also notice there's a new line called arts organizations operating funding; that's $460,000. I believe it's the third one down on the list of contributions.
What we've done is we've consolidated a bunch of little pots into one new line, which is that arts organizations operating fund. There's no reduction on this funding; it's just re-profiling some of it into a standard pot so that these organizations would have to fill out fewer application forms and basically to lessen the administrative burden on this side, so it was really a consolidating of that one.
You'll notice there's changes on the cultural organizations line; there's changes on the northern arts, I believe, as well, that got changed. It was really a consolidation into one pot from a number of different pots. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Stewart. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I appreciate the identified efficiencies within the department and it is also helpful because it answered a second question that I had relative to the northern arts programs. But I do still have a question on the line item of minority language education and second language and then we say “Instruction French.” We've identified it's pretty consistent there year after year. This year $2,539,000. Can I get clarification from the department on is this pot of money entirely for French? If in fact it is, what other pots have we identified that we put towards contributions relative to the other official languages of the territory? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Mr. Minister.
That line item is specifically for the French and it is federal funding. For other Aboriginal languages we do have a line item at the top in the amount of $4.8 million. Our department is also looking at trying to get longer multi-year funding working with the federal government to ensure that it's sustainable funding moving forward, so that's some work that we, as a department, still got to do a little bit of work on.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will apologize to my colleagues for overlooking the line item Aboriginal languages right at the very top, and I appreciate the Minister for bringing that to my attention. Thank you. Those are my questions for this page right now.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Recognizing Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. First off, I'd like to ask the Minister and his staff about the funding for francophone affairs. It's a rather significant reduction. Last year it was $124,000 and this year it's to be $77,000. Has part of that been combined in this arts organization operating fund or can someone explain that? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister.
That funding is sunsetting and it was funding that we did give to WSEC in the contribution.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Thanks for that information. My other questions are I believe somewhere in this list of contributions there may be money for Dechinta and College nordique. Can the Minister confirm that? Can the Minister also tell us whether there has been any changes in the funding these two organizations received last year as compared to them this year? Thanks Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister.
The government does fund both College nordique and Dechinta. It is later on in the business plan or in the main estimates under the post-secondary education.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I will hold off on any questions around those two organizations until it comes up later. How about the NWT Literacy Council? Is it found somewhere or would funding for it be found somewhere in this list of contributions? Thanks Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister.
There are various areas in terms of the literacy funding. It goes up. We have a bunch of other early childhood programs as well and other healthy children initiatives. I will give it to my DM to get into more detail on that funding and how some of that is allocated. Deputy Minister Stewart.
Thanks, Mr. Minister. Mr. Stewart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As the Minister noted, we fund the Literacy Council through a variety of specific projects that they deliver on behalf of our department. Last year, their funding was about $922,000. A portion of it is here, but there are portions elsewhere as well for adult literacy as well as other programs. We would expect the funding to be similar this year as it was last year. Many of our contribution agreements with them are multiyear, so they are pretty consistent in terms of their funding levels. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Stewart. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thank you.
Recognizing Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I note that there is a reduction for supports and other performers by just under $100,000. Can the Minister indicate if that has been rolled into this new arts organizations operating funding, or if it is a straightforward reduction? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Mr. Minister.
Yes. The Member is correct. A lot of the money went into that pot there. As the deputy minister said earlier, it makes it a lot easier for organizations to get that funding in terms of streamlining everything together so it is in that pot.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am not sure if my math adds up because not everything is clear what is going into the funding. Does the new arts operating funding, versus all these re-profiling, there has been no changes to funding? All funding remains intact from the previous year or has there been a reduction? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
