Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, my questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and they are based on a statement that he gave today. I just want to confirm, to start with, that the provision of JK in every school in the Northwest Territories is mandatory as of September of this year. Is that correct? Thank you.
Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are intending to roll out junior kindergarten in all the schools across the Northwest Territories this fall school year. I just want to emphasize again that it is optional for parents and families to enrol their kids. Thank you.
School boards are now developing their budgets for the next school year. One of the tasks that they have is to decide on their staffing component. If they are going to release teachers, they need to be released by the end of March. If they need to hire teachers, they need to know that as well. If the money is not going to be available until the fall, how are school boards going to plan for the implementation of junior kindergarten this fall?
As I mentioned, it is a really good news story that this government has stepped up to fully fund junior kindergarten. The next step, after we made the announcement from the budget address, was that our department is meeting with superintendents and working with the school boards to look at how we're going to be rolling out junior kindergarten this fall, and also looking at how we're going to be able to utilize that money that was announced in the budget.
I did not hear a definitive answer to my question. So schools are now planning. School boards in Yellowknife are holding open houses this month to talk to parents about coming to their schools to access junior kindergarten, and they have a target number of involvements in mind for each of the school boards, so there are lots of pieces of this puzzle that are known. So can the boards count on having this funding in hand or committed to the penny by the end of March?
As I mentioned after the Budget Address, we did reach out to the superintendents and we're working with the school boards to see how we're going to roll out this funding, and we did make that commitment to fully fund junior kindergarten, so those are discussions that are happening right now.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to making sure that all the money is in place to fund junior kindergarten in every NWT school by the end of March? Thank you.
Based on enrolments and how many students are going to be in the school system, we are going to be fully funding junior kindergarten this fall. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we've had a lot of discussion about Aurora College in the past, and building a sound post-secondary education system in the Northwest Territories. The Minister recently mentioned that reduction targets were passed along to Aurora College. Who set those targets? Was it the Department of Education, Culture and Employment or was the department somehow involved in setting those reduction targets? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Right across government we're looking at how we can better spend our dollars more efficiently and, you know, evaluating the overall costs of programming is part of good planning and management. Some of the programs with very few graduates and a full complement of staff is not fiscally responsible. The department did work with Aurora College to see where we can better efficiently spend our dollars through the contribution agreements that we have with them and those targets were set by that.
Mr. Speaker, the government through the Department of Education, Culture and Employment provides contribution agreements to other post-secondary partners as well. Does the Minister or the department have the same relationship with those other organizations, like College nordique and Dechinta? Do they work with them on value for money on their contribution agreements or are those contributions agreements given to those organizations and they're allowed to compete in the free market, so to speak?
Yes, we do have those contribution agreements with other institutions, such as College nordique and Dechinta, and we do look at increased funding with those organizations as well moving forward.
Thank you. I'm sure those partners will be interested in receiving additional funding from the Minister moving forward. In this specific area of reduction, the Minister spoke about value for money. How many students were enrolled in the social work program, and what is the cost per student of that program so we can get a clear sense of the value for money?
Over the last three years we've had 12 graduates come out of that program. Currently, there are 17 students who are enrolled in year one and 17 students enrolled in year two. We're working with them and continue to support them through the rest of their studies. If you simply divide the cost of the program by the number of students, the cost is approximately about $13,000 per student. However, if you look at it from an academic outcome perspective, how many students are we graduating, that would be about $112,000 per graduate that we put through that program.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Minister for those numbers. I think we all want to ensure we are getting value for money for our dollars and making the biggest impact. The students involved in this program, it's called a lifechanging program and it gives them real opportunities. So with an eye to that, does the Minister agree that this program, while not a full degree and perhaps not performing at full efficiency, will the Minister agree that this does give Northerners the opportunities to receive academic credentials to enter degree programs down south that may be lost if it wasn't available? What I mean by that is, yes, there are social work programs in universities and colleges across the country, but often they're hard to access from someone from a very small traditional community in the Northwest Territories. So does the Minister agree that we may be losing something, and is there a plan from the college to substitute this through some other stream? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Social Work Diploma program, like many other Aurora College programs, is recognized by southern institutions and post-secondary institutions as well through transfer agreements and through individual course equivalency processes. With the strategic plan that we're going to be looking at having developed this year, hopefully we will see other programming fit, reflective of the Skills 4 Success action plan that we have and strategy that we have, as well as the Labour Market Information Report that we tabled in the House last year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier in my statement I had mentioned supporting projects there for the small community industry. My first question to the Minister of ITI is: what is this government doing to support the small business, and more specifically in the Sahtu? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our government invests daily into small businesses with all the stuff that we do in the Department of ITI for sure. We have targeted policies, programs, funding initiatives that we use. Last year we spent $18.7 million in grants and contributions to entrepreneurs and businesses in the NWT and groups with economic interests that operate within the NWT. We also have the SEED program, which I believe, if I check department records, we spend around $500,000 that is distributed within the Sahtu region alone.
Additionally, we provide an annual contribution to the Sahtu Business Development Corporation for programs and services that help support small businesses within the Member's region. So there are a number of things that we do and we will continue to do in the Sahtu.
I'm hearing a lot about money, but can the Minister offer an example of how it is actually supporting the working of delivery of programs to the owners of the Sahtu?
We are proud of the one-widow, one-to-one service that we provide in all the regions of the Northwest Territories. There's one in Norman Wells; its doors are open from 8:30 to 5:00 on a weekly basis for entrepreneurs to come in and access that.
I mentioned the Community Transfer Initiative; it was in place for economic development officers in Tulita and Norman Wells down in Fort Good Hope. They help residents with funding applications, establish business contacts by linking them for advice and training and to help them bring their new ideas forward.
More specifically, can the Minister elaborate a little bit on the next 12 months coming up on various conferences that are on the schedule that could be passed on to the residents of the Sahtu on workshops, for example, orientation between the program and what is available, that type of conference or workshops? Anything that's scheduled for the next coming 12 months?
In the Sahtu, we have a number of things that are going on. As far as right off the top of my head on conferences and stuff, I can't think of one that's coming up here in the short term. The one thing that I can speak about that's happening in the Sahtu region is the recent announcement of the Canyon Creek project. That's a good example of providing training and opportunities to residents in the Sahtu. That's going to bring approximately 50 jobs to the region. Also, in the last two years, ITI has worked with the people in the Sahtu to do the wire cleanup on the Canol Trail. There are two years done on that initiative, and we are encouraging the federal government to continue this project in the region this coming summer, to work on that, as it is going to bring a valuable trained workforce that has been trained in the region for future remediation of the Canol Trail.
Those are some of the initiatives that are happening right now in the region. I'll have to check with the department and see what other type of conferences and stuff we are trying to propose to bring to the region.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
My last question, Mr. Speaker: can the Minister provide that information to my office so I can relate that on to the Sahtu leadership? Thank you.
Yes. Once the department has pulled that information together, Mr. Speaker, we will provide that to the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Question 51718(2):
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Recently, it was stated that there is an increase of visitors to the territorial parks all over the NWT. Now, those are great parks that we have, and we have six of them in my riding, so my question is: has ITI considered the possible links between territorial recreational parks and conservation areas? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Territorial parks are developed to promote recreational and economic development opportunities across the Northwest Territories, and we will continue to do that. The GNWT is led by the Department of ENR for our conservation network planning, and that includes both protected areas and conservation areas. They will be bringing that forward, their longterm strategy of doing that, and bringing their conservation areas with their plan forward on ecosystems and biodiversity. We will continue to work with them as a department on helping them support that. Our Territorial Parks Act, like I say, is based on recreation and economic development opportunities across the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I think the territorial parks are great opportunities. I think we do not too bad of a job maintaining them. They are something that communities look forward to every year in terms of maintaining and, of course, having visitors, as well, but sometimes we get our backs against the wall. We could do discussion and then we have walls, and we have to overcome those walls. I think the Minister just alluded to that, perhaps. Hopefully, it doesn't happen, that possibility. What are we doing to maintain an ongoing dialogue between ENR and ITI on the development of parks?
As I said, ITI is responsible for territorial wayside parks. They were more for economic development than regional use. ENR is currently moving forward with their conservation of protected areas, and they are going to be coming forward with new legislation. When legislation is proposed, they have interdepartmental working groups that go through all these things, and these initiatives will be coming forward as it's a governmentwide initiative. We look forward to them bringing their LPs forward on this, so we will continue to work with them.
I think the increase of visitors to the park is a great opportunity for this government, plus communities, as well. My question to the Minister is: how are Deh Cho communities involved in the development of parks and tourism in the region?
All our six parks are in the South Slave, as the Member alluded to that are in his riding or, actually, in the South Slave, I guess. We continue to work with all Aboriginal groups and communities on how we are going to expand, how do we maintain and work with them, and how do we work with the community governments and Aboriginal governments to bring more economic opportunities based around tourism. We will continue to have that dialogue with all stakeholders in the region and across the Northwest Territories on how to improve that. We will continue to do that.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is reassuring that there is a commitment in terms of working with communities. My final question is: how are Deh Cho parks tied into Aboriginal tourism initiatives in the NWT? Mahsi.
Aboriginal tourism is a great initiative that ITI has put forward. We will continue to work with anyone who accesses this program. There are a couple of initiatives there for community governments to access that. As I have said, the Department of ITI will continue to work with everybody, be it Aboriginal tourism, communities, Aboriginal governments, residents of the Northwest Territories, on how we can enhance and use our parks to the best benefit to the residents of the Northwest Territories and all the visitors that come here. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier today I spoke about food security and mostly around economic opportunities, as well as driving down the cost of living, but we also know that food security is very important to us as it relates to our health and wellbeing and our nutrition, to all of our communities here, in the North.
My questions today are for the Minister of Health, and I would like to ask the Minister if the Department of Health has any kind of policy or strategy currently in place as it relates to food security and nutrition? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
