Thank you. I appreciate the clarification from the Minister. Can the Minister advise when these projects are going to be done? Is it going to be during the school year, or is it going to be focused this summer? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We don't have that knowledge at this point, but we will commit to providing that to the MLA by Monday at the latest. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Next, I have Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, my first question is about the Ecole J.H. Sissons, the new school. Can the Minister tell me how a new location for this school will be decided upon? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. At this point, we are still in the process of doing the geotechnical report. I believe we have gotten it, but I haven't reviewed it yet. It is in our technical division at this point to look at it.
Once we decide on it, we will be meeting with the school board, YK1. We will be meeting with them first and working with them, and because it is a school that had a bit of contention, we probably will have a public meeting to relay the results to the parents of that school. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's right; there are parents whose children go to that school who have very definite views about whether the new school should be built in the playground and, thus, keep the school intact and the children together, or whether the existing school should be blasted and the rebuild take place on that spot. I really encourage the Minister to hold that public meeting before making a decision.
Can she give me some timing around when the geotechnical report will be reviewed and the other meetings will take place? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do want to thank the MLA for bringing that forward. We are committing to doing a meeting with the parents; I just want to address on that. I know, in my heart, that there are going to be upset parents, because when we went there first, we have not got a consensus about parents. We are not going to get 100 percent satisfaction.
Like I had said earlier, addressing the question that was just asked, the technical report is just in the hands of our technical people. That should come across my desk, I would say, within the next couple of weeks at the latest. We just got it.
We haven't defined a date for the meeting of the parents and recognizing that I have a lot of work with the Aurora College at this point now, as well, but I can commit that we will meet with the parents before the end of the fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Is the Minister facing a deadline to make some decisions in order to free up the spending in the next fiscal year through this budget? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We don't have a specific deadline at this point, because we are just reviewing the report. Within this projected budget that we are just presenting now, the capital, we are looking at the planning study.
We do need to get that parent feedback. We need to have it defined, this is where we are putting it, recognizing that not everybody is going to be happy, but the public needs to know, because the results of that will implement the planning that needs to go forward, the drafting, et cetera. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that response. The money that is going to be spent in the next fiscal year is money for planning. When will the ground be broken to start construction on this new school? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The ground will be broken, or we will finally have a place, and the construction will begin in the fiscal year 2020-2021. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Ms. Green.
Thank you for that. I appreciate that. My next question, on the same page, is about the NWT Educator Certification and Learning Platform. Can the Minister please describe this project?
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Educator Certification and Learning Platform, previously, it was very timely and cumbersome actually making sure that people had the proper certification, keeping track of their current learning, et cetera.
This system is about making sure that we are accountable, that we have the infrastructure, the technology, in place so that we can, in a timely manner, make sure that teachers who apply for jobs have the proper certification to provide the services to our students and that their training that is taken throughout is updated on a regular basis. It centralizes it. It takes away the cumbersome paperwork, lost records, and huge delays in ensuring certification.
This is about making sure that we have the tools to be able to do our services within a best practice framework. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, if I understand correctly, then, this is to make sure that teachers who are hired are appropriately certified, and then to track their professional development, and that, until now, this has been done on paper. Is that correct? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Cochrane?
Thank you. Yes and no. Yes, a lot was done on paper. However, they were using computers, using Excel spreadsheets, et cetera. So, yes, paper, but still using computers. This is a system, and we need to have the proper systems, that will network all of them together. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Ms. Green? Nothing further from Ms. Green. Next, I have Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I'm looking forward to replacement of the Kaw Tay Whee school, in Detah, and looking at all of the renovations, new schools, upgrades across the territory. I want to ask the Minister a question on the capital standards for NWT schools. Capital standards for NWT schools were put out, well, these standards are from 2005. I'm wondering, with all of the new education renewal and what not, if the department is considering a revision to the capital standards for NWT schools? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, currently, we are right in the process now of reviewing our capital standards for all our schools throughout the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I understand why it's being done, but I'm wondering if, inside the capital standards, the department is taking into account potential as we try to move into more employment-based communities, if inside the capital standards the department is looking at daycares? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was just confirming with my department. When I first took over this position, actually and that's my background, which is in early childhood development specializing within the Social Work area, I talked about having schools as hubs in communities and having daycare providers, having speech pathologists and audiologists being able to be in schools, making it a centre or a hub, or that some parents, hopefully, would alleviate some of the residential fears that come with schools, trauma that comes with that, making it more of a hub.
I'm really pleased to report that our department has listened and that they are looking at the possibility of daycares and actually bringing our schools into more community hubs rather than just a stand-alone school. So, thank you, Mr. Chair, and I am proud of my department. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, now, to be more specific, I'd like to ask the Minister: I'm aware that the Minister and the department are discussing private partners with the YK Dene band and the expansion of the Ndilo school or the Kalemi Dene School for a gymnasium and a couple of classrooms, I believe; a lab and a classroom, I believe. I'd like to ask the Minister if I could get some sort of indication on how those discussions are going and how far into the future is she expecting that project to begin? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we are working closely with the YK Dene First Nations to actualize their vision, and I like their vision. It talks about making it a hub, it talks about making a bigger gym, it talks about making it a centre of their community; and so, I'm fully in support of that.
We did have a vacant position that's just getting filled, but that shouldn't impact that. What I need to do, myself, too, is contact the Yellowknife Dene First Nation, and I will commit to doing that as soon as possible, to sit down with them again and make sure that they're still on track, and to see what kind of support they need so that we can move this forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, moving on to the second school, Kaw Tay Whee in Detah, my understanding from dealing with the leadership over there is that the department has requested that chief and council select a site, a potential location, for that new school. Being at that stage with the discussions between the department and the leadership, I'm wondering if the Minister could give me an indication of when that project might start. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, we have met with them on that school. We are advancing with the planning study. Again, I want to make sure that we access the best resources for them. So, we do have it planned that we will be beginning in 2021. I like their idea of looking for a P3 project. I like their idea of maybe working with some of their access to federal money. It is planned for 2021, but I want to make sure that we're doing it to meet the needs of the Aboriginal government. I will support them as much as possible to make this a P3 project or a project that can expand on that school. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Next, I have Mr. McNeely.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. One of the files I inherited from my predecessor was the school in Colville Lake. And I'm glad to see it's now on the books. Having been there several times and witnessing the children taking their classroom with bookshelves dividing the classroom, given the site visit that I saw, the state of the building, the state of the environment, I'm truly glad to see this is on the books. I know the Minister has had leadership meetings with the community, and the feeling that I get is that they're happy finally, after several years of efforts, this has come into fruition. So I'm glad to see it in the capital plan.
Thank you, Mr. McNeely for that comment. Anything further from committee? Seeing none, I will call this item. Education, Culture and Employment, early childhood and school services, infrastructure investments, $16,963,000. Does committee agree? Committee, please turn to page 14 and 15 with the project listing for labour development and advanced education. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we have lots of needs in Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Mr. Chairman, I'd like to ask the Minister about community learning centres. Currently, we have a new community learning centre in Lutselk’e. That was very good for the community. It was used as a good back-up classroom for when they were renovating the school. So I think the community is pleased with that.
The two other communities that have community learning centres are in very old buildings. The one in Ndilo, and I think I'll speak on the two separately or ask questions separately, Mr. Chair. I'd like to ask the Minister: what is the plan for replacement of the community learning centre in Ndilo? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. When I was actually reviewing the report that was done on the Aurora College foundational review, I did realize that most of the infrastructure within the Aurora College, which community learning centres are a part of, needed to be updated; they needed to be reviewed. We need to put a priority as soon as we have the people, the management team, in place. We need to prioritize going through every community learning centre. It's not only the infrastructure, but it's also looking at: what are they providing now, what supports do they need, and what are their potentials? We need a full review of all of the capital assets within the Aurora College, including community learning centres. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Beaulieu.
