Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents entitled "2019-20 Health and Social Services Authority Budgets"; and "Impacts of the NWT on the Land Collaborative & Land-Based Programming." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Tabling of documents. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Mr. Speaker, wish to table the following three documents entitled "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 605-18(3): Junior Kindergarten Program"; "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 620-18(3): Indigenous Languages in Junior Kindergarten"; and "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 696-18(3): Online Safety for Children." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, May 30th, 2019, I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Great Slave, that, notwithstanding rule 4, when this House adjourns on Thursday, May 30, 2019, it shall be adjourned until Tuesday, June 4, 2019; and further, that at any time prior to June 4, 2019, if the Speaker is satisfied, after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly, that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, the Speaker may give notice and thereupon the House shall meet at the time stated in such notice and shall transact its business as it has been duly adjourned to that time. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that, on Thursday, May 30, 2019, I will move that Bill 54, Special Interest Rate Statute Amendment Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Notices of motion for first reading of bills. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Mr. Speaker, I give notice that, on Thursday, May 30, 2019, I will move that Bill 55, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, No. 1, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Notices of motion for first reading of bills. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that, on Thursday, May 30, 2019, I will move that Bill 56, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, No. 2, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I will now call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of committee? Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The committee would like to consider Minister's Statement 158-18(3), Developments in Early Childhood Programs and Services. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
I understand that the Minister has some opening comments that she would... No? There are no opening comments. The Minister's statement itself, I guess, is like opening comments. I understand the Minister has witnesses she would wish to bring into the Chamber. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber, and Minister, you may take a seat at the witness table.
Absolutely correct, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Consensus government at work. Minister, would you please introduce your witnesses to the Chamber.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my right, I have Mr. John MacDonald. He is the assistant deputy minister for education and culture. On my left, I have Shelley Kapraelian, who is the director of early childhood development. I brought them as witnesses in case there is any more in-depth information that they can provide. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. As per the rules of the Assembly, each Member will be allotted 10 minutes to speak to the item under consideration. The Member can ask the Minister questions and, if the Minister wishes, the Minister may respond. I will go to committee if there are any comments. We will begin with Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My thanks to the Minister and her staff for appearing today to answer some questions about her ministerial statement on early childhood programs and services. There are a couple of different issues that I want to address in here. I am going to start with licensed childcare. When we started in this Assembly, there were 10 communities that didn't have any licensed childcare programs. It is my understanding that, today, we have 11 communities without childcare programs. Can the Minister confirm that 11 communities is the right number? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Currently, yes, there are 11 communities that don't have licensed childcare provision. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Minister reported on October 31st that the department was working diligently in the 11 communities to find providers for childcare. Six months on, it doesn't sound like there has been any progress. Can the Minister describe what the barriers are to bringing more childcare into the small communities? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There are a number of issues that affect bringing licensed childcare into communities. We don't keep records of unlicensed childcare, so I have to state that. There are a lot of communities that use their aunties, grandmothers, et cetera. Those ones, we don't record. There are two that I can think of right now, Fort Liard and Tsiigehtchic, came on. Sometimes, you get a licensed childcare centre, and then they don't get the staff properly. There were some internal issues with the community, family issues with communities. Sometimes, they fall apart. The reality is, in smaller communities, the challenge is often the number of children. We have some communities that only have six children, total, in schools. Children who are of the daycare age might only be a couple. That deters from the community wanting to do a licensed childcare.
The other issue is, in small communities, you have to look at the economic development, the number of jobs. Often, it is one person at the municipal and one person at the Indigenous governments. There might be 10 people in the community, I am just giving a number, who might be employed. That also impacts the number of children who would need that service and the amount of interest in the communities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I appreciate the Minister's point on that. On October 31st, she stated that the department was then working with Norman Wells and Enterprise. Could she tell us what happened with those negotiations or with those meetings? Thank you.
Thank you. Ms. Kapraelian.
With the case of Norman Wells, we are in the process of licensing a family day home in that community, and there is interest again from a parent group. There is a facility that has been identified through the town that is available. We are working with that group to see if we can license a childcare centre in that community, as well. That is one of the 11. Then, in terms of Enterprise, they have an after-school program. They do not have childcare for zero to three, but they do have a licensed after-school program.
Thank you. Ms. Green.
Thank you very much for that information. The Minister just mentioned Fort Liard and Tsiigehtchic, so what progress is being made there to provide licensed childcare? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Fort Liard is now operational, with a licensed daycare provider. Tsiigehtchic was open for a total of one month and, at this moment, is having some internal issues, I would say. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Ms. Green.
Yes. Thank you very much. That is very disappointing, obviously. The previous Minister of this department decided to allocate the bulk of the bilateral funding from the federal government to training staff and giving grants to staff to supplement their wages. Can the Minster tell us what uptake there has been on the increased number of scholarships and grants available to people training as early childhood development staff? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. To clarify, the bulk of the money from the bilateral wasn't all put into training. It was given out through a variety of early childhood intervention programming. Of the money, I think that it was wise of the previous Minister. It is not only about getting licensed childcare; it is actually having the credentials. The Minister before me realized that was an issue, and so instituted the change to the one-year early childhood development program from one year to actually a two-year program and moved from 10 scholarships to 30 scholarships. At this point, my belief is that there is 19 scholarships that have been accessed through this program. Thank you.
Thank you. Ms. Green.
Thank you. Just to clarify, my understanding was there were 30 scholarships per year. Is the Minister saying that there are 19 per year, or 19 over what period of time? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do need to clarify my last answer. The last time I had seen a briefing note, it was 19, but we are actually up to 26 now. The total number of scholarships is 30 scholarships available a year, and we are at 26 as of today. They are given out in the fall. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
