Thank you. There is no firm confirmation at this time. Again, we're in negotiations with the communities, if they're willing to. We're just at the breaking ground with talking about that, so I can't sit in this House at this point and say it is firm that it is going to happen. We're still in the discussion phase of that. The communities do see the importance of it. They do agree that schools need to be hubs. I think they're on-board for working that way, and the department will do our best to make those realities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can the Minister confirm that the renovation and addition at Mangilaluk School in Tuktoyaktuk will include space for future childcare needs? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. What I should clarify is that any other partnerships that we're talking about at this point is not that the GNWT would take on the capital for childcare facilities in schools, or healthcare facilities in schools. It's a partnership, so part of the partnership is working together, putting money together, making it best for their communities.
The school in Tuktoyaktuk at this point is just looking at school updates and a renovation, but there is no plan at this time to put a childcare facility in that school, as far as I know. I haven't had conversations with that community to look at that. If the community was interested, I'm more than willing to have those discussions in a partnership share costing. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Is the Minister open to having the same kind of discussions with the community of Yellowknife around the J.H. Sissons school rebuild to figure out whether there's a partnership possibility to include childcare spaces in that school? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The city of Yellowknife is a little bit different in that it's a bigger centre. I'm working with the smaller communities because, in all honesty, they have a lot fewer resources than our capital city does, and huge needs within that. Within the smaller communities, it is mostly Indigenous governments who have funding to bring to the table because they are already building things like their own band offices, et cetera. The city of Yellowknife, there is no Indigenous community, actually, that has an ownership of these schools. In fact, a lot of the schools are owned by the GNWT. Currently, within this Legislative Assembly, daycare infrastructure has not been one of our priorities. It hasn't been considered, so there is no consideration of that within the planning, and we are in the planning stage already. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Ms. Green.
Thank you. What I take out of that is that Yellowknife is disadvantaged because it is a large community, and it is not a majority Indigenous community. That doesn't make sense to me, because the waiting lists for childcare in Yellowknife are very substantial and they represent a significant barrier to recruiting staff into jobs; not only government jobs, but private industry jobs. People think long and hard about coming here because childcare is so unavailable. It seems like there is an opportunity to do some partnership conversation here. I'm unclear why the Minister is unwilling to even talk about it. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. ECE, my understanding is they work with the communities to identify third-party funding to offset the cost of extra space for childcare. If available, the GNWT provides planning, design, and project management support towards these efforts. They are currently in the process of conducting analysis on options to support capital costs related to childcare in the GNWT, including what role the GNWT should play in the private market, for example, the capital; limited market, for example, in Tuktoyaktuk; and no market, for example in Cold Lake. Communities are being included in this work, is my understanding. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. Ms. Green.
Yes, I would appreciate the Minister providing that information that he just cited to Priorities and Planning. The point here is that childcare is not a money-making proposition. It is run on a cost-recovery basis by non-profits. I don't know of any exceptions to that. So the daycare environment in Yellowknife is not really any different than it is in a small community. There aren't bag of money sitting around to create childcare spaces. The Yellowknife Daycare Association is a non-profit that recently constructed a large new building, fortunately, and they have a big mortgage on it, so I'm still not getting why this wouldn't be a priority for all communities in the NWT, and I'm looking for the commitment for the information. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Looking after our children is a priority of this government and every community in the Northwest Territories, and if there are options there for providing good, safe daycare day homes for them, then we will partner with those communities, as I said before. This information was provided in the form of a letter to the Committee of Priorities and Planning. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. Ms. Green.
Thank you for that information. Is it possible for the Department of Education to work with childcare providers in Yellowknife to create space in the new school building that will replace J.H. Sissons, to explore that possibility? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister McLeod.
Minister Cochrane.
Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do want to clarify, it's not like the capital city, Yellowknife, has been neglected in this. The MLA had brought up the name of the Yellowknife Daycare Society. That daycare society, that infrastructure building was provided free of cost for decades within this community. We haven't done that in other communities. So Yellowknife hasn't been neglected in that. The reason I'm working with smaller communities is they don't have any daycares. They have zero daycares. Some of them have zero early childhood programming, period. So I always say a society is judged by how we treat or most marginalized people, and I've heard in this House even today, if we support the smaller communities, Yellowknife benefits. Those children are mobile.
The other thing, too, is that, with the smaller communities, like I say, there are opportunities for financial partnerships. I agree, and I've said that in the House, that childcare should be a priority in the next government. It's going to come in the next month or so. I think that MLAs who are here should bring that forward, if we're going to look at infrastructure. This is not the time. It's the end of the Assembly. We need to look at that in the next one, and hopefully it will become a priority in the next one, because everyone in this House agrees that early childhood is important.
So we're not neglecting Yellowknife. Yellowknife has daycare centres. We've given for decades a free-infrastructure place in Yellowknife for daycares. We have not done that in the communities. It's time to support our smaller communities, as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Next on the list, we have Mr. McNeely.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I see on page 13 there are several schools that are identified in this budget and this department, the community of Cold Lake being one. I thank the Minister and the department and the government for allowing that capital cost to proceed ahead, here, after witnessing the buildings, and I just see it as not a need to continue treating our children that way, where they have to go to school behind bookshelves as dividers from one classroom to the next. From what I have been told by parents, they're told that their children have to whisper not to interfere with the neighbouring classmates. Then having to outside one building, to put on their warm clothes in the wintertime, and walk to the next building and do the same thing and undress, then finally sit down at their desk and focus again on their studies.
I look forward to our continued work and relationship with the community leadership and having them, as we had some initial discussions with the leadership, I told them in our recent education forum that we put together in Deline on July 4th, "It's your school, your building, and, in my view, I think you should work with the government through a partnership arrangement and participate in the design or even the colour of the building." They were quite happy to hear that and, in the same process, what I had mentioned to them was done to have input into the health centre design in the community of Tulita. So they were quite pleased and quite open to hear suggestions and, at the end of the day, everybody agreed it's your community school for your community children. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McNeely. Would the Minister care to comment?
Yes, thank you. We appreciate the Member's comments. In all the years that I've been here, I've had an opportunity to travel to all 33 communities; I've seen some of the infrastructure in a lot of the communities, and the schools and that, and some of them, all they want is a nice building where they can send their children to focus, as the Member said, focus on their studies. Sometimes you have to be without something to really appreciate things when you actually do get them or you have them, so we continue to work and try to provide for all the people in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. Any further questions from committee? Seeing none, we will start again on Education, Culture and Employment, early childhood and school services, infrastructure investments, $33,798,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Agreed. Thank you. We will now turn back to the total department. Education, Culture and Employment, total capital estimates, $33,798,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Agreed. Thank you. We will move on to Environment and Natural Resources. We will defer the departmental total until after consideration of the activity summary. Environment and Natural Resources, corporate management, infrastructure investment, $200,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Agreed. Thank you. Next, we have Environment and Natural Resources, environmental protection and waste management, infrastructure investment, $325,000, with information on page 19. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Agreed. Thank you. Environment and Natural Resources, forest management, infrastructure investment, $1,100,000, with information on page 21. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Agreed. Thank you. Environment and Natural Resources, wildlife, infrastructure investment, $534,000, with information on page 23. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. We will now turn back to page 15. Environment and Natural Resources, total department, capital estimates, $2,159,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Next we have Finance. We will defer the departmental total until after consideration of the activity summaries, beginning on page 26. Information systems shared services includes information item on page 27. Finance, information systems shared services, infrastructure investments, $4,277,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. We will now turn back to page 24. Finance, total department, capital estimates, $4,277,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Next, we have Health and Social Services. We will defer the departmental total until after consideration of the activity summaries, beginning on page 29. Health and Social Services, administrative and support services, infrastructure investments, $4,419,000, with information on page 30. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Health and Social Services, community health programs, infrastructure investments, $47,937,000, with information on page 32. Mr. Thompson.
Just a quick question. In regard to the long-term care facility for Fort Simpson, it was originally planned with a hospital. Is this still the plan? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Abernethy.
