Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Are there further questions on this item? Member for Thebacha.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to reiterate what one of my colleagues said. I would appreciate that, I see the NWT Arts Council, the funding remains the same throughout, and also the Indigenous languages. When you're having flow-through money, I think it's extremely important that we increase them, because the communities are affected. We have a lot of very talented people in the communities, and I think that it's a positive thing. Almost every weekend there are different arts things that go on, even at the museum in Fort Smith. Languages are extremely important, and the cultural aspect of it, to Salt River and to the Metis Nation, and also to even the Francophones. I'd like to see, in future budgets, that these two line items are increased. Okay? I'm going to be accepting them as they are now, of course, but I just want to make sure that you understand how important these are to the outside smaller communities and regions. I know that there's a lot of access to these two line items, especially in the community of Thebacha.
Member for Thebacha, did you have a question you wanted the Minister to answer? Okay. Thank you. Minister, would you like to respond?
Thank you, and I appreciate the Member's comments. Just this upcoming weekend is the K'amba Carnival in Hay River, so we talk about culture and language and arts, and it's very close to home. I appreciate the Member's comments, and I would love to see increases across the board in all of the great things that we do. We'll have those discussions over the next year about how we're going to allocate our funds. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I have a couple of questions, and I think I'm going to start on language since we're there. The Minister had mentioned an influx of federal dollars available to Indigenous languages. Last year, in 2019, the federal government deemed 2019 the international year of Indigenous languages, and they opened up a federal funding pot of $333,700,000 that they were going to distribute over five years. I'm wondering if our government was able to provide, or does provide, any support to Indigenous governments to access that federal funding. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister.
Thank you. Our government has not accessed that, to date. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. My question was: do we provide support to Indigenous governments in any way possible, in any of our capacities, to be able to provide support for Indigenous governments to access that funding? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister.
To my deputy minister, Ms. Mueller.
Thank you, Minister. Deputy Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. In total for Indigenous languages and supporting Indigenous languages, we had, in 2019-2020, about $20 million. It's supporting a variety of different initiatives, both in the schools and outside the schools. We do distribute approximately close to $5 million to help support all the various Indigenous governments' language plans that they have, that they've developed, and they've done that in a five-year plan at a time. That's what we do. Thank you.
Thank you, Deputy Minister. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. For my next question, I'm going to go back to the conversation about the NWT Arts Council. I know that there is an arts strategy currently in the works in conjunction with ITI, and I'm wondering when we can expect to see that. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister.
Thank you. We hope to have that ready for tabling in the upcoming May-June session. Of course, prior to that, it will be making its way to committee for comments, feedback, et cetera. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. The next two line items I'd like to talk about are the Indigenous broadcasting and Indigenous scholarships lines, which seem to have disappeared from the budget. Is that because they have been moved to another place within the budget? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister.
Thank you. I know that we still offer scholarships for Indigenous languages, and we have Indigenous language broadcasting money in the contributions section, instead of the grants section. There's been a bit of a reallocation. I believe these were program-specific, the ones from 2018-2019. I can get more details on that, though, for the Member, if that's okay, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much for that, Madam Chair. I'd appreciate that. I just want to make sure that we haven't gotten rid of our Indigenous language scholarships. Speaking of which, I'm wondering if the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has any type of formal interpreter or translator program available, given our need for cultural resurgence within the Northwest Territories and for professional translators. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister.
Thank you. We have a number of programs that we are undertaking. I might as well just hand it over to my deputy minister, I think. She's very involved with this one, and she might get a more detailed answer. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Deputy Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. There is a lot of different work that we are doing in supporting the revitalization of Indigenous languages. We very much know, and we hear from our Indigenous government partners, that, ultimately, we need to build up the cohort of translators and interpreters throughout the Northwest Territories, in all of our Indigenous languages, especially in light of so many of our proficient translators and interpreters right now are close to retirement.
With that in mind, though, we are in a place where we're trying to build not only people's interests, but, I would say, their beginning levels of proficiency, so that they have the foundation in order to be able to take a translator and interpreter type of program. We have been working with the University of Victoria, which has really exciting programs in Indigenous language revitalization, from entry-level certificates all the way to master's degree programs. They've been a good partner to us, and we continue to strengthen that partnership.
We also look to Aurora College as a partner to be able to deliver those programs, so kind of a three-way partnership between UVic, Aurora College, and our departments su pporting that. Thank you.
Thank you, Deputy Minister. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much for that, Madam Chair. I really appreciate that information, and I think it will be really interesting to be able to see how that program is doing and the graduates that come out of it over the course of this government. I think that's very exciting. I am wondering if the Minister would be willing to reflect on the significant increase in travel under the culture, heritage, and languages page, which went from actuals in 2018-2019 of $177,000, to the main estimates of $368,000, and I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to how that will improve the cultural, heritage, and languages program, and how that is a benefit to the people of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister.
Thank you, that increase to travel was to support training opportunities for Indigenous governments. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake. Further comments on this section? Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. With respect to page 37, the arts council of $700,000, also the contributions for the $460,000 for the arts organizations operating funding and the support to northern performers, $101,000. Are these funds totally subscribed, and how are they split up around the NWT? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister.
Thank you. I would like to hand that to my deputy minister if you don't mind.
Thank you, Minister. Deputy Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. In response, looking at the arts council and the funding available, the $700,000, that is done by application. Then, a committee goes through all those applicants. It is done twice a year so that people have an opportunity throughout the year to put in their applications. Then, all the funding is distributed based on the applications and the criteria as it was deemed appropriate by the arts council. As far as the other grants that we have, we really do distribute that by application. People apply, indicate what they would like the funding for, and the funding available is distributed. Thank you.
Thank you, Deputy Minister. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess part of my question was: how was this spread across the NWT? The funding, is it located, say, mostly in Yellowknife? Is that where most of the applications come from, or is it equally distributed? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister.
Thank you. We are working on gathering that information. To further answer the Member's earlier question, these pots of money are all fully subscribed. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We have $1 million here, roughly. Is there any kind of full-time employment created? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister.
Thank you. Part of the work we are doing with the new arts strategy will be to make sure that we are quantifying exactly what that is. I can hand it to my deputy minister. She might have some more detail. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Deputy Minister.
Thank you very much. Just to give you an indication of the number of applicants from across the territories: in 1920, we received 120 applications through the NWT Arts Council from all over the North in a variety of different genres of arts. That included, out of that 120, 66 were individual artists applying for funding, and 54 applications were through organizations applying for funding. To go back to the question about whether it is distributed by region, no, the funding is available. It is by application. It is open to everybody in the Northwest Territories, individuals and organizations. That is then reviewed by the arts council, and then they are distributed, the grants. Thank you.
