Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I noted in my statement that YK1, YCS, CSFTNO and Aurora College share the same meagre bandwidth through a data feed provided by GNWT for all four institutions. Can the Minister confirm that he's aware of this problem, and what is he doing about it? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am aware that everyone in the territory has bandwidth issues. There are bandwidth issues here at the Legislative Assembly. There're bandwidth issues at my office in Hay River that's on the government Internet. There are bandwidth issues at my house. I know there's bandwidth issues, and yes, I'm aware that schools also have them. It's been brought to my attention. ECE works with the school boards and with the Department of Infrastructure as a facilitator because it's not ECE who operates the Internet, who invests in the infrastructure. That's a different department, but we do act as that intermediary, and we bring those concerns forward. I'd like to say the four schools in Yellowknife -- I'll leave it at that. There's some technical stuff I don't want to get into it because I don't want to get it wrong, so I'll perhaps leave it for my colleague at another date. Thank you.
I want to thank the Minister. I know he's a fabulous facilitator, and I look forward to him working even harder on this issue. I mentioned dissatisfaction that has been expressed by teachers, the poor response times for Internet and technology issues that GNWT's supposed to help with. Will the Minister take this up with his colleague the Minister of Infrastructure and make sure that service calls affecting our educational needs receive the necessary attention?
Already done.
I want to thank the Minister. I'm on a roll here. I better keep going. As bad as the situation may be here in Yellowknife, I'm sure it's much worse in other regions and communities, and it creates a real digital divide here. Can the Minister explain what his department is doing to ensure accessible and affordable Internet access for all of our students?
This is a topic discussed frequently around the Cabinet table. ECE doesn't have responsibility over this. Of course, the Minister of Finance is often answering questions about this in the House. The Minister of Infrastructure is responsible for the government infrastructure, but I have conversations with both of them. At the national level, I have conversations with the other Ministers of education of Canada, and we've approached the federal government about the need for investments in broadband infrastructure. The Student Financial Assistance program has provided a monthly technology grant of $100 to help students access funding. Students who attend Aurora College were eligible for a one-time grant to help set up Internet.
There's a number of different things that we're doing. We also need to look at how Internet is being used in schools. We need to monitor it. There is hardware in place for that, and I think we can be more effective with using that. We also understand that you don't need Internet for everything in schools. Yes, it's great, but I think most people in here got through school without using the Internet in every single class, for better or for worse, but it can be done. Through blended learning, we can also mitigate some of those challenges.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. Sure. I recognize that this issue cuts across many departments, but this is becoming a real issue for low-income families and post-secondary students. Unless our students have access and affordable Internet, education is not universal. I want to ask the Minister, within his authority, what is he doing to remove barriers related to Internet accessibility and affordability for families and students? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
I would just be repeating everything I said. Maybe I jumped the gun and answered the question too early, but the Member can refer to my last answer. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
