Thank you, Minister. Are there any further questions under corporate management? Okay. Thank you or Member for Monfwi.
Corporate management and he did mention the Education Act. So is this where I can mention about the modernization Education Act? Is that or do I have to wait?
Modernization, I think, yeah. Yeah.
Have meetings with him, and then I think Indigenous. Are the Indigenous government organization are involved are going to be involved with drafting up this legislations?
Thank you, Member. Minister of ECE.
Yes, very much so. I've made that commitment at the Council of Leaders that this would be a very collaborative codevelopment process, and I believe the first meeting was actually today between the department and the partners and the Council of Leaders. So yes, it will be very, very collaborative. I'm fully committed to that. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Monfwi.
That's good, yeah, I just wanted to ask that, double check.
Thank you. All right. So are there any further questions under this section?
Seeing none, Education, Culture and Employment, corporate management, operation expenditures summary, 20222023 Main Estimates, $11,264,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Committee, we will now begin culture, heritage, and language beginning on page 36, with information items on page 37 to 39. Questions. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess I can't stress enough I think the importance of this section, and I think we're coming into some sort of decade of awareness around culture, and I'm not quite sure I have that right. But I'm sort of disappointed to see that we're not getting too much more of an increase in funding here to support our northern performers, to our arts council. I guess this is on my forefront because I've just been doing a bunch of support letters for the arts funding.
So I guess could the Minister speak to why we're not really seeing too much of an increase here, and is there an opportunity to perhaps put more funding into these areas of Indigenous languages, etcetera? I am glad to see the increase for the broadcasting. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of ECE.
Thank you for that, and so there's yeah, there's a few areas here. So we have things like culture and heritage and we have Indigenous languages. Most of our Indigenous languages funding, or a significant portion of it, comes from the federal government and we have been negotiating with the federal government for a new agreement. We are not don't have that signed off yet but we expect that we will get an extension of what we currently have.
There has been a lot of work in the past number of years on Indigenous languages, and I think it is one of the bright spots in the GNWT.
And in terms of the culture funding, funding for the arts, things like that, we are embarking on a review of all of our arts funding as part of the review noted in the art strategy, and that will inform future funding. So perhaps we can spend the money we have in a more efficient way, or perhaps we want to seek some targeted increases, but that work is underway and I will, you know, reiterate what was mentioned earlier, that the department has a lot of different initiatives right now and it would be great if we could do everything at once but the fact is we sort of have to space these things out. And so we prioritize a number of areas, and the work is happening for that and the work for the you know, the work on the art strategy and that sector is it's in the future as laid out in the art strategy. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate that. I do hear good things in amongst the arts community, the ones that do reach out to me. I guess I would like to reiterate a concern I guess I think we raise often, and that is the multiyear funding and that these are the types of organizations that can benefit from having guaranteed funding for several years versus having to always apply for this funding. This way they can hire staff. They are more guaranteed to be stable. And I do believe now that the NWT music does have a paid position, where before it was all volunteer, but maybe the Minister could speak a little bit more to whether that seems to be a possibility going forward for that sort of core type of funding? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of ECE.
Thank you, and that's exactly the things that we're looking at under the review of the art strategy, how we can best support organizations. Maybe, you know, project funding is not as efficient as a different type of multiyear funding. So that's exactly the type of things we're looking at. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I think, again, this is an area where if we increase some of this funding to these types of programs, we would then see an uptake in regional employment and employment in small communities. I know my colleagues have often raised being able to sell crafts etcetera online. So I guess I'm not sure if I have too much of a question there but more just of a comment that I think that we could be very smart with the money here, and I guess maybe I'll ask the Minister what is he doing to ensure that that money is going into the hands of small community artists as well? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you. And perhaps I will hand it to the deputy minister for some more detail, but first I will say that we do fund the arts at the second highest level in Canada, after the Yukon. So we are providing some significant funding. But in terms of how we support a lot of the small artisans in the territory, which is what, you know, the territory is made up of, I can hand it to the deputy minister through you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Deputy minister MacDonald.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So as the Minister mentioned, there are a number of art specific funding programs that the department delivers through the culture and heritage division. Those programs include support for northern performers, arts organizations operating contributions, heritage centres contribution programming, and Indigenous cultural organization contributions. As well, there is the arts council and it has funding that is provided through the council, makes the decision with regional representation I should say, about which projects should be approved during two intakes each fiscal year. So there is regional representation there. And the priority is for individual artists and so on to make sure that that is going to that sector. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess just to ask a little bit further about the Minister's comment regarding that we are the second highest funded in Canada, I guess my question is is that an overall second highest amount, or is that sort of a per capita fund? Because I my point or the reason I ask is that if I think it's harder to deliver this type of work in the North, like everything else that we do. So if it is just a sole amount, I don't know that that necessarily makes up for the difficulty maybe for our people to execute programs or a lack of capacity for executing programs and services in the arts. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of ECE.
Thank you. So it's a we fund the arts to the second highest degree per capita. I think one of the differences between our jurisdiction and southern jurisdictions is that there are larger arts entities that can access third party funding, federal funding, things like that, that a lot of our smaller artisans here can't do just by the fact that they don't have that infrastructure around them. So while the government is providing funding, I think the artists are missing out on other avenues, and we want to capitalize on that, and that's part of the one of the goals of the review through the art strategy. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. That always makes me think of something else I want to ask.
I guess further to this, I think this is the right area to ask around, like, our archives and such and whether or not I know that there's been or again, for this lack of capacity that we have in the North or lack of resources, that we're potentially not able to preserve and archive and really utilize the great art that we do have stored at the Prince of Wales Heritage Centre, and when we did do the tour there that was expressed that the building isn't adequate. So is there money coming federally for us to start taking care of our arts stock better? And I guess I look at the fact that, again, we are not one area or one territory where everything is homogenized inside of it. And so in reality, we have, you know, however many different cultures that each have their unique arts and culture that needs to be preserved. So I guess I'm I know I'm probably pleading to the choir or singing to the choir, but maybe the Minister could speak if there's more money coming there? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of ECE.
Thank you. So through the capital process, we are looking at ways to enhance the ability of the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre to, you know, store and display art. There is not the level of federal funding that one might think available for things like this. It's actually quite limited. Generally, museums, art galleries are not 100 percent funded by a provincial or territorial government. Again, there's other avenues for funding and so we are exploring, you know, how to perhaps access some of those other avenues and how we can perhaps tie in with some other projects that might be happening in the territory and, you know, utilize some other facilities. So it is on there are staff who are working on this but it is a slow process given the magnitude of the issue. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, I guess I really want to see that mukluk and kamik display or collection that we have at the museum get on display at some point because it's pretty fantastic.
I like what the Minister is saying about collaborations, and I think that there's an opportunity to collaborate with Indigenous organizations. I love that we have the art in the airport, that type of thing going on. So I think there's plenty of opportunities. We can have art in our schools, other ways that we could be showcasing that around city so that when we do have tourists return, there's something for them to look at. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Are there any further questions? Member for Thebacha.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I notice that there's a decrease to the NWT Arts Council. Is that going to is that decrease going to continue, or are we going to at some point get back to watching live shows and all these other things? And I'm just wondering why there is the decrease. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister of ECE.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So the NWT Arts Council is showing $700,000 year over year, and the actuals in 2021 were $710,000. Is that what the Member is referring to?
Thank you. So I believe the arts council just overspent that year by 10,000. Perhaps I can ask Mr. Shannon for some more detail on that. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. Shannon.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I have not much to add beyond the budget was overspent in that current year and there have been no budget changes during the course of that time. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Thebacha.
The heritage centre's line, the $491,000, could you give us a breakdown on the allocations of those funds? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister of ECE.
Thank you. From what I can recall, the Hay River Museum Society gets $60,000. I believe the centre in Thebacha gets $198,000. But I can ask the deputy minister for the actual numbers. I believe he's looking at them. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Deputy minister MacDonald.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So the numbers for the heritage centres are.
In Fort Smith, at the Northern Anthropological and Cultural Society, 198,000;
In Norman Wells, at the Historical Society, it's 118,000;
At the Hay River Museum Society is 60,000;
The Yellowknife Historical Society is 60,000; and
The Fort Simpson Historical Society is 55,000.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Thebacha.
The line for Indigenous language revitalization has gone down from the 20212022 Actuals by 25,000. And I just wonder how serious this department is in Indigenous languages revitalization when you see a decrease in the mains. Thank you, Madam Chair.
