Thank you, Member. Minister of ECE.
Thank you. So under the Indigenous languages line, there's a number of different initiatives that are taking place. The Member's correct that there's work being done to develop an Indigenous languages diploma. We have a mentor apprentice program. Perhaps I can get the deputy minister to point out detail on some of the number of programs that we have. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Deputy minister MacDonald.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So as the Minister mentioned, it's through the Indigenous language action plan, which is broken into, really, two parts. One part is on revitalization, and the other part is on services. And over the past number of years as ECE has been implementing that action plan, the focus has been on revitalization because there's an urgent need to arrest the decline in languages in various language communities across the territory.
So under that action plan, the number of actions that the Minister referenced, such as the mentor apprentice program, are meant to do just that. So in that case, that's a program that ECE uses to partner with six Indigenous governments and organizations to provide training and support for a mentor in the language to work with an apprentice, and there are currently 66 pairs working on that program right now across the territory. And in fact that group will be graduating later this month. And there's a high, high success rate and the performance indicators are really showing some success. So that's an example of revitalization. So I'll stop there, unless there are other questions. But thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Monfwi, did you have any followup questions?
No. So I'm just wondering because we heard from educators many times too that in order to maintain your language, you have to start at the lower level and like right now, with the daycare, can they access this money as well, this funds, the daycare or Indigenous daycare that or in the outlying communities or a daycare here, can they are they are they eligible to access?
Thank you. Minister of ECE.
Thank you. I will hand it to the deputy minister, but first I will say that, you know, we are embarking down a path towards universal child care, and part of that includes ensuring that we have a proper framework to guide us. And one of the pillars of that framework is going to be ensuring that all childcare is culturally appropriate. And so that is going to be one of our focuses. In terms of the funding available, I can ask the deputy minister for some more information. Thank you.
Thank you. Deputy minister MacDonald.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So to specifically answer the Member's questions, the early learning and childcare funding and the Indigenous languages funding are distinct. So a licensed program offering childcare would not be accessing the types of programs and services offered for Indigenous languages. But with that being said, as the Minister mentioned, the existing early learning and childcare funding that the department has includes funding grants for cultural and language programming as well as other activities such as training. And there is what's known as an early learning framework which is essentially a culturally representative, I don't want to say curriculum, but it's a framework for instruction within licensed programs across the territory. So that's still in the pilot stage. But once that becomes finalized, there's an opportunity for licensed programs across the territory to use that as well. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Are there any further questions under culture, heritage and language? Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm just looking at these numbers, and I notice that if you add up the arts council support to northern performers, arts organization operating fund, and there's one more in there. But anyways, they come out to about $1.6 million. And then we have heritage centres. Like, I understand, you know, putting a lot of money to the a lot of funding to the art councils and to the performers and organizations. I think it is very important. But just as important as well is heritage centres.
You know, we have in heritage centres throughout the territories, we have, you know, artwork; we have carvings; we have all kinds of exhibits and artifacts that are not being looked after properly because of lack of funding. They're there sitting there and, you know, it's cold out and the heat's turned off. So we've got to put more money into it. And I heard the Minister say as well that, you know, it's just not that easy to get money for the heritage centres and, you know, one thing I'd like to see is that we look at that number and in this budget here, we should see it like, I would like to see an increase anyway in that area and also maybe a one time a onetime shot to some of them just so that they could hire more people and maybe look at sourcing other funds.
So there any I just ask the Minister if there's anything that could be done in that area? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of ECE.
Thank you. So the numbers in the budget are what's in the budget so there are no increases this year. That being said, the numbers in here don't represent the totality of the funding that heritage centres receive from the GNWT. ITI also provides funding to heritage centres. It's not specific for heritage centres but they can and have accessed to ITI funding a number of times to undertake capital upgrades to their facilities and whatnot. But the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre also provides inkind support. So, you know, we have staff from the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre that will go to heritage centres and help them with their you know, ensure that the way they are handling, displaying, storing their collections, is appropriate.
But that being said, this number, this $491,000, hasn't increased in a number of years, and I don't think I've met anyone who knows how many years since it's increased. So it's in the double digits for sure, over ten years. So I think at some point in the near future it is probably due for an increase. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. You know, I know that, you know, we've got artists out there, you know, and some of them have passed on, like Don Cardinal; we have, you know, other ones there as well, like, Antoine Mountain, Archie Beaulieu; we got Colinda Cardinal; we've got, you know, Sonny MacDonald, and, you know, they've got you know, they've got well, we see his work sitting here near the Speaker's chair. And I think that it's you know, we could we talk about that, you know, that you know, the the museum can provide supports but we've talked about that for a couple years, and I still see the artifacts of these I still see the objects and that's exhibits sitting there in Hay River in the cold and it's deteriorating, and I don't think and I don't think we're we're really serious about it.
I look around this around this building here. The artwork that's in here, like it's like, it's magnificent. And, like, we should be showing, and it should be out there. And I know the Minister and I had a discussion about, you know, hopefully sourcing funding to put up a to put a building up possibly in Hay River to showcase this, and for the Northwest Territories. And I think the Premier might have been in on that one. But it's something that it's something that, you know, we have to really take serious because we have we have a lot here, and I just don't want to see it lost because it is our history. You know, we have artists who are passed. We have artists who are still alive and still producing, and we have emerging artists. And we have to make sure that we you know, we preserve what they create. So I just ask the ask the Minister to keep that in mind as well.
I just want to talk about Indigenous languages and revitalization. And I see there's $200,000 there. I guess I'd ask with that, has any of that money gone to supporting any revitalization of Michif language in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister of ECE.
Thank you. So the $200,000 specifically is for development of an Indigenous languages diploma program. But we do have a much larger pot of money for Indigenous languages. Perhaps I can ask no. So the answer would be no. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And has there ever been any interest shown from any of the Indigenous organizations with respect to looking for funding for the Michif language? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of ECE.
Thank you. I don't have that level of detail with me.
Thank you. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess I'll just have to I guess work with my colleague from the Deh Cho and we'll have to push that, and also colleague from Thebacha. Can't forget her. And try and get some of the Metis organizations to maybe access some of that funding. Thank you. That's just a comment. Thank you. That's all.
Thank you, Member. Are there any further questions under culture, heritage and language? Member for Deh Cho.
Yeah, I don't have too many questions here. I'm just struck by when they mentioned the MAP program, the mentor apprenticeship on that. We don't have a line item for it in here. So is there any specific budget going to this and how does that program work? If I could get some clarification. And mahsi.
Thank you, Member. Minister of ECE.
Thank you. And yes, we don't have all of the programs broken out in here. But it does have funding associated with it. Perhaps I can ask Mr. MacDonald for the details on exactly how that funding is distributed and how the program works. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Deputy minister MacDonald.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So the mentor apprentice program is in its second year of operation, which is still considered a pilot. So after one year, it was expanded based on feedback and a program evaluation that was conducted. So as I mentioned earlier, there are now six Indigenous governments and six languages being supported through that program. So there is an annual allocation right now of $300,000 for that program, and that program is an annual intake where ECE provides support for mentors and apprentices to come together. So those funding provides for training supports and information for those pairs, funding for them to participate and to work together, to have that time with the mentor language speaker. It provides funding for individuals to support those pairs and to provide language expertise and instructional expertise and so on and so forth. So it's essentially a program that runs over the course of a year.
So, for example, for the upcoming year, there will be a call for individuals to apply, and they'll be able to apply in the spring. They'll be onboarded through training, and then they'll have course work and opportunities to work together in pairs over the course of the year and speak the language and develop language proficiency. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi for that. I'm just wondering which organizations you would work with in the communities to advance this. It sounds like, you know, a really well thought out program to really encourage speakers with languages. I'd want to know what you actually pay the mentor for their services but I'm just wondering if their you know, if you've had lots of turnovers in this and whether there was any complaints about any of the pay, because I don't know what they're getting paid right now. Mahsi.
Thank you. Minister of ECE.
Thank you. And so we work with the Indigenous governments. That's who our partners are on this. The mentors receive the starting compensation rate is $25 an hour, and the apprentices receive $20 an hour. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi for that. I'm just wondering, you know, if we can look at increasing that, because even for us as we get CAs and all government positions that I think I'm aware of, they start at about 30 bucks an hour. So I just wonder if there'd be consideration for in order to have a real good program, you know, and people want to be committed to it, right? So if we don't, you know, put the money there, you know, it won't be as successful. That's what I would think anyways. Mahsi.
Thank you. Did you have any further questions? No? Okay. And any further questions under culture, heritage and language? Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. So on September 17th, 2021, the new arts strategy was released, and it doesn't look like there's any there is no changes to any of the contributions on page 37. So when might we expect to see some changes in, you know, even culture, heritage and languages budget that reflects the new arts strategy? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister of ECE.
Thank you. So it could be the next budget. The program evaluation is happening, and you know, I'm of two minds of these strategies. Do I just do the work without telling anyone what we're doing, or do we release something that is very high level so that people know what we're doing but then I get criticized for not having dollars attached to it? And so I've opted to put something out there so that people know what we're doing and know where we're going. And so right now, the programs are being evaluated. There is a budgeting process that happens throughout year and so if there's an opportunity to perhaps increase some of those numbers, or perhaps change some of those numbers, you know, none of our arts funding programs were designed with an evaluation component. So we really don't know how they're doing. There's no way for us to look at them and say, yes, this money is well spent. So we want to do that work, ensure that what we're doing is appropriate and, if not, adjust as necessary. And if we find that, you know, an investment makes a huge difference and we'd be crazy not to increase that funding, then we can pursue those types of changes. But I understand the Member's frustration. But we are looking at the programs and determining if we need new money and how that money would be spent and where it would go. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, I know the Minister was on this side of the House in the last Assembly and saw lots of different strategies. Once in a while, you might actually see one that actually had some dollar figures attached to it but pretty rare. But, you know, here a significant amount of time, I know even committee time went into reviewing draft of the strategy, not that that was really reflected in the strategy but, you know, we put a lot of time and effort into this and then we just get the same thing in the next budget. Then the Minister talks about how, well, we're reviewing things within the department. Is that part of the government renewal initiative? Because I've seen zero results from that effort so far. Zero. Nothing. No inventories. Nothing. But I understood that Education, Culture and Employment was supposed to be one of the first departments. Still haven't seen anything. Is that what the Minister's talking about here? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister of ECE.
Thank you. And no, I'm not talking about the government renewal initiative. As the Member may recall, the art strategy included a number of actions in there. The first action, it's one of the foundational action, was to review the current programs that we have. And again, that work could have been done prior to a strategy being released, and we could have released the strategy with the reviews done, you know, perhaps this year or sometime next year but we decided to do it in that order. And so we have we know what we have. We know what our inventory of arts funding is, our programs are, and we're going to review those as part of the art strategy, not as part of a broader government renewal initiative. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, just my disappointment with not seeing any changes here about this after developing the art strategy.
Can the Minister tell me if there's any increases in funding for the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in here? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of ECE.
Thank you. And I will also comment that I've had discussion was the department about trying to align strategies with budgeting processes. So if we release a strategy in September, the budgeting, we're almost too late to develop new initiatives and then get that funding in there. So there are challenges with that as well, though. We are pretty thin in all positions in the GNWT. We're generally one person deep and so, you know, when we have a number of different reviews happening, it's hard to get them all done at one time so they all align with the budgeting process. But I am very much alive to the Member's concerns, and they are my concerns as well. So we are working on that.
But in terms of the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, I can say that there is a revenue study that's underway to determine how we can find more funds, how we can increase the revenue and perhaps better supported. But in terms of how the heritage centre is funded, I can ask the deputy minister for that information. Thank you.
Thank you. Deputy minister MacDonald.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So as the Minister indicated, the Prince of Wales Centre has not received an increase of funding. But to maybe expand on that comment about the revenue study.
This is meant to be the final component of a more comprehensive planning study to look at the museum. The Member may recall that ECE embarked on with the assistance of Infrastructure and a contractor, an analysis of the mid life retrofit for the Prince of Wales, and the initial figures that came back were significant, 160 to $170 million required. We revised those numbers down to look at a more realistic expenditure, which was somewhere in the neighbourhood of 50 $60 million. And at this point, the revenue study is meant to try to find ways in which those costs could be offset with ongoing revenue through the museum itself. So we're anticipating that that will be complete by the end of this fiscal year and that will feed into future discussions around the Prince of Wales. Thank you, Madam Chair.
