Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Yeah, okay, thanks. Yeah, I look forward to this revenue study although I must say I'm a bit skeptical that charging admission to Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre is really going to generate a lot of revenue. But, you know, maybe I could be surprised.
Well, just as my colleagues from Hay River and Fort Smith have said, you know, we need to invest I think more in heritage, and the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre does actually serve as the Northwest Territories Archives. We have legal obligations to manage the records of the Government of the Northwest Territories in a way that's going to protect and preserve them for future generations. And I don't think the archives right now cuts that. And for anybody who has had a tour, and I've been over there many times and a couple times as a Regular MLA, you know, the facility is in not very good shape. And I think we're at risk of not meeting our basic legal obligations in terms of protecting the heritage of the Northwest Territories there.
So anyways, the Minister's heard me about all of this before and I just don't get a sense that anything's changing. So I'll leave it at that. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Are there any further questions under Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm surprised my colleague from Frame Lake didn't ask it. Is there any update on renaming the Prince of Wales Heritage Centre, and maybe we could consider asking the Prince of Wales to pay for that $170 million upgrade if he wants to keep his name on it. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister of ECE.
Thank you. So the idea was to look at the revenue study and figure out how we are going to support the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre to fulfill the legal our legal obligations to store archives and wrap it all up in one package with a name change. And so that work is all happening.
I will say that, you know, a revenue study is looking at more than just charging admissions. I mean, you could look at number of people through the door and multiply that by two and then you know how much you would make for charging people $2 to get into the heritage centre. So it's more than that. It's looking at, you know, things such as rental spaces, gift shops, but primarily, what I think might be the biggest thing, is the third party funding.
We are the only jurisdiction that funds their museum a hundred percent from the government. Generally, these are not funded by government but third parties. And so the hope would be that we could access some things like that in terms of, you know, the archives and perhaps future art galleries. We're also looking at the growth of Aurora College and what that might mean when we look at a new polytechnic facility. So all that to say that things are proceeding quite slowly, and I feel the Member's frustration, but that is the pace of government and I will apologize for it. Thank you.
Thank you. Are there any further questions under culture, heritage and language?
Seeing no further questions, please turn to page 36. Education, Culture and Employment, culture, heritage, and language, operation expenditures summary, 20222023 Main Estimates, $21,251,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. So we will move on to early learning and child care beginning on page 41, with information items on page 42, 43. Questions? No questions? Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Can the Minister just explain to me why we just signed a big agreement with Canada for Early Learning and Childcare Agreement but there's no increase here? Is that just because that money has to come forward in a SUP? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of ECE.
That's correct. If I may use the Member's time to clarify my statement earlier. I'm not apologizing for the pace of the work that we do in terms of saying that we are slow and employees are slow; I'm saying that it's a big job and that's why it takes a long time. It's just government but people are working hard on all of these things that the Members are bringing up.
And, yes, the Member is correct that the agreement was signed well after this was finalized by the printer so we will have to get that money through a different method. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.
Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. I guess I look forward to seeing the SUP going forward in this fiscal that we're reviewing now I guess next fiscal, and I'll have a number of questions then.
But it's my understanding that we're actually hoping to reimburse some people who have already paid childcare costs in this calendar year. Can I just get an update of how that work is going and when we expect that to occur? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of ECE.
Thank you. So I will be having a discussion with the federal minister in a public forum in the coming days, and we'll be discussing what the program's going to look like as it rolls out. So I'd be happy to have those conversations at a future date. Thank you.
Thank you. Any further questions on early child early learning and childcare? Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I was happy, on page 42, to see a substantial increase to the Early Childhood Infrastructure Fund. I'm wondering if the Minister can let us know how many communities do not currently have licensed childcare? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of ECE.
Thank you. I'm not sure what the number today is. It does vary between 11 and 13, and so I suspect that it's still between 11 and 13. And it looks like it's 13 today. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Building infrastructure in the NWT is very, very expensive, and childcare facilities are not immune to the costs of building. And so I know that using existing structures, infrastructure, especially in smaller communities, is key. So I'm wondering if the Minister knows if the policy work to be able to run licensed day homes out of public housing has been completed? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of ECE.
Thank you. I believe that work is still underway. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. While I know that this is not NWT Housing Corp's day, this is something that definitely has an impact on childcare in communities. Does the Minister of ECE know when this work will be complete?
Thank you. Minister of ECE.
Thank you. No, I don't but I want to temper everyone's expectation that this is I don't think this will be a silver bullet, and I think in fact there might be very few units that might even be available for licensed childcare. So the work is underway but we don't have an anticipated completion date yet. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. No, I think I'm I think I'm I think I'm good. Thank you.
Thank you. You're good. Any other questions? Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, with the increase or the look at the money coming in and the plans for the future, I also have concern about, you know, the licensed daycare spaces or childcare spaces in communities. Is there going to be an opportunity or a way that family members can access funding through the new federal funding to provide that daycare for their own, you know, grandchildren or nieces and nephews? I would rather we paid family members to take care of their children versus people having to go out necessarily and work or grandparents that are just doing it at their own expense. I think that there's definitely a way we could be funneling some of that money into sort of a unique program like that. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of ECE.
Thank you. And there's not a way unless the family members get licensed. So the agreement is specifically for licensed childcare. And we don't have the ability to fund unlicensed childcare providers. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Is there potentially a way to carve off a chunk of money that then could be provided as a support to people, or even through an NGO type organization, so that I guess I get really hung up again on, you know, we are a small territory with lacking capacity. I don't want us to sit here with money that doesn't get spent because there isn't I mean, I know it would get spent somewhere. But it would probably get spent somewhere in a community like Yellowknife versus in, you know, Paulatuk, right? So to me, the amount of spaces like this we'd be talking about would be probably fairly small, and I guess there's I just feel that this is a at least a solution to bridge through until we maybe can have a day where we actually have those licensed daycare spaces in those communities. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of ECE.
Thank you. And I hear the Member's comments. I guess I have to say that we have focused on licensed childcare spaces even through our own programs and sometimes we do have to pick a lane and stick with it, and I think that our efforts are focused on licensed childcare centres, and supporting people who are providing childcare in a community without a licensed centre but as if they were a licensed centre. So, you know, there are babysitters in communities where you drop your kids off but they aren't licensed. And so when we learn about that, we do do our best to help them become licensed, and we have funding to help them make the, you know, renovations that they need to make. So our efforts are focused on supporting licensed childcare centres and helping people become licensed. That being said, I completely understand the Member's comments and in a perfect world, yes, we would be able to do that, but that's not the direction that we're going. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And I appreciate the Minister's comments, and perhaps I have to find a different department to press for this type of funding through a social program.
I guess with the Minister's comments then about trying to help unlicensed spaces become licensed but they run into that hurdle is the building code and the fire marshal and all of that good stuff, which we've heard lots about in this House. So I guess can the Minister speak to how do we or how does the department help spaces that perhaps aren't ideal become licensed in that case? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of ECE.
Thank you. So there are regional early living and childcare coordinators or consultants in every region, and those are the people on the ground who people can reach out to have those conversations.
We also have, like as I mentioned, some monetary supports. And we are, as part of the move towards an universal system of childcare, we are looking at supports that we do provide and determining if that's the best way to provide those supports. And so we could see some changes in the way we roll that funding out as well, to make these types of changes that the Member is talking about. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Anything further? Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. And I know that we had a supplementary appropriation, a couple of them tabled earlier today. One contains some information about the new federal agreements so I'm not going to ask any questions about that here because I think they're more appropriate for the SUP. But I do have a few questions about what's forced in the main estimates.
On page 41, it's about a hundred thousand dollar increase in purchased services, and can someone explain to me what's going on there? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of ECE.
Thank you. So that is related to the extension of the CanadaNWT agreement on early living and childcare, so not the Canadawide. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks for that, Madam Chair, and thanks to the Minister for that. What do we get for the hundred thousand bucks? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of ECE.
Thank you. I'll do what I should have done in the first place, and I'll ask the deputy minister to answer. Thanks.
