Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are in regards to the child and youth care counsellor program. I note that we're about just over two years in to the new way that schools are being able to bring child and youth care counsellors into their schools. And so I'm wondering if cabinet can speak to what kind of feedback or review process Health is undertaking with schools to evaluate this program and how are the CYCCs collaborating with teaching staff to provide that feedback. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
I didn't hear it.
Member for Kam Lake, can you please repeat your question. Thank you.
Absolutely, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. Mr. Speaker, I was just noting that we're two years in to the child and youth care counsellor program, and I was wondering what kind of feedback or review process Health has undertaken with schools to evaluate this program. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we're now in phase 4 of the CYCC program. So we are, in fact, planning to evaluate it in this fiscal year.
So it's a twopart process. The first part is underway now and before the end of the school year, and it is really addressed to educators and people who may not be in the job in the fall. The second part is with service users and with others who have interacted with the system.
So I'm confident that it will be a robust evaluation, and it will include who's using the service, what's the balance between children and community use of the service, whether the service received is acceptable to the people using it. Those are the kinds of things that we're going to dig into so that we can make any improvements that people tell us about to make the program stronger. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd also like to request that teachers be made part of that process. Some of the feedback that I'm hearing is that there's definitely a feeling of an iron wall in some instances between the teaching staff and the Health and Social Services staff. And so there is a desire to have a collaborative process of how to support students in the classroom if there is ways for teachers to better support their students.
So I'd just like to leave that there.
But I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to the number of CYCC vacancies that currently exist across the territory. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the Deh Cho region, there are no vacancies. In the Tlicho region, there is one vacancy in Whati with a competition in progress.
In the Sahtu, there are no vacancies oh, no. I beg your pardon. There's one in Fort Good Hope with a competition in progress.
In the Beaufort Delta, there is a vacancy in Ulukhaktok, and there is a vacancy that looks like a verbal offer has been accepted in Tuk. So that position has been filled.
Yellowknife region looks like everything's filled. South Slave, one vacancy in Fort Smith. Hay River, positions are filled. Fort Resolution, position is filled. And Lutselk'e, there is a vacant position and a competition is in progress. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you for that response. So that response is great news. Currently on the career's website, there are still advertisements out for some of the regions where all the vacancies have been filled, just of note to the Minister.
This past week, we celebrated here at the Legislative Assembly 15 new Indigenous counsellors that just finished their twoyear diploma program. And so I'm wondering if these brand new Indigenous counsellors will be offered CYCC positions within our schools or with the department of Health and Social Services. Thank you.
Yes, thank you. I'd like to say again how proud I am of that program and the people who finished it. We have supported this program from its inception, and we created the addictions aftercare fund so that community governments, Indigenous governments could hire the Indigenous wellness workers to work for them directly.
I don't have information how many of those positions have been taken up by the Indigenous and community governments at this point.
The wellness workers are welcomed to apply for any job that is advertised by the GNWT, but we are not making offers outside of the regular staffing process. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the things that we hear in committee quite often is this desire for some more transparency around equivalencies. And this program, I praise Health and Social Services for their support of the program and their support also through the aftercare fund as well in providing people with access to that funding in order to provide employment beyond the program. But I'm wondering if Health and Social Services will increase the transparency of the equivalencies within their job descriptions so that people know what equivalencies will be accepted by the department of Health and Social Services so that they can use experience that they can gain in this program to then apply for positions that traditionally call for master's degrees within the GNWT. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Member for that suggestion. I'll take that up.
