Thank you. So we're approaching these projects in a much different way than has been done traditionally. And we're not even approaching them each the same; they're each different in their own ways. And that answer really depends upon our partners, so the Tlicho government and the band in Colville Lake so I don't have an answer. We are trying this new way of doing things, and it's going to take longer than it normally would, and it normally takes quite a while to get a school off the ground and built and opened. So unfortunately I don't have a solid date. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Monfwi.
Caitlin just asked too, so. Well, it is good that, you know, CJBS working group and technical working group is created that consists of ECE, Infrastructure, and the Tlicho government, and TCSA. So I was going to ask about the completion date, when, you know, within you know, when is it going to be completed this planning stage, like, within this because it's noted in the book 20232024 but I just wanted to know when, and I think you said that you're working with the partner on this as well, so. But there's no timelines? Do you have a timeline of when this planning stage will be completed and then move on to the next stage?
Thank you Minister of ECE.
Thank you so right now it's 20232024 is the estimated completion but I would not I wouldn't place bets on that. I think it's a very fluid situation and, like I said, it's new to everyone, us as well as, and in this case the Tlicho government. So we are taking the time we need to do it right so I don't have a solid answer. Thank you
Member for Monfwi.
Although well, it is disappointing, you know, that $40 million is being removed from the you know, removed from the capital budget. It would have been nice if that $40 million was left alone and, you know, look at it as a down payment, you know, left it as a down payment for replacement costs, for a replacement then rather than a retrofit. It would have been nice just left it alone because there's no guarantee that, you know, we will be building the school anytime soon. It's going to you know, the planning stage can take five years. So, you know, don't know the you don't know the timelines too as well.
So, yeah, it would have been nice because the school is very important for our Tlicho youth and, like we've said before, I said it and Tlicho government has said it before, the school is 50 years old. It is old, and it was built by the federal government of the day without consulting the people. And for 50 years, the young people have been you know, like, have been going from Behchoko to Edzo school, and it takes at least roughly about an hour to get from Behchoko. You know, the return trip is, like, roughly about an hour, you know, to be on the road, especially on the main highway coming from that junction to Edzo, it's Highway 3, part of Highway 3, and it's the main route. It's a very busy route. And attendance so what we've seen in the past too is that when the student miss the bus what they've done in the past is that they go they hitchhike on the highway from Behchoko, you know, and when the school was going through the retrofit, same thing; students were hitchhiking from Edzo to Behchoko as well, you know. And it goes both ways. So it's really a disadvantage for our young people. So that's why the school is very important for our youth, Tlicho youth, and that's why I really support the Tlicho government on building a new school in our community in Behchoko.
It's not just that one alone too. There's a Whati School as well but I see that there's no project in there it was in here. But that one I will, you know, talk to you more about it after. But it's just CJBS $40 million is a lot of money, and it would have been nice just to left it in there as a you know, as a down payment.
Thank you, Member. Minister of ECE.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And so of course we can't speak to any particular numbers, but I'm not sure who we would make a down payment to. We don't even have land identified for a school yet so we are a ways off. But I wish the federal government would have built a school in Behchoko as well. It would have made this process a lot easier. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Monfwi.
Well, the Infrastructure said it before when they they successfully found money to build, you know, to complete to build the Frank Channel Bridge because they were short, and they successfully found the money. So the $40 million would have been like, if it was left alone as a down payment, then they could have lobbied the government to give extra money because I know that school is not it's going to be more than $40 million to build. And then from what I heard from some of the leaders is that it's like a superschool that we're talking about. So, yeah, it would have been nice so if they left it at that and we could have build on it. And it's just that Tlicho or Behchoko is the only one of all the school in the Northwest Territories, Behchoko is the only one that was told or Tlicho government were told to go find your own money to find the money to build the school yourself, you know. I mean that's the message that we basically heard, is that go find the extra money. But it is okay, though, that, you know I mean, they're doing that planning stage. They're doing BIP. They created the working group and a technical working group, so which was greatly needed. But it's just that it moved from that capital from the capital project to the planning. So we're going back again. But if it was left that $40 million was left, it would have been good for us to build on it.
So now I'm just wondering so because the school is 50 years old; you know, like it's old. So if any of the infrastructure fails, so is the Minister prepared to deal with all these this 500 students because if anything happened to the school, so where we going to school these young people? Like, there's about 500 students that are registered in Chief Jimmy Bruneau School in Edzo. So what are we going to do with them if a major if the infrastructure fails? Do you have a plan? Does the Minister have a plan in place? Like, I don't know. Thank you
Thank you, Member. Minister of ECE.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So the federal government does not fund schools. Bridges are one thing, schools are another. There's a division of power in Canada under the Constitution, and the federal government does not want to get into funding schools, which is generally provincial/territorial area. And so the Tlicho government informed us that they would like to take the lead on approaching the federal government to find funding. I never told them to go find it themselves.
And in terms of what would happen if there was a failure at the school, we don't wait until schools are, you know, about to collapse before we start this process. We start this process well in advance and so that we don't run into situations like the Member's talking about. Thank you
Thank you, Minister. Member for Monfwi.
Yeah, thank you yeah, well, like I said, the school is old. Like, something's going to fail. If something failed, like, do you have money in place like, $2 million, that's for the planning stage, that's what it was. I don't know if it's changed, but so if anything happened to the school like, I mean, anything can happen, you know, because it is an old school and it's been there, like, since 1972; it's 50 years old. And it's been through quite a few retrofit before that I am aware of. So if anything happens, like, you know, we don't know. Like, so I'm just asking the Minister, like, are they prepared? Is the like, if there was some money left in there for, like to deal with, like, major infrastructure failing would have been nice so that we have a plan in place, we know what to do. If not, is the Minister going to, you know, like transport our students every day from Behchoko to Yellowknife? I guess Yellowknife couldn't even take our kids in. Like, I mean, that's like 500 kids that we're talking about, so. That's why I'm just asking that. It would be nice if there was another plan in place, like, just in case because we don't know when this project is going to be completed. The planning stage, it says estimate estimated completion date is 20232024, and after that it's the building stage and all that. So I'm just wondering if there's any plan in place. So it would have been nice if there was some money left in the retrofit budget for our capital budget. Thank you
Thank you Minister of ECE.
Thank you so the Member's raising some very interesting and different budgeting proposals, and I think that's more of a conversation to have with the Minister of Finance. We budget for projects that we intend to complete. And there are funds in case of a school, if there is a boiler that explodes in school, it's not like there's no money listed in here that so that means we'll just never fix it. We deal with issues as they arise. We perform maintenance. The school is old, but there have been retrofits. There's regular maintenance. So I don't want anyone here to leave thinking that the school is about to collapse and be uninhabitable. Thank you
Thank you, Minister. Final
Well, I was going to ask the Minister will the Minister commit to building a new CJBS in Behchoko part of the capital plan 100 percent supported by GNWT?
Thank you, Member. Minister of ECE.
No. Thank you
Thank you are there any further questions? Member for Thebacha.
Thank you, Madam Chair. First of all, I want to acknowledge that, you know, I'm probably one of the biggest supporters of education, always was, always will be. Education is extremely important not only to young people but to everyone, including adults. And one of the things I wanted to talk about, first of all, was at the recent Council of Leaders meeting, the Indigenous leaders council meeting, one of my friends there that I've sat with for 14 years, and that was the chief of Colville Lake, and him and I used to sit around and have chats during those 14 years that I've sat around the table with him. And a gym should be compulsory for any small community, because not everybody gets to have that and it shouldn't be on how many people you have in a school. It's a necessity for mental health, for fitness, for everything else. And he always talked about that, and I would really appreciate if the Minister considers some of those things for a small community like that, because it's really important for their wellbeing. And you know, and I respect that chief very very much because he's a down to earth, very honest, and a very sincere leader. And so I just felt obligated that I have to speak on his behalf.
And the other thing I want to talk about is if we're talking about ages of schools, I just want to make sure that somewhere in the future, I don't expect it today, because there are several buildings that have to be changed in Fort Smith, and we have two federal day schools still standing. And on my school our both schools are 64 years old and 66 years old, the two oldest schools in the territories. And I am sure Hay River's not too far behind, okay, because I remember the you know, in that area of when the schools were built. So I'm not saying today, but I want to make sure that in the future that we plan and we don't expect two schools in one year or anything like that, but I want to put the department on notice that those are old schools. And they are federal day schools that were connected to the residential schools that were served there. And I appreciate that things take time, and I know the budget process here, but I just want to make sure that it will be on the radar sooner than later. And I don't have any other questions. I just wanted to make that comment. Thank you, Madam Chair. And I don't expect the Minister to answer those questions today. Thank you
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. All right. So if there are no further Members to speak to this section, Education, Culture and Employment, junior kindergarten to grade 12 school services, infrastructure investment, $5,623,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Committee, please turn to page 21, labour development and advanced education, with information items on page 22.
Education, Culture and Employment, labour development and advanced education, infrastructure investment, $3,500,000. Does committee agree? Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We don't talk about the Inuvik Campus much so I'll ask a question or two. Firstly, can the Minister remind me how much federal money is in the Western Arctic Research Centre warehouse replacement here? Thank you
Thank you Minister of ECE.
Thank you there's money from a number of sources so I will hand it to Mr. Shannon to discuss that. Thank you
Thank you ADM Shannon.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So the $2.53 million that you'll see under the 20222023 Capital Estimates is federal money, it came from CIRNAC. The $3.5 million that you see under 20232024 is a GNWT investment in the project. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess, I believe this building is already under construction as we speak. Can I just are we on track? When do we expect it to be complete? Thank you
Thank you Minister of ECE.
Thank you so the work is being done at the site but I don't believe the project's been tendered yet. We're expecting it in fiscal year 20242025 to be completed. Thank you
Thank you Member for Yellowknife North.
Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. I guess my next question is, you know, we're looking at labour and development advanced education here. There's $3.5 million this year for Inuvik Campus. That's good. But, you know, we have released a facilities master plan or I forget what we called it, for Aurora College. There's hundreds of millions of dollars of work to be done. I'm not seeing that here.
I guess, can the Minister provide us a bit of an update on when he expects to see some other Aurora College projects go first. And I believe first on that list is replacing one of the day schools in Fort Smith. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister of ECE.
Thank you I think the Member was referencing the residential school residence in Fort Smith, not a day school. So we are engaging with the federal government to try and find some funds to make these projects a reality. I'm heading to Ottawa in a few weeks to have discussions with a number of Ministers. So I don't have a date yet because we don't have the money yet. Development of these facilities is highly dependent upon federal funding. Thank you
Thank you, Minister. Are there any further questions under the Education, Culture and Employment, labour development and advanced education? Infrastructure investments, $3,500,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, Members. Please return now to the departmental summary found on page 17. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I move that this committee defer further consideration of the estimates for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment at this time. Thank you, Madam Chair.
The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Abstentions? Motion is carried.
Carried
Thank you, committee. Thank you, Minister, and thank you to the witnesses. SergeantatArms, please escort the witnesses from the Chamber.
Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I move that the chair rise and report progress. Thank you
There is a motion on the floor to report progress. The motion is in order and nondebatable. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.
---Carried
