Member from Great Slave. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to start today by letting the Member know and letting residents of the Northwest Territories know that as the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, I will not endorse or support policies that or legislation that I see is harmful to residents of the Northwest Territories, including our youth. What is being done today, Mr. Speaker, under the Education Act and safe schools regulations, schools in the Northwest Territories are required to provide a safe and caring environment for the school community. So ECE hosts a territorial safe and caring schools subcommittee. This is made up of representatives from each education body across the Northwest Territories. And their role is to plan, coordinate, and action processes, activities, and projects related to implementing the safe school's regulations. In addition, the territorial school code of conduct also exists and confirms that schools and education bodies are wholly responsible to ensure that all members of the school community are provided with a safe, positive, respectful, and caring environment regardless of orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.
To support education bodies and schools in fostering 2SLGBTQIPA+ equity, safety, and inclusion in schools, ECE has also developed the guidelines for ensuring LGBTQ2S+ equity, safety, and inclusion in Northwest Territories schools.
In addition, Mr. Speaker, as outlined in the Education Act and safe schools regulations, all NWT schools have safe and caring school plans. These plans include bullying prevention, intervention, and education strategies. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for that. I believe later in the day I saw she might be tabling some of those documents, and that's also welcomed.
Mr. Speaker, what partnerships does ECE undertake with the Northern Mosaic Network and schoolbased rainbow clubs to foster safety for queer youth? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, ECE collaborates regularly with the Northern Mosaic Network through the safe and caring school subcommittee. And this supports education bodies' needs around ensuring that 2SLGBTQIPA+ youth are have access to safety, equity, and inclusion. The Northern Mosaic Network is invited and provides sessions as well to NWT educators through annual inservices. And recently, the Northern Mosaic Network provided inservice on supporting 2SLGBTQIPA+ diversity in secondary and elementary education at the program support teacher inservice that just occurred in February 20th to 22nd of this year. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the Minister also answered my next question, which is great, which had to do with what training and professional development may be required for teachers and other school staff to ensure that they understand safe practices, language, and inclusive environments for all students? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in addition to the items that I have already mentioned, there is also a gender support plan that schools have which provides a guide for staff members to understand ways a student's gender can be affirmed while the student is supported at school. ECE also supports evidencebased healthy relationship training for school staff and a safe school regulations mandate that safe school plans must include, like I said before, the bullying prevention, intervention, education strategies that integrate evidencebased healthy relationship programming into the school curriculum itself and daily classroom activities.
In addition to that, Mr. Speaker, ECE includes what is called the fourth R for grades 7 to 9, healthy relationships, plus for grades 10 through 11, and gender sexuality alliance and healthy relationship programming for 2SLGBTQIPA+ youth as well. And what I will also say, Mr. Speaker, is the healthy relationship program that I've just mentioned is a small group of positive mental health promotion program for gender, sexual, romantic minority youth and is available for gender sexuality alliances as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for that. As we shift to the new BCbased curriculum, is there any elements of that curriculum that are inclusive and supportive of queer students? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, the draft NWT adapted curriculum does have topics on gender and identity that are covered in grades 4, 5, 6, and 9 that I indicated earlier this week that those are the grades trialing the new curriculum. So in the draft curriculum, grades 4 through 6 health curriculum is supported to be able to describe and apply strategies that promote safe and caring environments, such as culture of consent and awareness and acceptance of different races, ethnicities, cultural practices, and gender identities and expressions. Also it supports to understand physical, emotional, and social changes that occur during puberty, including those involving sexuality and sexual identity.
In this curriculum, topics around identifying and addressing genderbased violence and discrimination are also covered in the draft in the draft grade 9 health curricula as well. And work is currently ongoing adapting the BC grade 7 and 8 health curriculum which also includes many of these elements. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Tu NedheWiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The previous government say that they had made serious progress towards an agreementinprinciple with the Akaitcho Dene First Nations. Meanwhile ten years after devolution, the Akaitcho are not receiving no royalties from their lands and resources. Mr. Speaker, my question would be to the Premier. How close is the GNWT to signing an agreementinprinciple with the Akaitcho Dene First Nation? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Tu NedheWiilideh. Mr. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A consultation draft of the agreementinprinciple has been completed. It is with the Akaitcho leadership, and they are reviewing it internally. So the ball is in their court right now, and so I don't have a timeline on how long things will take but I can say there is forward progress on this file. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you, Premier, for your response. Does the Premier think an agreementinprinciple is possible within the life span of this government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I definitely think it's possible. We are not the only party to these negotiations though so there is a lot that's out of our hands. I mean, the federal government is you know, they have an evolving approach to negotiations as well so they might introduce a new way of doing business that could add more time to the process. So there's a lot of unknowns, but I am confident that we're headed in the right direction and we're moving at a good pace. Thank you.
Thank you. In the 19th Assembly, we passed the UNDRIP bill and more or less defining the Indigenous rights of the people here in the Northwest Territories. Can the Premier ask my question is to Premier, again. It's unfair that my region is being excluded from not signing on to devolution agreement. Can the Premier commit to having the Akaitcho receive the monies that is made off their lands and resources and backdated to April 1st, 2014? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I do not have the authority to make that commitment. The GNWT is also signatory to the devolution agreement as are a number of Indigenous governments, and so it's that group of governments who would make that decision, not myself as Premier. And as I understand, the last direction was that the signatories receive those funds. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final supplementary. Member from Tu NedheWiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Premier. Would the Premier be able to go back and talk to the Indigenous leaders and figure a way around how we could get Akaitcho involved to getting royalties off their backyard? I think if we could maybe start that dialogue, that would be great. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was, I think, a few years ago was the last time there was a real indepth discussion among the group about this item. So I can bring it to the group and say that this has been raised by an MLA and see what their thoughts are on having the discussion but I can't again, I can't make any promises. We don't set the agenda. We don't make decisions. But whenever I hear concerns from MLAs, I do bring them forward. Thank you.
Premier. Oral questions. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Finance. In the last Assembly, the Minister committed to create a new policy to prioritize hiring Indigenous people. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister provide the status of this new policy to support Indigenous hiring?
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Boot Lake. Minister for Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's been quite a number of different pieces that have rolled out in support of hiring of more hiring and stronger hiring of Indigenous people in the Northwest Territories. There's the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework is really the vanguard item that we have on that. The Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework has quite a number of action items in it for each department, and each department has its own individualized framework or plan, action plan, within that. They're all available online. I won't start to name them off now, but there's been an initial reporting on some of those action items. For example, having job descriptions reviewed, all job descriptions reviewed, to ensure that we're having job availability and accessibility that aligns to people's skill sets and that doesn't become exclusive or exclusionary in a way that doesn't actually achieve the targets of that job. So all of those are available online. All of the actions there are available online, and they're meant to address and break down some of the barriers that people have seen. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister mentioned the Indigenous Retention Recruitment Framework. Can the Minister say how this framework is being monitored and the success of the departments to implement the employment plans are being monitored as well? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Multiple questions means I can just talk all about the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework. So in this case, Mr. Speaker, I can be quite succinct because in some ways it's simple. Every department has submitted their own employment plan. Those were published in November of 2022. They then have a responsibility to meet both shortterm, mediumterm, and longterm objectives. In October of just this last year, the employment plans were all posted online, and it shows columns of what is expected for short, medium, and long term. So there's status updates that are going to be going out online to those employment plans. As I said, the last one was just a couple of months ago. The next key marker I would put on people's radar is with respect to hiring targets, so actually setting some targets and breaking those targets down by types of employment, so not just a blanket putting people into positions but actually ensuring that we're moving people through and up to higher positions of senior management. So that's the next marker I'd put on the radar. But that's a shortterm goal, and that will be one of the next ones that needs to get published in the not too distant future. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And certainly good to hear that there are targets being set. I know the last Assembly was clear that departments were to set targets, and GNWT were to set targets. Can the Minister tell me what those targets are, Mr. Speaker?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can, and what I would suggest I do, though, is perhaps we can I don't know if we'll be able to table it by tomorrow but at the earliest opportunity, Mr. Speaker, we could put that information before the House or at the very least perhaps circulate where people can find it. It's on the Department of Finance's website under the diversity and inclusion services, the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework. There's a very long document. And then there's a very long list, every single department, every single agency has their own plan. Every one of them is published. And within them, it shows all of their individualized actions as well as those targets. So it's a long list of information and I would, again, be happy to put that information before the House. I believe it was actually included in business plans and would be included in business plans going forward. So it may be that the next opportunity I have is during main estimates when business plans would be before the House again. Thank you.
Minister of Finance. Final supplementary. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister. Direct appointments, Mr. Speaker, are a tool that the GNWT can and does often use to place employees in the positions without running public competitions. Can the Minister provide the number of direct appointments in the GNWT over the last fiscal year and which of those were Indigenous? Thank you.
I certainly can provide it. I don't have it in front of me, Mr. Speaker. But I would note that in general, direct appointments, at least over the last four years that I can speak to, were in I believe 90 percent or so were of individuals who had either P1 or P2 status, which would be Indigenous individuals as well as longterm Northerners, but I'll ensure that we've broken that down to reflect specifically Indigenous Northwest Territories residents. It is a very high percentage of the direct appointments that are that go through. Thank you.
Finance. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So my questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Firstly, so as we're rolling out the new BC curriculum, how is ontheland education being incorporated into this new curriculum? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the draft NWT adapted curriculum is streamlined, and it focuses on competency building more than content retention. So this actually ends up providing more opportunities for placebased learning, which in our northern communities translates into landbased learning. The adaption of the BC curriculum ensures that many explicit references to the BC curriculum to Indigenous ways of being and knowing are NWTspecific. So this curriculum adaption almost gives us more opportunities than working with the previous curriculum in order to ensure that there are landbased options in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So that's good news. So how is ECE supporting educators and child care workers to gain the training and skills and confidence for them to be able to deliver ontheland education? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, ECE provides a variety of professional development and training opportunities for educators across the Northwest Territories. So specifically JK to 12 school educators receive training on the Indigenous languages and education handbook and in both Dene Kede and Inuuqatigiit that guide Indigenizing education in the Northwest Territories. ECE also allocates funding directly to education bodies for resource development and community support, which includes professional development for language and cultural education training, including landbased training. In addition to that, there is the educational leadership program which is a mandatory requirement for sitting school principals across the Northwest Territories. And a component of this is also ontheland training facilitated by ECE staff, local knowledgeholders and languagekeepers as well. And ECE also provides funding to support delivery of professional learning opportunities to early learning educators working in licensed programs throughout the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So that was a very long list of things. I think specifically ontheland education was listed in there somewhere, but I'll have to look back through the transcripts. Does ECE have any funding available for schools or child care facilities to build basic infrastructure like wall tents or fire pits so that people have a place to go nearby to do ontheland education? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Really succinct answer, thank you. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So that one I'd actually love to hear more about. If the Minister could just clarify what the title of this funding program is called or how we could direct people towards it, that would be appreciated. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I'm too long, I'm too short; I just don't know. I'm happy to provide information.
School education bodies receive funding directly. People can also apply for separate funding. There is also funding available through Aurora College when they participate. They get funding directly from ECE to participate when they're doing their training for the early learning and child care certificate and diploma program. And so there's a multitude of different kind of avenues that funding comes from. But I am happy to provide more detailed information to the Member for sure. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my friend from Great Slave mentioned that other jurisdictions in Canada who are taking heartless steps to traumatize and disenfranchise people for being themselves. I'd like to know from our Minister of Health and Social Services how trans and nonbinary youth or individual or other individuals seeking gender affirming healthcare, which would have previously gone to Alberta, are going to get the care that they need through our health system? Thank you.
Range Lake. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to assure the NWT residents that healthcare services for transgender individuals, including children and youth, will continue to be available under our existing model as there at this time we are still utilizing the same referral plan as usual. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
