Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think that we this theme day could not have come at a better time because we are at the beginning of what I see as a very exciting time within the department of education and within income assistance. We are on the verge of entering into this new program. It starts in the month of July. That new program will see increased opportunities for client navigators to be able to work with income assistance clients and to be able to work on those pathways. And part of the information coming out of that will be through this performance management plan where we can take a look at what's going on, how is this impacting residents, how is this impacting communities, what does this story look like? And that, in conjunction with, for example, the business plans which tell a story about the expectation on increased income assistance clients having jobs while they're on income assistance. And the fact that this new program also creates those methods for people to be able to hold on to a lot more earned income, I think is really exciting, and I really look forward to being able to come back to this House and tell, as the Member for Monfwi says, success stories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm excited that the Minister's really excited, but I'm still curious over here as to what specific information the department tracks that we know what they're doing or how they're progressing through the system to be able to stand up on their own. So is there any other useful information outside of their age, where they live, and their gender that we can build upon to help strengthen the program and the individual as we hope that they can return back to the working world. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is asking what we previously track. And so as I'm saying that this is a new program and so going forward, we're going to have the opportunity to look at a lot more data and see what is going on. But that's not information that I have at my fingertips to be able to provide the Member right now. But I very much look forward to being able to tell the story of what this new program is doing for NWT residents and to be able to talk about those success stories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister talked about the navigators at length. So maybe she could explain the business case as to why they are there and specifically how they're going to help individuals get to where I think where we hope they're going to back into the working or education world or whatever is appropriate as it fits appropriately with the individual. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have a host of client navigators across the territory that work in small communities. They work in regional centres. And they work in Yellowknife. And these client navigators work closely with career development officers. They have, of course, a very intimate knowledge of student financial assistance, which also falls under the income security division. And so these pathways to employment, pathways to entrepreneurship, they are absolutely things that these individuals are trained to support clients through. And so whether it is somebody wanting to access training programs, whether they are wanting to go into entrepreneurship that, is something that with ITI, there is a definite really nice marriage that can happen there going forward so that people are supported in order to be able to pursue what their goals are. I think one of the changes that has happened here between going from having productive choices to not having productive choices is an acknowledgement that not everybody fits within the themed boxes that productive choices were. Productive choices forced somebody to kind of pick something from a list that maybe wasn't what they wanted to do. And what this is acknowledging is saying okay, we all have goals and we all have dreams and they don't have to fit into a box, but let's set you up with people who can help walk you through what it is that you want to do and to acknowledge or identify what that path is and how to get there. So we've got the client navigators, we've got the career development officers. We also have economic development officers over in ITI. Especially when you're talking about, you know, regional centres, a lot of these people already know one another. We've got funding opportunities within SFA, funding opportunities within ITI and other departments. We also have the ability to also set people up with apprenticeships as well or with training opportunities. There's, for example, fundamentals through Aurora College, which is an absolutely great program, and then there's also SNAP opportunities too. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It only makes me wonder do the are the navigators counsellors in the context of the big C counsellors, or are they just cheerleaders in the sense of just supporting advocates? And if with eliminated productive choices, how do we encourage them to create goals? And if they don't want to be involved in the navigator process and we don't require them to be productive choices to be involved in productive choices, does the department just sit and do nothing? Like, I'm just trying to understand how we get them involved. Thank you.
So to the first question that the Member asked, Mr. Speaker, about whether or not they're big C counsellors or little C counsellors, I'm not sure if that means are they mental health counsellors; no, they're not mental health counsellors if that's what meant. Sorry, I was talking to fast.
In regards to what type of counsellors they are, they are people who are they fill a role, and they provide pathways. They are professionals. They understand their department. They understand how to create connections. And one of the things that reducing the administrative barriers of this program does as well is allows client navigators more time to create more connections within communities so that they too are forming connections that they can then bring people to and connect them to.
In regards to how ECE is going to turn around and force people to take on these pathways, there are 19 of us in this room right now that weren't forced to have to take on a pathway but we did, and we were privileged enough to have the opportunity to step into that pathway. And so what this is doing is creating those opportunities to step into pathways. And I don't think that everybody needs to be forced, and I don't think that staff are going to sit by idly and not do anything. I think that there are tremendous amount of people who want opportunity in this territory, and we as a government are at an exciting point to be able to ease the path to those opportunities. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So my questions, again, are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, but this time I want to ask about Aurora College and the transition to a polytechnic university.
So the college has announced that the transition to a polytechnic university will be significantly delayed. And we hear from the college that it's because of inadequate funding from governments. We hear from the ECE Minister that it's up to the board of governors now, they're arm's length. So my question to the Minister is who can we hold accountable for the delay in the polytechnic transition? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in this House the board of governors does not have a seat and so you get to hold me accountable. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's a clear commitment and statement that is certainly welcomed to everyone.
My second question is that the transition team that was set up for the polytechnic university transition, I know that it has now been disbanded, the transition team that was within ECE. Were there goals or benchmarks set for what that team needed to accomplish before it was disbanded? And if so, were those goals met? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the transformation team had a goal to accomplish 66 goals, 66 milestones. They accomplished all of them. There are a total of 80 milestones. And since the transformation team was disbanded, the college itself has completed three milestones. So that is since November of 2023. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Member from Yellowknife North.
Okay. I mean, my next question is what tools does the Minister have to be able to hold the board of governors of Aurora College accountable to actually finish the transition to a polytechnic university by a certain date given that their funding is coming from our budget? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the most significant tool that I have at my fingertips is the mandate letter that is issued to the board. That letter has or the next letter, because the one that is an interim letter expires in July so the next reiteration of that has been jump started by myself through a letter to the board of governors. And what tools does this Assembly have? This Assembly approves the budget, and that budget goes to Aurora College. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary and final supplementary for today's oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So does the GNWT have a line in the sand, like a date by which the polytechnic university must be established? And what would be the consequence to Aurora College if that goal is not met? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think this is a really exciting opportunity for the Northwest Territories to be able to transition into a polytechnic. Because I think that there is this idea that we're talking about bricks and mortar. But what we're talking about is really important programming that lends to building a solid economic foundation. And so absolutely I will acknowledge that the milestones are definitely delayed. That is quite clear as to where the transformation is at right now, and I really look forward to working with the college and the board of governors to getting that back on track and seeing how we can support one another to achieve our common goals. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: NWT Office of the Regulator of Oil and Gas Operations Annual Report 20232024. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, June 6, 2024, I will move the following motion:
Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, that the Government of the Northwest Territories initiate a CrossBorder Crime Reduction Forum that would involve the Governments of the Northwest Territories, Canada, Yukon, Alberta, and British Columbia;
And furthermore, the focus of a crossborder forum will increase the response to violence and drug trafficking in rural and remote communities;
And furthermore, that the focus of the crossborder forum improve efforts to disrupt the illicit drug network and drugrelated crime and violence in Northwest Territories communities;
And furthermore, that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a response to this motion within 120 days.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Notices of motion. Motions. Notices of motion for the first reading of bills. First reading of bills. Second reading of bills.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters, Minister's Statement 420(1), Minister's Statement 520(1), Minister's Statement 1720(1), Minister's Statement 2420(1), Tabled Document 9320(1).
I now call the Committee of the Whole to order. What's the wish of the committee? Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the committee would like to consider Tabled Document 9320(1), 20242025 Main Estimates, Department of Health and Social Services and Department of Education, Culture and Employment.
Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Thank you, committee. We will proceed with the first item. But before we do that, I would like to take a short break, and we'll resume in about ten minutes. Thank you.
SHORT RECESS
Thank you. Committee, we're going to continue on where we left off on Thursday. Does the Minister of Health and Social Services wish to bring in witnesses to the House? Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Oh sorry, hang on. Minister.
Yes, I do, Mr. Chair.
Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Okay, thank you. Sergeantatarms, please escort the witnesses to the Chamber.
Would the Minister please introduce your witnesses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, my deputy minister JoAnne Cecchetto. And ADM of finance, policy and planning, Jeannie Mathison. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Committee, like I said earlier, we'll resume from Thursday where we left off but before we start, we're going to stop at 6 o'clock for supper, and we'll continue on to give the translators an opportunity to have a little break.
Where we left off on Thursday is that Mr. Testart was the last one to speak, and you have eight minutes left. Member from Range Lake, do you have any further questions to the Member?
And before we do that, I just want to back up here. We're going to be on page 211 in your booklets. And the Member from Range Lake, you got eight minutes if you had any questions to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you, Mr. Chair. Your memory's been better than mine because I had forgotten where we left off. And I've also forgotten what questions I asked and what the answers were, so I will go again. I could check Hansard, but I'm too lazy.
Mr. Chair, for this particular item I'm too lazy addictions treatment facilities, so there's a drop in the budget from the revised estimates to these main estimates. Can the Minister explain why we require less funding for something which I think is a high need service of this government? Thank you.
Thank you. Before we go to the Minister, I just want to remind my colleagues here that we got translators, so I'm told if we could speak slowly as well. And also all your pressing issues and questions you had, we have allotted time of ten minutes, so I just want to remind my Members. Okay, I'm going to go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Last year we had to go for a supp with the increase in number of people that were accessing and the cost that it the increased cost to travel, like the air costs and stuff to send people out. This time we didn't put those costs we didn't bill that into the budget this year because we were able to get an agreement with NIHB that their NNADAP programs that they have in Canada, they will approve the funding if any Indigenous people that are status or Inuit that fall under their program can access those programs, that through NIHB, the travel will be also included. So that might take some of the costs down. So it's more of the supplementary increase the last budget that we had to go for. This year, we're hoping that the other program will be able to offset some of those costs. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Range Lake.
Thank you. So the it looks like that supplementary appropriation doubled the cost. So is NIHB really paying for half of our addictions out of territory treatment? Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
