Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Maybe just a quick comment before I get into my question. I think Members are restraining some of their questions to help the process move along, so. Maybe not all of course. That said, Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment with respect to autism supports and programming.
Mr. Speaker, parents have to cover PD days, daycare, afterschool program times, and summer programs, and it's having impacts on families and the relationships of friends and supporters. And I'm going to ask the Minister of education what can she do to further some policy initiatives to support these types of parents who are dealing with children with autism that needs strengths and sometimes even oneonone supports? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the things that we have heard from education bodies across the Northwest Territories, and specifically people who are in the role of classroom support positions, is that they wanted to have a fuller toolbox to be able to help students. And so one of the programs that ECE worked with education bodies to put into place over the course of the last few years was training for classroom assistants through a partnership that was formed with Douglas College, which I look forward to speaking about more in the House this week, and we are just graduating our first cohort of classroom assistants through that program. And this is a very unique program in that the classroom assistants were able to do the training from their home community while still supporting students in the classroom. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's certainly welcome news; I wouldn't necessarily say it isn't. So back to my specific question is, is what policy changes can be done to help parents who have to take time off of work when there's PD days, there's no afterschool programs that support them, no daycares, and even including the full summer break when their young people need fulltime care, parttime care, oneonone care, etcetera, what can the department do to support policy initiatives that support these parents with autistic children? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is a funding pot that is referenced as SCIP that is available to licensed centrebased early learning and child care facilities. It promotes staff training to help with the development of inclusive programming, provides guidance, resources, and support to create appropriate spaces, and supports staff positions that can provide onetoone support for children.
Mr. Speaker, I absolutely hear the Member, though, that what I am hearing from not only the Member but from residents of the territory is that they are looking for more supports, and what I would want to ensure is that, first of all, that we are addressing this in a way that is most effective for what parents are looking for, in a way that doesn't just throw money at it but also throws resources that are appropriate to what families are looking for. So I would love to hear some suggestions of exactly what it is the Member would like to see. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister mentions, first of all, the SCIP program. Yes, but it's very limited funding and, hence, when it only creates one or two openings there's still dozens on dozens of parents struggling to find support. And if you don't have a fantastic employer who's supportive of your challenges, you have to take days off. And if you have an employment position, such as a very unique one or professional, you can't take time off sometimes; that's just the nature of your work. So, Mr. Speaker, my question is is would the Minister be willing to meet with the group of parents and advocates for the autism community, which doesn't just represent Yellowknife but the territory at large; would she be willing to sit down with them and see if she could help them develop policy initiatives to support these people struggling with these daytoday challenges?
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am absolutely more than happy to sit down with anybody. That is one of our key jobs as Ministers, is we spend a lot of time in meetings making sure that we understand what it is that residents of the Northwest Territories are looking for. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
I'm okay, Mr. Speaker.
Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Member from Great Slave. I was looking
that's not even a lake mix up on this one.
