Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciated the answers I got earlier from the Minister of ECE and note that she just kind of finished on the point she needs support from industry. Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about what we are doing.
Mr. Speaker, let's connect the dots. Education outcomes, will the Minister speak to the education outcomes and how that's relating to our inability to sufficiently provide a workforce for industry in the territory? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I feel like by the question, the Member already knows the answer. Absolutely, our education outcomes are linked to employment a hundred percent. And this is why within the Northwest Territories we're doing things like looking at the ELCC program in conjunction with the Government of Canada and making sure that our ELCC service providers have education and certification that they need in order to provide support at the zero to age 4 level. Then we're looking at our curriculum renewal. We're switching to the BC curriculum which is also going to help out. We were looking at -- you know, our students need school-based mental health and wellness because they need to be mentally cared for in order to be able to learn at the end of the day. So this is a huge focus of mine. The other piece around this is our review of the Education Act which is also taking place in this Assembly. And then there is also, of course, the new post-secondary education legislation that was passed in the last Assembly to make sure that the post-secondary education that is being offered to Northerners is quality education so that we can ensure that we have a robust workforce at the end of the day. And it is absolutely all connected. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I guess where I -- where I'm a bit confused is, you know, when I look at education outcomes, workforce planning, you know, let's focus on the Giant Mine project for a second. That project is only achieving 36 percent employment. This is a project that's going to be spending billions of dollars in the territory over a number of years. Why have we failed to maximize northern workforce in that project if all these plans are working so well? What's the missing piece, Mr. Speaker?
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think it's worth saying that this project is led by the federal government. We do not as the GNWT hold the reins on this project. I think that it is an accumulation of everything that I have mentioned here today. It is also a matter of making sure that projects are right-sized for the Northwest Territories which I know in having sat down with one of the key leaders on that project that they are doing what they can to make sure that projects are broken down and they do have a focus of northern procurement. However, they do work within the federal system and the federal system -- I think we have some room to work together to make sure that our procurement rules align and that our goals at the end of the day align as well. So I think there's always room for improvement in the territory, and I think we should always maintain our drive and desire to always do better. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, does the Department of ECE or ITI have stated goals for workforce -- increasing the northern workforce in the territory? Have they set a number that they're trying to achieve either at the diamond mines, Giant, through northern -- through our contracting? Are they looking to achieve a goal?
Member, direct it to one Minister, not -- though she has the two different roles, I am going to turn it to you as the Minister for Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with all of our mining projects -- well, our diamond mining projects, we do have socio-economic agreements which in them do contain northern employment goals in them. So that is baked in to a lot of what we do in the territory. And it is always our goal to ensure that our industry in the Northwest Territories is serving and benefitting Northerners. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Colleagues, our time has come to the end.
