All right, Mr. Speaker. My questions will be to the Minister of education regarding autism supports.
Mr. Speaker, I'm aware of the inclusion program that they have within the program, an application-based program, but often I hear from working parents, Mr. Speaker, professionals, that they can no longer live here in the territory where they're struggling to take so much time off of work, whether it's for after school -- lack of after school programs, whether it's days off of school, short days, SIP days, you know, you name it. These families are reliant on the goodwill of their employers and their family, Mr. Speaker.
What can the Minister do to help support schools and families to provide further supports for families who deal with children with disabilities? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to start off by acknowledging the amount of work that families do to support their children, absolutely, of course. And children with disabilities, their parents are absolute champions and are they're biggest champions for their kids as well. So I just want to acknowledge the amount of work that parents do day in day out.
A few of the things that have been done within the school system in order to increase supports are, for example, working with education bodies to provide training within the school system to education assistants. I've spoken multiple times on the floor of the House in regards to the partnership with Douglas College in order to ensure that we're providing additional tools to the support assistants in classrooms that the Member spoke of earlier in this sitting. I do acknowledge that there is also a desire for additional supports and one of the other things that I do is sit down with the NWTTA, as well as education bodies, to learn from them what kind of additional supports that families are looking for and how we might be able to work together to afford those to the kids that need them. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Working through the the program offered under ECE is called Supporting Child Inclusion and Participation, Mr. Speaker. There are rare, and I mean exceptionally rare, program spaces for summer programs for young people who are dealing with disabilities, and today we're highlighting around autism but, I mean, all disabilities deserve their fair recognition in the sense that we need to find ways to support them all, not one over the other.
Mr. Speaker, two-week slots are rare -- rarer than hen's teeth, Mr. Speaker. So if you're lucky to get one of those, it's only for two weeks out of the eight-week summer, Mr. Speaker. Is there any way to find a way to address that gap that these parents have to struggle with day after day? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, absolutely, the SCIP funding is one of the methods that the department supports families. Another funding amount that is used to support families is ECE does provide $362,000 annually to the NWT Disabilities Council to support families that do have children with complex needs. In addition, I know that even day home -- people who want to open day homes, and specifically serve children with complex needs, have reached out to me as MLA and inquired about what types of supports they would receive from the department. And so the department works closely with people who want to pursue this as a career and open up day homes and daycares. And so we do have certainly subsidies but the Department of education does not operate and own the daycares and the day homes. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One parent told me that they have to find a way to help fund the support worker to allow their child to be part of a summer program. So whether you're sending your child to a soccer camp or some other type of initiative like that, parents are paying out of their pocket. Is there any way the department can take this message back -- sorry, the Minister can take the message back to the department and say maybe there's ways we can help support and fund summer jobs programs so we can help expand these opportunities to these families and desperately excitable and engaging young people who want to be part of something, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister go back and see if there's a way to expand opportunities? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am all ears when it comes to suggestions around solutions, so I appreciate the Member's suggestion and will absolutely discuss with the department. And I appreciate that. Thank you.
Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Very quickly, I just want to stress, parents, highly educated professionals, people who have invested their life into the Northwest Territories, see better autism or disability support just across the border. It's called southern Alberta. Mr. Speaker, would the Minister be willing to meet with these parents, if I organized a meeting, to hear about their day-to-day struggle and ways to help encourage them to stay North and continue to be great partners in our communities? And not just Yellowknife, by the way, Mr. Speaker. I hear from my good colleague from the great riding of Monfwi about many parents there are struggling there as well so I'm sure they're similar. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have not been known for turning away conversations with people. I absolutely appreciate the opportunity to speak with Northerners about how policies and government decisions impact their lives. I've had the opportunity, with the Member for Mackenzie Delta, to sit and have similar conversations with people from his riding as well. And so this is certainly something that is not a Yellowknife challenge. It is a challenge that impacts people from absolutely every community from one end to the other, and I'm absolutely all ears and willing to sit down with Northerners. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.
