Okay, thank you. I'll go back to the Member from Great Slave.
Great, thank you. That's what I anticipated, but I just wanted to make sure. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
So as the Minister knows, as all Yellowknife MLAs know, there is great interest in our communities' schools around this program and its success. So can the Minister tell me how many schools in the NWT have these programs and what the uptake is? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, every single school in the Northwest Territories participates in this program in one form or another. So if the Member wants further details, I'd be more than happy to share them.
Okay. Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Great Slave.
Yes, thank you. If the Minister has maybe high level data around the percentage of students that are accessing this program, that would be great. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the way that it was restructured was that 55 percent of the funding would come from education, culture and employment, and that funding was focused on things like wellness support workers or personal support workers, or it could be through Indigenous counsellors within schools. It was really up to the schools to determine what that looked like at the end of the day. The only ask from ECE is that there was component -- a component of prevention that was within it and so that it wasn't exclusive to clinical care for one-on-one experiences, that mental health really does become a part of the whole education experience for students that we're talking about it, that we are educating students and making them aware that absolutely everybody has mental health because we all have brains and so we all have an onus to take care of our brains, just like we take care of our bodies. And so it would in that case really be 100 percent of the student body in some way, shape, or form. As far as numbers for the clinical side of it, that would come from health and social services. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I can appreciate that, and it's nice to have a wholistic approach for all children and teens going to school.
I guess, then, my question becomes, you know, how are we measuring the success of these programs and how will we know that they're accomplishing what we want them to be doing which is, you know, helping our youth with their mental health and as -- I know as the Minister has heard, it's not the greatest right now, so. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So when I sit down with education bodies, we always talk about this program every time I'm in front of them. This program is incredibly important to me, and I also see this program as a living program because as we change and as our demographic changes and as our student body changes over the years, the needs are very clearly going to change as well. So I think it's important that we continue to talk about this program and that it continue to evolve.
And so this year, we're working with education bodies to collect more detailed data on specific types of programs that they are running and specific groups of students that they're working with. So while, you know, there might be larger themes that schools are looking at, they also might have initiatives through smaller group work that they're doing as well, so really working to, after this year, create a baseline that we have in the Northwest Territories and base some of our measurements on that baseline that we're in the process of creating because, as the Member knows, we've just made these adjustments to the program so we need to start with a new baseline. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And, yeah, I appreciate that. It's important to know where we're starting so we can know where we're going.
When does the Minister feel that she might have that baseline a little bit more on firm ground? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the school year ends in June but, of course, it takes time for schools to be able to compile data. They've got a lot of data that we are starting to share now. And so we're looking at working towards early next school year for that type of baseline. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I'll go back to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that, and I look forward to when the Minister can share that information with this side of the House.
Just really quickly, and because I think nobody necessarily asks about it but it's something I'm very passionate about, can the Minister tell me is -- public library services, are they -- is usage staying static; are we expanding programs and services? What's the story that she can tell about our public library system in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'd love to pass to the assistant deputy minister, and if the Member wants more detailed information, always happy to have offline conversations with the Member or we can follow up depending on where the questions go. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I'll go to the ADM.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, thank you for the question. Public libraries are continuing to move along as they typically have. We continue to offer the variety of programs that we have offered in recent years. There is some internal conversation beginning in terms of how do we expand recognizing the more digital age that we continue to live in. Nothing that's reflected necessarily in the mains binder but just in terms of how do we look to expand services recognizing the service technologies that are available today that weren't even five years ago. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And, yeah, just correct me if my understanding is incorrect, but it's my understanding that the city of Yellowknife is really the only public library in the Northwest Territories -- has the only public library in the Northwest Territories that is not funded by this line item. So every other public library is funded in this line item, is that correct? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I might need to follow up unless -- we will follow up with the Member on that one, and we will have to bring back that information. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I'll go back to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Well, that was my lived experience as a library staff at the city of Yellowknife many, many years ago. I'm pretty sure it's still the same, but I could be wrong.
So I guess my question, then, becomes if we want to expand public library services and really, you know, make sure we're supporting literacy in every facet of our territory, including adult literacy, of course how we expand those services and how we deliver those services, I think is a really great question to be engaging with the NWT Association of Librarians, and I would really encourage the Minister to speak with that group if she hasn't already. And that's my soapbox for the moment. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. Next on my list is the Member from the Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Looking at the mental health, you said it's part of inclusive schooling. How many mental health workers are in the Deh Cho region for the schools? Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, the -- sorry, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
So if the Member is looking for information on the clinicians, that would be with health and social services, and then in regards to staffing from the ECE side, we have a number of positions. We have a regional mental wellness coordinator. And then in Fort Providence, we also have a mental wellness student support worker and an Indigenous health and wellness worker. And then in Kakisa, we have staffing in progress for an Indigenous health and wellness elder. And, sorry, just the way it is -- in K'atlodeeche, there is a contracted counselling services in place, but there's also staffing in progress for a wellness worker. And then in -- did I miss -- no, I think I'm good. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I'll go to Member from the Deh Cho.
Okay, that's good. I was looking for that, because we did have one in Fort Providence before, and she left, and I thought -- I wasn't sure if there was one hired since then, and that's good if there has been because it's very important for the children at the school to have some kind of mental supports if, you know -- in the smaller communities, we're dealing with a lot of negative impacts, and these impacts must be affecting the children that are going to school which affects their education levels and stuff. So the mental health piece of it is very important for the communities.
I guess I wanted to know -- but as long as -- like, there's one there. So the other question I had was for -- I don't know if we're on that one yet but treaty simulation, what is that?
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, that is funding that was awarded to the Gordan Foundation. And treaty simulations are an experience that allow participants to negotiate and implement treaties firsthand to -- sorry, to understand what it would be like to do that and to participate in that. And so they're learning from treaty experts, making new connections. It's often youth working together. So it was a grant afforded to Gordan Foundation to be able to carry out this work. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I'll go to the Member from the Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So it doesn't look like it's funded anymore, correct? Because it says the actuals from 2023-2024 is 26, and then it goes from the mains there's nothing, nothing, nothing. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So it was a one-off grant that was awarded to the Gordan Foundation to help support work that they did, and they participated in experts -- sorry, they supported youth to participate in that program, and they had experts from the territory as well that had experience in treaty negotiations sit at the table with these youth and were able to do this. It was done in 2023 and a pretty remarkable experience for these youths. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from the Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Like, you said it was really remarkable thing to do and it would be good for the kids to know, in the North, what the treaties are and how they work. So is there future plans to have it -- to do something like that again or to get some more funding for that? Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, it wasn't ECE that organized it. It was the Gordan Foundation that organized this work. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I'll go back to the Member from the Deh Cho.
Thank you. I don't have any more questions. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Monfwi.
Thank you. Inclusive schooling, there's a change in -- from previous to upcoming budget. If the Minister can explain why there's an increase. I mean, it is good, but I just -- I think I would like to know why, if the Minister can explain why there's a change within the budget.
Okay, thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, within that line item, we had the movement of our school-based mental health and wellness over -- that was moved -- that was previously in our junior kindergarten to grade 12 education system services, and it was moved down into the inclusive schooling section, and then in addition to that, we also have adjustments due to the UNW and the NWTTA collective agreements. Thank you.
