Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My final question is when can the Minister of ECE start the process on Crown consultation and accommodation with the Yellowknives Dene First Nation; is it possible to do that this fiscal year? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, every year the Department of Education, Culture and Employment speaks with local DECs, DEAs, about what capital projects they want to put on the list and what it is that the school needs, and then the Department of Education, Culture and Employment works closely with the Department of Infrastructure to make sure that these projects are prioritized. As I said earlier today, we're not in a situation where we could do every single project across the territory in one year but certainly ensuring that at the end of the day we're working as hard as we can to invest in schools because I absolutely agree that students need a space that is conducive to learning at the end of the day and that over time our needs within communities change, and that needs to be reflected in our capital builds as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of ECE from my Member's statement yesterday.
Can the Minister explain if Aurora College and the department are considering collaborative initiatives like the Getting Ahead pilot program as a replacement program from the community learning centres? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from the Deh Cho. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. In regards to the new programming that Aurora College is envisioning for the community learning centres, Aurora College board of governor chairperson, chair -- well, sorry, I won't say names. But the chairperson, along with the president, will be in front of committee tomorrow morning, and they intend to present their plan to the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Concerning funding for the GAP program, or Getting Ahead program, Aurora College contributed instructional leadership and provided the structured training framework. What was the approximate cost to Aurora College to provide this; does the Minister know? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in regards to that specific program and the breakdown of that specific program, I would not have that information on hand. But I know that part of the presentation that Aurora College will be delivering tomorrow is in regards to the cost breakdown, and this would be a great opportunity to be able to ask those detailed questions of the chair and the president. I have passed along information to them that Members will want very detailed information and are very much looking to this presentation to answer a lot of questions, and so they intend to come very well prepared for this conversation.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from the Deh Cho.
Thank you. Are there other current pilot programs similar to GAP that are operated through partnerships between Aurora College and Indigenous governments happening across the territory? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the chairperson and president would be best positioned to speak directly to these types of pilot programs. But one of the things that I would love to share is Aurora College is always looking for new opportunities, especially for ones that will be successes in communities and that Indigenous governments are looking to put on. And so those types of conversations are best placed with the board of governors and the president because, ultimately, they want to deliver well-attended, successful programming, that is desired by the North. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Colleagues, our time is up for oral questions. Oral questions. Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I understand I have a constituent in the gallery today. I just wanted to recognize -- oh sorry, Mr. Speaker. I do ask for unanimous consent to return to item number 5 on the agenda.
Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. The Member from Frame Lake's asking for unanimous consent to return to item 5 on orders of the day. Seeing no nays, Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate your grace. I just wanted to recognize my constituent Trevor Kasteel is in the gallery today. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to take a moment to recognize two pages from Range Lake North School, Sophia Regidor and Arpi Ghalyan. Thank you very much for being here today.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: The Annual Reports for the Education Bodies of the Northwest Territories for the 2023-2024 School Year, Volumes 1 and 2; Annual Report on Official Languages 2023-2024. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Tuesday, March 11th, 2025, I will present Bill 22, Legislation Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I call the Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of the committee? Member for Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the committee wishes to consider Tabled Document 275-20(1), 2025-2026 Main Estimates, Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs and Department of Justice, Madam Chair. Thank you.
Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. We will take a short recess and resume with the first item. Thank you.
---SHORT RECESS
Committee, we have agreed to consider Tabled Document 275-20(1), Main Estimates 2025-2026. We will now consider the Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs. Does the Minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs wish to bring witnesses into the House?
Yes, Madam Chair.
Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the chamber.
Would the Minister please introduce his witnesses.
Thank you. To my left is John MacDonald, deputy minister of EIA and secretary to Cabinet. And to my right is Terence Courtoreille, associate deputy minister of the health care system sustainability unit within the department of EIA. Thank you.
Committee, we will resume where we left off last week. The next key activity is healthcare system sustainability on page 140 with information items on page 142. Are there any questions? Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. This is mostly me just making sure we don't swing past this key activity as people get ready to ask more substantive questions. But could the Minister please provide an update on where the unit has gotten to thus far. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs.
Thank you. I'd like to pass that to Mr. Courtoreille witness.
Mr. Courtoreille.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So far to date, the unit has been busy working on a couple different fronts. The first front was to develop some of our key scoping documents that will help guide the work of our unit, and we largely completed that work prior to Christmas. And then since Christmas, we've been in engagement mode consulting with people within -- mostly within the health system. So to date, we were able to connect to every ADM or executive director for every area within the health system. We were also able to connect with the health authorities, the Hay River Health Authority, NTHSSA, as well as TCSA, and their respective PAs or boards. And we also did a fair amount of engagement out into the regions with the COOs. And then from a staffing perspective, Madam Chair, we have four staff on strength right now. We have an additional three coming on strength within the next few weeks at varying times. And then the proposed budget here has an additional ninth position to be recruited for in 2025-2026. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Member from Great Slave.
Yes, thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for that update from Mr. Courtoreille. Could I also, for the public's knowledge, understand a little bit better the overlap or the touch points between EIA's sustainability unit and the public administrator. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Minister for Executive and Indigenous Affairs.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So that's also part of the work that's been happening. We, of course, have the healthcare sustainability unit, the Department of Health and Social Services, and the NT Health Authority which is right now being run by the public administrator. And so the work has been to ensure that we all know what each other is doing, and we're all working together towards common goals.
So there's a couple different areas we're looking -- or a few different areas. So there's a governance and policy considerations. There is financial sustainability, and there's operational efficiencies. So under each of those broad umbrellas, everyone has a specific role. And so the public administrator is looking at the roles and responsibilities within the health system and the corporate functions of the health authority as well as the overall governing structure that they're working in.
In terms of the fiscal sustainability part of it, the public administrator and the health authority, along with the department of health, are looking at the budget and the deficit and how that can be addressed. And for operational efficiencies, the health authority public administrator and the Department of Finance are looking at a workforce review.
The healthcare system sustainability unit, in terms of the governance and policy side, is looking at investigating how the Hay River Health Authority could become part of the GNWT which was in the mandate. And in terms of operational efficiencies, the healthcare system sustainability unit is looking at the -- looking at defining the core services of health and social services. And then, of course, there's additional roles for the department of health and the health authorities themselves. Thank you.
Member for Great Slave.
