Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the existing spaces that are being used by this program are not spaces that are owned by Aurora College, and so certainly that space is not one, for example, that I could confirm on the floor of this House but I can confirm that -- you know, first of all, thank the Member for her advocacy and our conversations in regards to adult literacy across the territory. But second, let the Member know that we are certainly following up on this one and seeing what can be done. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, I can confirm that Aurora College was provided $350,000 annually to operate literacy outreach programs, as the Member had indicated, and those programs are found in Inuvik, Fort Smith, and Yellowknife. In addition, education, culture and employment was providing $85,000 to Inclusion NWT to also partner with Aurora College to offer those programs. At this time, Mr. Speaker, I couldn't confirm what that will look like going forward, but I can certainly reassure the Member that ECE is looking at options on how literacy programming can continue to be...

Thank you very much, Premier -- sorry, thank you, Madam Chair. I'm going to start off by pointing out a couple things that I heard from across the floor.

So this motion deletes $5,250,000 from the main estimates for ECE. It does not speak to Aurora College. It does not speak to deferral. It simply deletes the money. This is not a place this on hold. It's not deferring education, culture and employment's budget until after the briefing with Aurora College next week. It is a deletion.

The other comment in regards to reading about it on Cabin Radio, all of us did receive a public service...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So the early childhood infrastructure fund is solely for builds. It can be used to renovate spaces, and it can be used for new builds as well. And we cannot use it for wage subsidies. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly see the value of trades across the Northwest Territories and want to ensure that we're always looking at more ways to attract people within this field. That's why we also have the SNAP program where we also support wage subsidies for high school students to get involved. And so I have not been contacted by employers who are feeling that this is particularly the area where they're struggling. There are certainly other ideas that have been afforded to me, and I invite all opportunities to chat with anybody about our trades opportunities...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we've heard a little bit from the other side of the House on the importance of tracking results and measuring our successes today, so I appreciate the Member's question. So recently, education, culture and employment released a two-year extension to its apprenticeship, trade, and occupation certification strategy. Part of this strategy does have a performance measurement planb and so at the end of our two-year extension, those performance measures will be released publicly, and we will be able to track and see how far we've come. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's not going to be one size fits all for what that looks like across the territory. The 300 spaces are certainly clear across the Northwest Territories. For example, we are repurposing modular classrooms into ELCC spaces. We are looking at, you know, how I can work with some of my colleagues on some of their infrastructure builds in order to use minimal funds to pull some spaces out of there. Some of them, of course, will of course end up being day homes, and so in people's homes. And so it's not a matter of 300 daycare spaces in this type of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, education, culture and employment, through its regional service centres, engages with communities, the federal government, training program providers, as well as other GNWT departments to discuss their specific community needs. In addition to that, in the Sahtu there are annual career fairs. There's also our small community employment fund that designated community authorities can tap into, and thanks to Regular Members, was increased. And then in addition to that, there's also financial supports that are provided through the community labour market...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment can certainly provide supports to people who need it. The example the Member used, for example, where people have English as a second language, the supports afforded are certainly determined on a case-by-case basis, and people who require supports can email earlylearning@gov.nt.ca. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, the term implied status has now been changed to maintained status just so that everybody's using the same language. So foreign nationals on maintained status are eligible to extend their health care coverage and NWT driver's licenses, and they would need valid proof that they are on maintained status. Foreign nationals that are looking to extend their health care cards and their NWT driver's license are encouraged to reach out to NWT -- sorry, NTHSSA, as well as the Department of Infrastructure, to confirm the process and documents that they...