Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, it's an important distinction that while we are adapting the BC -- or sorry, while we are migrating to the BC curriculum, we are doing adaptations to that curriculum to reflect the Northwest Territories, so it's an NWT adapted BC curriculum. Within that curriculum, there are a number of climate education that intentionally reflect the Northwest Territories that are being implemented. And so first off, Mr. Speaker, there's the new Northern Studies 30 course that -- it was developed here in the Northwest Territories in partnership with...

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, certainly the business plans were developed specific to the nominee program with the previous allocations in mind, not expecting -- I don't think anybody across the country expected their allocations to be cut in half, and so we will certainly have to pivot to ensure that we remain in line with the guidelines afforded to us by the federal government.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'd like to pass back to the deputy minister.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, the increase in our budgeted items actually goes from $43,859,000 to $44,583,000. The difference in the actuals of what we spent in 2023-2024 was even significantly less than what we had originally budgeted in 2023-2024, and the reason for that is because of the delayed implementation of the new income assistance program. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So absolutely, Madam Chair, I don't think it would be a shock to anybody in this room that I am obsessed with the SNAP program. And the Member is 100 percent right, I want to see this program in not just every region. I would love us to be overambitious and see it in every single community because I think at the end of the day, we would -- it would serve the entire territory in such a positive way.

So this program, really, over the course of the last four years has exploded in numbers, and that is in gratitude to the staff at ECE that have really hit the...

It's literally sitting on my desk upstairs, Madam Chair. I don't want to say a number and get it wrong on the floor, but I would be happy to ensure that I have those numbers with me when I am in front of committee with Aurora College next week. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I agree with the Member and had the privilege and honour of working with the Member on that legislation from the other side of the House. And this -- the work there really is to determine what pieces of legislation are prioritized and go first and as identified within the legislative priorities of this Assembly, this piece of legislation has been identified as needing to be updated and be reflective of where we're at in the territory, be reflective of what the Member did bring up, Article 12 from UNDRIP, and making sure that our legislation is in...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, no, we are certainly in income security, and then next up is labour development standards. I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. And I appreciate the Member's words. Certainly, any dollars for whether it's housing or training or both of them together or education or any part of that that comes to the territory is a win for the whole territory. And so if the federal government is creating deals and partnerships with Indigenous governments across the territory, that is certainly something that I absolutely support. I think that any dollars into the territory is a good news story for all of us. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, if the Member would like a breakdown of Indigenous versus non-Indigenous students and also the regions where -- the geographical regions across the territory where students come from, we can certainly pull the data that we have and would be happy to supply it to committee.