R.J. Simpson

Thank you. And I hear the Member's comments. I guess I have to say that we have focused on licensed childcare spaces even through our own programs and sometimes we do have to pick a lane and stick with it, and I think that our efforts are focused on licensed childcare centres, and supporting people who are providing childcare in a community without a licensed centre but as if they were a licensed centre. So, you know, there are babysitters in communities where you drop your kids off but they aren't licensed. And so when we learn about that, we do do our best to help them become licensed, and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There's varying levels of accountability. I know in jurisdictions in the United States, they elect their sheriffs and you could say that's the ultimate accountability. So we don't have a system like that but we are focusing on ensuring that the RCMP are taking steps to become more transparent and accountable to the public. And I mentioned my policing priorities. One of the other four is accountability and transparency. So I am focusing on this in response to, you know, concerns I've been hearing from people like the Member. Thank you.

Thank you. So under the Indigenous languages line, there's a number of different initiatives that are taking place. The Member's correct that there's work being done to develop an Indigenous languages diploma. We have a mentor apprentice program. Perhaps I can get the deputy minister to point out detail on some of the number of programs that we have. Thank you.

Thank you for that, and so there's yeah, there's a few areas here. So we have things like culture and heritage and we have Indigenous languages. Most of our Indigenous languages funding, or a significant portion of it, comes from the federal government and we have been negotiating with the federal government for a new agreement. We are not don't have that signed off yet but we expect that we will get an extension of what we currently have.

There has been a lot of work in the past number of years on Indigenous languages, and I think it is one of the bright spots in the GNWT.

And in terms of...

Thank you. No, I don't but I want to temper everyone's expectation that this is I don't think this will be a silver bullet, and I think in fact there might be very few units that might even be available for licensed childcare. So the work is underway but we don't have an anticipated completion date yet. Thank you.

Thank you. So there is Indigenous, you know, language programming on the radio, and it is much appreciated, and I know that we utilize it every time we need to get information out to Indigenous communities. But while this line item might be stagnant, the way that people can communicate has changed over the years. And so, you know, Facebook, YouTube, there are other ways that people now communicate and I'm not sure that, you know, a focus on radio is necessarily the way to go. That being said, I can ask the deputy minister if there's been any conversations in the department because I could be...

Thank you. Over the years, ECE has built up its capacity for communications, and I think it's really been put to the test over the past two years with a lot of significant and rapid changes due to the, you know, ever changing environment with COVID. And so I'm confident that we have the ability to communicate that, and I agree with the Member that we do need to communicate that. There's a lot of interest in education and every aspect of it, especially in changes as large as communications. And so we are you know, we will be working with the education bodies to ensure that the changes are...

Thank you. I'm not sure what the number today is. It does vary between 11 and 13, and so I suspect that it's still between 11 and 13. And it looks like it's 13 today. Thank you.

Thank you. I'd ask Mr. MacDonald to answer. Thank you.

Thank you. So as was noted, we have in previous years increased the staff who are dedicated to this item and yes, we do have a lot of initiatives and they are across the department, and so they're not all supported directly by corporate services. There are initiatives that are being undertaken by the labour division and other areas. So we do have a lot but it is we feel as though we can undertake them and do it successfully with the contingent that we have. Thank you.