R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This government is following the advice of the Chief Public Health Officer, and the advice of the Chief Public Health Officer is not to shut down the schools. I don't even have the authority to shut down the schools. I can't tell the DEAs or the DECs to shut down the schools. Legislatively, it's just not in my toolbox. The DEAs and DECs do have the authority, though, to close schools temporarily for public safety issues, so if they believe that there is a public safety issue, then they have that ability, but it's not being recommended at this time. Thank you, Mr...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Sahtu, that Bill 3, An Act to Amend the Public Highways Act, be read for the second time. The bill amends the Public Highways Act to address government liability for loss or damage resulting from a failure to maintain primary highways in the Northwest Territories. The bill requires the Minister to maintain primary highways and provides that the Government of the Northwest Territories is liable, with exceptions, for loss or damage resulting from a failure to do so. The bill makes clear that the Minister has no duty to maintain roads...

I can get back to the Member with more specifics on that. I actually have the second half of my languages briefing scheduled for next week. I know that we are partway through that plan. It was only a few years ago that the department really put together this division and created this NWT Indigenous languages framework and action plan because we recognized the need for concrete action. There are languages that, within 10 years, could just be not spoken anymore unless we take some serious action.

There are a number of things that have been done. We have scholarships for students who wish to learn...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Minister responsible for the Official Languages Act, I can say that our department, ECE, I don't believe we are legislatively required to provide language interpretation training, but we have taken it upon ourselves to work towards that goal. Right now, there is a lack of Indigenous language speakers in the territory, as the Member knows. It makes it difficult to train interpreters when there are not enough people who speak the language to pick from. There are a number of things happening right now. A lot of those are helping us work towards training enough...

Right now, our curriculum, many parts of our curriculum are, I wouldn't say outdated, but it's time for them to be renewed, and so that type of work is happening right now. We're looking across at different provinces to see what they're doing, because Alberta has gone through a change, Saskatchewan has changed, BC, and so we're looking at all of this. I think the Member has a great point that, if we can incorporate northern art and those types of things into our curriculum, that would be great. So I will definitely look into this.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, ECE recently hired a new arts education, trades and career, and technology studies coordinator to fill a position that had been previously filled, so it's not a new position.

The superintendents work with the DEAs and the DECs, and we have been working closely with them to get that information out so that they can disseminate it. The deputy ministers are meeting on a daily basis regarding this, and they are taking advice from the Chief Public Health Officer, and they are disseminating that advice through the proper channels. I can't commit health staff to do one-on-one work with all the DEAs because I'm not sure what the health staff are up to, but I can talk to my Cabinet colleague. Getting information to the people who need that information is a priority.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is a meeting today, I believe at 1:30. The deputy minister and the departmental staff are going to be having a meeting with all of the superintendents, including those from the Beaufort-Delta. There has been contact over the past few days, as well. Those conversations are happening. I'm making sure they're happening.

It doesn't matter if I support them or not. They have the right to do that. I just want to let everyone know that this is a very serious concern. I take this very seriously, as do all the Cabinet Ministers. This has been our lives for the last little while, now. This is what we're focused on, is making preparations for this. There are a lot of concerns about blanket closures of schools. It can't be overstated, the types of socioeconomic impacts that closing a school can have on a community. There are childcare concerns. It would mean people would have to stay home from work. Some of those...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to reiterate some of the comments that were made by my Cabinet colleagues here, and I will be voting against this motion. Part of my responsibilities as the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment is the Income Assistance program. There has been a lot of discussion in this House recently about the Income Assistance program, and particularly about how we can better help those who are Income Assistance clients, how we can help them become self-sufficient. To that end, I've been looking at how we can reform those programs to help make people more self...