Shauna Morgan

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm wondering if the department has tried to engage or partner with non-profits, such as Ecology North, to try to incorporate more northern resources into curriculums, you know, for all the different grades. I know Ecology North doesn't have the resources to create a whole curriculum, but they might be able to add or support and work with communities. Has the department tried to work creatively with non-profits in that way? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So my questions now are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. On a similar theme, so the students we spoke with yesterday noted that in the new BC curriculum, there's no specific course about climate change and its impacts on northern environments or northern people. It's left to individual teachers to find their own resources or partner with non-profits like Ecology North to incorporate that into the curriculum. So that means some NWT students might get to learn about it and some won't. Has the department of education looked at creating a made-in-the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Okay, so that is good news.

The next question is when will there be plain language materials produced about the climate change action plan and the milestones that are being reached so that ordinary residents of the territory, including young people, can read the plan and think, okay, this is speaking to me. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, when people have asked me what do I think about this year's operating budget, I've been describing it as a status quo budget. The government describes it as providing stability. It reminds of a lesson I've learned while paddling some of the beautiful rivers of the Northwest Territories, especially whitewater rivers. So when you're in turbulent waters and the boat feels like it's about to tip, your instinct is to grab the gunnels of the boat and to try to stabilize yourself. But the problem is that that doesn't work and sometimes it makes you even more unstable. You can't control...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So is there a particular reason to think that the number for this coming fiscal year would be around $3 million if -- at least in the last two years, it's consistently been significantly higher than that. On what basis are we estimating this year will stay at around $3 million? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you for that; that does make sense. Sometimes we are caught in between funding agreements here.

Okay. Under the population and public health services line -- well, it's more in the business plan. There's a note in the business plan that there will be some kind of a transformation of the public health system. Can the Minister explain what will be involved in transforming the public health system. I mean, not all the details but what's the idea behind it. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Okay, I can leave that for now. And just, finally, under the JK to 12 education system services, it's still hard to understand why there's such big fluctuations in that number. Like, 2023-2024 was over $10 million. Now we're looking at $4.8 million. It was $6.5 million last year. Is this due to changes in enrolments, like school funding formula, or can the Minister try to explain better why there's such big fluctuations in that line item. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

That's fine. I can follow up with the Minister later. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I -- yeah, to pick up where I left off yesterday, it feels like it's been years, following up on my question about programs for children and youth given the gap left by the closures of the residential treatment centres for children and youth. Can the Minister actually point to how much money in the budget is being allocated to support healing programs, treatment programs for children and youth. Is that a line that can be summarized?

Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. It does seem like this is a common theme of switching, where possible, in-person programs and opportunities to online and, you know, there's a bigger debate to be had there. I know that we do need to save on travel costs, which are getting increasingly expensive, but that some things, they're -- it's hard to replace the value of face-to-face interactions, especially when people are just meeting each other for the first time.

So thanks for that information, though. I wanted to ask about the northern distance learning under grants and contributions. It looks like this...