Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’ll just be really quick. I want to thank the Members who are voting in favour of it. I want to thank those just a little bit less who will be abstaining, and certainly those – darn it – I wish we could have persuaded those who are voting against it. But in all seriousness, this is a very important subject and I want to say that I do recognize and respect those that feel strongly that they have to vote against it. Of course, in this business you can’t hold those as grudges. You have to realize that’s how they feel and you have to respect it. I recognize and respect those who aren’t voting in favour.
The ASA Committee recognizes that social passing is an issue in our education system and I think it’s important. The frustrating part, of course, is everyone here is… I shouldn’t say everyone. It’s not meant to be a broad stroke. The examples that we heard here about the 15-year-old still being in Grade 5, that’s an absolute extreme example. That’s why we would have an Inclusive Schooling Policy, to find some way to get them going along. We’re talking about social passing and that’s really where we’re at.
At this time I’ll ask for a recorded vote and, of course, I will plead to our Cabinet friends that now is your chance for a free vote without the Premier here. The Premier’s not here tonight, nor the stalwart…is anyone else. No one will tell, of course. That’s all I have to say on this particular subject.
We’re going to be going to a recorded vote. I would ask you to please stand. All those in favour.
Mr. Hawkins, Mr. Menicoche, Mr. Moses, Mr. Yakeleya, Mr. Blake.
I’ll ask those opposed to stand.
Mr. Bouchard, Mrs. Groenewegen.
I’ll ask those to stand who are abstaining.
Mr. Bromley, Mr. Beaulieu, Mr. Abernethy, Mr. Lafferty, Mr. Ramsay, Mr. McLeod, Ms. Bisaro, Mr. Nadli.
Results of the recorded vote: five Members in favour; two Members opposed; eight Members abstaining. Motion is carried.
---Carried
Thank you, Members. We’d ask that you return back to page 10-17 of your budget books. Speaking to this page I have Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’d like to ask the Department of Education here to talk about special projects that are happening in the communities. We’re looking at the curriculum and one of the things that Mr. Beaulieu and I, when we went to the Sahtu, talked about was the importance of addiction and wellness and health. In the schools, our high school students don’t seem to have a curriculum – and I stand to be corrected – on drugs, alcohol, pregnancy, violence, health. Just on health itself in general. I want to ask the Minister if there are any plans within his department to start introducing a health curriculum for Grade 10, 11, and 12 students. That seems to be lacking a health curriculum. I hope the Minister can enlighten me if there’s something like that already in place, or if something like that is going to take place to introduce a solid health curriculum for our students.
A lot of our students are now experimenting with cigarettes, they’re experimenting with drugs, they’re experimenting with getting into relationships. A lot of these students are in Grade 10, 11 and 12 and we don’t have a very good, strong health curriculum for these students to learn about some of these important things that they are dealing with and need to know some place where they can get this proper teaching. I want to ask the Minister on this issue here.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Madam Chair. Those areas that the Member specified are important to be part of our school system. I’ll try and gather some more information on that specific topic which we don’t have detail but can provide to the Members what is currently being delivered pertaining to those areas. I know there are certain curricula that are out there. Social studies that reflect on the northern perspective. Also inclusion of residential school era curriculum that is going to be delivered this fall. Those are some of the areas that we’ve captured already but I will be getting back to the Members on the actual specifics of the program that he’s referring to.
The Minister has made reference to a very important topic in the history of the people of the Northwest Territories and I want to applaud him and his staff for producing a residential school curriculum for the people, for the students, and I look forward to the Minister providing me with some information on the health curriculum that’s needed in our high schools. We could have that discussion at that time.
I want to continue on with the curriculum and I want to ask the Minister is there’s any thought about the department looking at a Dene Kede language curriculum that would be important for our people. I know one resident in Deline talked about a language curriculum for our people. More so the support that what they’re learning in school needs to be supported by the parents in the community so they can speak to each other and they know what’s being taught in school. The parents want to know the terminology, what language sounds they’re making in kindergarten and Grades 1, 2 and 3 so they could talk to the children and say we can support you through a concept of homework. Is the department looking at some type of a language curriculum pilot project that would support the parents in the community and support our language initiatives, and to strengthen the training of our students? Would the Minister briefly elaborate on my question? Thank you.
The quickest answer is yes. The K to 3 Dene language curriculum, there is a program that has been worked on for the teacher recommendation guide as a guide for them. The K to 3 small territorial pilot is on the way since February of 2012, after a pilot in-service with the teachers and Dene language specialists. It is in the works. We will continue to update the Members on this progress. Mahsi.
I like the way the Minister has said it. I appreciate it. I hope the regions have an opportunity to be part of that by requesting or the Minister looking at it and say we could do it here or here and ask the various boards if they feel strong enough, or they can look at where the language could be developed and we could go out there and ask about that program. I thank the Minister for that. It’s a good start. I’m happy to hear that.
Just to conclude the curriculum, I would like to ask the Minister if he would strongly work with his colleagues and the Department of Health and Social Services and his staff to look at a real strong… I really would like to see a health curriculum for high school students. I know we have it in the primary school, because my little one is in primary school. We need some strong ones in our high school with the high school students. They would benefit from what we can do with the health curriculum being with the high school students. I would like to see some concrete evidence where the Minister is working towards a health curriculum with high school students. I dare say that if something like this could be entertained by the upcoming business plans that we have in the fall time.
Madam Chair, I agree with the Member that this needs to be a collaborative approach with the Department of Health and Social Services. We have been working together on various projects already and we will continue to have this dialogue. It is an important piece of work. We will continue to discuss that further as we move along. Mahsi.
I’m going to close off with the schooling, because it is important. That is where we send our children for the good portion of our day to get real education. Part of that is offering in the different schools in my region, maybe other communities also, an opportunity to practice and learn about their own music. For us, to be Dene music, it would be fiddling. Different cultures have a different field of music. That music is very powerful and music is very powerful in my culture. Music is also very good for math. Math is really good with music. Is there a strong curriculum in music that we can teach our children, have elders come in, having the drummers, the singers, the women that sing songs that we could teach about our music through a project that we can record the music right across in different schools, more so with our songs in Tulita, Deline, Fort Good Hope, Colville? They have some very strong, powerful composers, singers way back that sometimes we don’t quite understand our songs. Our songs are always almost equivalent to Beethoven and Mozart. That is how our songs come. We need to honour that. I will ask the Minister if he would look at some type of music curriculum in our schools. Mahsi.
Madam Chair, this is an area that I do believe the school boards are somewhat flexible to offer those programming. I know for a fact that I can speak specifically for TCSA. I usually go to their school because they are in my constituency, teaching them in the school and they can feel the beat of the drum during lunch hour and hand games demonstrations, so they are doing what they can to promote more of that in the schools. The school board has their own ways of dealing with these different programming. This will be shared with all of the school boards so they are aware of what we are discussing here today. Mahsi.
Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Next I have Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I have a couple of questions in this section. I want to start off with I referenced in my opening remarks the extensive review that was done by the Standing Committee on Government Operations in the previous Assembly and the recommendations in the report that they produced were many. That was the review of the Official Languages Act. Their recommendations have yet to be acted on, really, by the department.
I noted in the Minister’s opening remarks he mentions that the Official Languages Act will be amended to eliminate the Official Languages Board, and that is one thing certainly that was recommended by the committee, but there were a number of other recommendations to legislation that were recommended in that report as well. I didn’t see any reference to them in the Minister’s remarks.
There was some action on changes to the legislation in the 16th Assembly, but it was minimal. I guess I would like to know from the Minister, he is going to bring back, I presume, some changes to the legislation, from what he said in his opening remarks. I would like to know whether or not it is just a small amendment to remove the Official Languages Board or I think that might… I don’t know if that is official languages or Aboriginal languages, but will it only be minor amendments to the act or will he be bringing forward most of the amendments that were recommended by committee? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Mr. Lafferty.
Madam Chair, the extensive review that has been undertaken in the 16th Assembly, there were quite a few recommendations brought forward. When we are meeting with the standing committee next week, we will be going through… Actually, we will provide that detailed information beforehand. It does capture what my department is going to be following through with and each of the recommendations brought forward, what the plan is for ECE to follow up. Those are the areas that we are seriously taking into consideration.
The two language boards established under the Official Languages Act, one of the recommendations is to amalgamate that. So we are pursuing that and also the name change to South Slavey. Those are just some of the changes that we are pursuing further and we will provide more detailed information. I believe it might be before standing committee this week. Mahsi.
Madam Chair, thanks to the Minister for the information. I look forward to hearing what the department has to say when we have our briefing.
My other question here has to do with data collection. It is an area where I think the department has been roundly criticized quite often for, for not being accountable or not forcing education authorities to be accountable. I think it is an area in which the department is lacking. I say that not to say that the department is doing a bad job, but I don’t think the department has the personnel that is required to do the data collection that is needed for us to get a good sense of what is going on in the department.
I would like to know whether or not the Minister feels that the department is getting the data that it needs to evaluate the programs and services that it supplies, particularly in terms of student results. I know Alberta Achievement Tests are written. That data is easily captured because it is a universal test, almost. There are lots of other data that is required and the department can’t collect it if the education authorities don’t provide it. It’s maybe a sensitive question for the Minister, but I would like to know whether or not the department is getting the data that they feel they need in order to make informed decisions and in order to properly evaluate the programs and services that we’re asking them to provide. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Ms. Iatridis.
Yes, under the office of the Auditor General there were a number of recommendations regarding the need for the department to better monitor and track information and there are a number of projects that are currently underway. Our department is in the process of developing two accountability frameworks, one for early childhood and school services that will outline some key performance indicators that we want to monitor and track over time. We also are working with a consultant right now to develop the Adult Education and Training Accountability Framework that will also outline some key performance indicators that we want to measure over time. There are also a number of new systems that are being put in place to allow us to track the information. PowerSchool is the new system that’s going to replace ESIS, (sic) and it’s our hope that with the new system we are able to develop more detailed reports so that we can gather more data from the school boards to be able to report and monitor over time. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Iatridis. Ms. Bisaro.
Thanks for the information. I’m glad to hear that the new system is going to be able to provide more information.
One of the things that wasn’t mentioned, two things I guess, two questions I have here, one is it’s one thing to have the information, but it’s another thing to have the staff to do the analysis and to do the evaluation of the information. So I would ask again whether or not the department has the capacity, the human resource capacity to do that.
The other question I have has to do with the term “accountability framework.” I roughly understand what it is, but it’s one thing to have a framework and it’s another to… I guess I’m asking whether or not a framework is going to deliver the data that you need to do the evaluations or is the accountability framework simply a measuring tool. Thank you.
The department is working towards enhancing supports to be able to better have their human resources to be able to analyze the data. We recognize that it is a challenge for us and that we need to give it a higher priority. So we are looking internally to see where we can build on the resources that we currently have.
As far as the accountability framework, the framework will help us identify key performance indicators that we should be looking at that help us monitor and track and provide data for future planning. Currently the department collects a lot of data and in some cases some of the data may or may not be necessary. So having the accountability framework really helps us to identify what are the key indicators that we should be looking at, because we collect so much data, some of it is overwhelming and doesn’t necessarily provide us with the necessary information for planning.
Thank you for the information. I have no further questions.
Thank you. Next on the list I have Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Madam Chair. A particular issue I raised the other day about getting First Aid taught in our schools as part of our education program, since raising that issue I’ve been approached by a couple of parents and they think it’s a really great idea. Talking to one of the local superintendents – I haven’t had time to call three of them – but one of the superintendents thought it was an interesting idea and they said well, of course their staff learn it, but not seeing it as a bad idea they thought it would be an interesting issue to look into. Of course, that isn’t ringing support; I wouldn’t want to speak for them. But that said, they thought it was a really interesting subject to consider.
How does the Department of Education, Culture and Employment feel about that particular item? As I mentioned the other day, even bad first aid could probably save someone’s life. I mean, the potential exists there, because it’s a heck of a lot better than no first aid. I see it as an important element that we could add to our schooling system in a seamless manner.
If anything, Madam Chair, just a last point on this one is we had the unique jurisdiction that actually took these things quite seriously and it’s an important value that we could be teaching our folks. I think I’ve said all that needed to be said during my Member’s statement. I know the Member was listening very acutely to my passionate statement on how important it is. Let’s open it up to that point, and I’d like to hear what the Minister thinks about this potential. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Minister Lafferty.
Mahsi, Madam Chair. This particular program, I need to find out more clearly from the schools if they deliver through CTS programming, because it does deal with a safety aspect of it. When you deal with trades, they take WHMIS, they take First Aid and CPR. If it’s not there already, I’m sure they’ll be more than willing to accept that particular programming as part of an accredited program. That’s an area that will be of interest to us, because we need to prepare our students, especially when they’re going into trades programming. Even in the industrial or even the workplace, they definitely need the First Aid and CPR, and to some degree WHMIS as well as Hazardous Goods. We are exploring this area and, again, there will be some partnerships involved probably to deliver this program as well. Mahsi.
I was also really referring to not just folks in some type of technical training program, but I was talking about the ages of high school. You know, your ages between Grades 9, 10, 11, 12. This could probably fit into some type of programming. Obviously, a fair bit of investigation would need to be done, but I’m thinking along the programming of career and life management that we offer our kids that they are all expected to take. This would be a good social value as well as a social skill to add to their toolbox of learning and sort of a broader community benefit.
That said, as I mentioned, I’ve already had a couple of parents think it was kind of an interesting and unique idea that could the NWT be a leader and be a model for other jurisdictions to emulate, and this could be something very simple, again, to articulate the values we have here in the North and the way we view things.
Through the CALM program, Career and Life Management, it has been delivered in schools and this could be part of that programming. Again, the Member indicated that there needs to be more discussion in this area. We are exploring this area and where it can best fit in a school system. As we move further along on this particular subject, we will keep the Members up to speed if we’re going to make some changes to our school program. Mahsi.
I’m not sure I heard it clear on the record, but am I hearing the Minister that he would be willing to take this back to his department and investigate the feasibility of this becoming an element of our programming and give it some evaluation and consideration. If that’s the case, that’s all. Thank you.
This is an area that is very preliminary right now and we need to talk to certain instructors and individuals in the school system and also the school board chairs and the school boards. We have to work with them, as well, because they deliver those programs in the communities with the instructors. We are at the exploration stage at this point.
Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Mr. Bouchard.
Yes, Madam Chair. I’d like to make a motion to report progress.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The motion is in order.
---Carried
