Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I talked about the need to provide more funding for aboriginal programs in the Akaitcho. I have questions for the Minister responsible for aboriginal languages, the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Jackson Lafferty.
Does the Minister recognize that keeping the regional languages committee alive is a vital part of preserving the aboriginal languages?
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The regional languages committee and the committees play an important role in promoting and supporting the revitalization of our languages and enhancing our aboriginal languages. The committee plays an important role in the development and implementation of strategic plans to meet our unique needs, circumstances and priorities of the respective languages. They will be part of the ongoing discussion when it comes to implementation of the strategy.
I’d like to thank the Minister for that response. Mr. Speaker, does the Minister recognize that the sum of $17,000 funding allocated to each Akaitcho community is insufficient to do what the communities need to do with an aboriginal language program? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the GNWT spends on an annual basis approximately $12 million on the aboriginal languages support, including $1.9 million received from federal funding.
I do recognize that we always need more resources and support to support the grassroots people in the communities. Those are the areas that we are working towards in improving those resources at the community level. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, although the 10-year Akaitcho Aboriginal Languages Plan was fully implemented, they received less than 3.5 percent increase in funding over that 10-year span. This is not enough. Will the Minister commit to increasing the base funding for this program that’s run in Akaitcho? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I am fully committed to seeking a way to, of course, provide increased support to the communities, especially in the aboriginal language communities. We are also looking very closely at our existing resources where we can improve in certain programming and increase our investment as well. Those are the areas that we are closely monitoring and with this strategy in place we want to make some changes, as well, on how we distribute funding as well. I will be having further discussion with our federal counterparts, as well, the federal Minister. This has been addressed through the provincial/territorial Ministers meeting, the importance and the uniqueness of language and culture preservation in the Northwest Territories. I will continue to stress that with them to increase funding, possibly. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the past there was some funding for the communities that were used for training translators, interpreters and so on. Will the Minister commit to returning money to the communities for training for aboriginal languages by increasing the necessary core funding to support training in the communities as opposed to at more of a territorial level? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the Member for that particular question, because I am very much in support of community-based training programs that take place close to the Members’ homes and also to the Northerners’. The communities have the best understanding of their core needs and the priorities of their communities. I am committed to having my department work closely with the community and work closely with the Member to make this an effective and successful training program. That is part of that package. That is part of the strategy. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
