Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the needs of daycare and preschool in Fort Resolution. I have questions for the Minister of Education.
Mr. Speaker, on an interim basis, can the Minister direct the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to provide some emergency funding for immediate repairs that are needed to the daycare and the preschool in Fort Resolution? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. There is funding allocated to the communities that have early childhood programs or daycares. There is funding such as funding for equipment and material purchases that the Member may have alluded to in that area, and also funding for other areas such as mortgage expense or rental expense on the premises that are not owned by the GNWT, but I need to work with the Member on the specifics on that particular situation in his community. We also need to work with the local DEA, as well, as we move forward on this particular matter. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, if additional space in the current daycare preschool can’t be obtained, whether it is an addition or some internal renovations, will the Minister work with the local district authority to find some temporary space for the community so that these kids can go to preschool prior to going to kindergarten in September? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, those are areas that we need to identify within a community. There are other reviews that have been undertaken as well. They could capture that. It may have captured it in the past or not, but child daycare standards regulations does come early this year or next year. Also, the Member is referring to a temporary placement. Those are the areas that my department, ECE, needs to work with the DEA and also the Member identifying those matters at hand. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, will the Minister consider directing his department to try to provide some O and M funding to the community, whether it be through the DEA or through the band, to provide funding for the preschool to hire a half-time student to accommodate the additional that have to go through preschool prior to kindergarten? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I will commit to working with the Member and also the DEA. At the same time, there is the Early Childhood Program for start-up and also contribution funding that is available to those individual organizations. We need to deal with the matter, the detailed information that the Member is referring to. If I can get that information, I am willing to work with that and also with the DEA through my department. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am not sure if I said a half-time student but I think I meant a half-time teacher.
Mr. Speaker, earlier he talked about buildings that don’t belong to the GNWT. Would the Minister look at Education, Culture and Employment’s infrastructure plan to add funding to build a new building to house daycare and preschool in Fort Resolution? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, through this early childhood programming, we provide funding for programming. Not only that, but a portion of mortgage and also rental expenses for providers that operate on the premises and also Early Childhood Program that consists of start-up and operation costs. Those are the funds that we provide currently through the ECE department. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
