Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my Member’s statement today, my questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I was pleased to hear the Minister’s statement this week saying that his department is going to meet the training needs for high demand trades in the Northwest Territories.
I’d like to ask the Minister today if he could provide some concrete examples of how the department is going to do this. For example, are government departments of the GNWT that require tradespersons going to increase the number of positions so that they can serve apprentices there? I’d like some concrete examples.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Minister of Education, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Yes, first and foremost, obviously, is to congratulate all those apprentices throughout the Northwest Territories. We are very proud of them, and obviously, we would like to see more of those individuals successfully completing apprenticeship certification and journeyman ticket holders. Part of specifically the training division, apprenticeship, is improving employment success through adult and post-secondary education and skills training. That area is being re-evaluated so we can capture four key areas of categories. That is to better understand the current and future labour markets needs and demands. Even throughout the Northwest Territories, we’ve heard over and over, even from the Sahtu region, the question in the House of the needs assessment. Those are some of the areas that we’ll continue to push forward and ensure that support and incentives are relevant, effective, and also aligned with evolving labour market needs and demands, and ensuring that the NWT residents have access to adult and post-secondary education and skills training that is required even through the Pathways Program and strengthening economic diversification. Those are key objectives that my department is going forward with and engaging the major stakeholders. Mahsi.
Thank you. I was hoping the Minister was going to tell us that he was going to increase the funding for private sector employers to hire apprentices or that the government departments were going to make a whole lot more positions available for apprentices within their department, but that’s not what I heard. I can only hope.
Can the Minister please explain or please tell us if there is going to be any emphasis on increasing and encouraging apprenticeship training in the Northwest Territories and if there will be any emphasis on attracting women to apprenticeship positions? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, that’s a very valid question the Member is asking, and it is a very important question as well. If you look throughout the Northwest Territories – I can only speak to my region, as well – we have a high number of females in high school and also post-secondary, upwards of 90 percent. Obviously, those individuals will enter either the skilled trades area or even the professional development area.
Yes, that is one of the prime focuses because we know the stats that are out there, that we have a majority of females in K to 12 and even in post-secondary, so we need to identify those individuals and push them forward in the system. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, it would be interesting to actually get a statistic on how many apprenticeship positions in the Northwest Territories are currently filled by women.
With the high rate of unemployment in small communities, what is the Minister’s department doing to ensure that there are students from these places that get a real footing in the skilled, high-demand trades? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, one of the areas, obviously, is the Small Community Employment Program that has been established by this Assembly. It has been very successful to date. They’re providing funding to employers so they can hire those individuals who are interested in various skill set positions. Not only that but there is other programming, whether it be apprenticeship training programming.
I just signed off with the federal government, as well, on Canada’s Job Fund. The funding is available to the employers through my department to identify those individuals. Once they’re trained, they should have job availability. That is the overall mandate of the Government of Canada and that also reflects on the GNWT as a whole.
This is an area that we are closely monitoring and working very closely with the federal government as well. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have an idea for the Minister and I’ll throw it out there. We talked about regional high schools; we talked about students in small communities that would like to get involved in the trades. When we did the renovation to the Diamond Jenness Secondary School, they built a beautiful big trade shop.
Is the use of that trade shop to bring in students from small communities into a regional centre, has that thought ever been contemplated by this department? Those who are interested in trades, come finish your high school in Hay River. Put that shop to use, get them into the trade. Has that been thought of? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, there have been several discussions pertaining to trades access in Hay River, but these were preliminary discussions that we had when we were renovating the school. I have to follow up on where the discussions have taken place. Obviously, if there’s a high demand from DECs or DEAs, it’s an area that we need to look at as well. There was a request from the Sahtu region, as well, for a trades access program and a technical training centre.
Those are just some of the areas that the communities have showed interest, and we are following through with them. I’ll get back to the Member for Hay River South on the status of the discussions that we’ve had. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Bromley.
