Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are directed at the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I believe the vision of the 17th Assembly is we have healthy, educated people free from poverty. At the same time, in reference to my statement, I made the point that sometimes parents are confronted with the reality of paying their rent for this month or feeding their kids. Children don’t understand or care about fiscal restraint, yet they live with its very real effects.
What concrete things is this government doing to support families with young children in the Deh Cho communities? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Part of the initiative that we are undertaking through the Early Childhood Development Framework is aimed at dealing with that matter and providing the best services we possibly can for children of the Northwest Territories, covering all communities and regions as well.
Some areas we have been providing to those communities through Education, Culture and Employment through the Early Childhood Development Framework, and the action plan with 22 recommendations is the part of the plan we are willing to move forward on. Once the budget is approved, then we will be rolling out the program to the communities. Mahsi.
It seems that once the budget is approved, that’s when things will move.
The other point is people are very familiar with the federal initiative. The federal initiative, not a GNWT initiative, that’s been very successful is the Aboriginal Head Start Program and some communities have taken advantage of that.
In my statement I talked about child poverty, noting the high rate of poverty in small communities. The ECD Action Plan will involve data that measures children’s readiness for school. It’s an internationally recognized instrument called the EDI.
How are kids in small communities performing on the EDI compared to kids in Yellowknife or the regional centres? Mahsi.
It’s important to note that the EDI has been performed throughout the Northwest Territories so it can capture how our children are doing in the small, isolated communities versus the regional centres and larger centres as well.
The Member is raising some areas of concern about how some small communities are in a different calibre compared to regional centres. That is quite true. We need to focus on those areas. Due to that fact, we are developing action plans. We have developed action plans around the Early Childhood Development Framework and the whole Education Renewal Initiative. We will be developing an action plan towards that, too, as we move forward this summer.
We want to capture those individuals that may be falling behind in small communities, providing the best available resources, the best available services we possibly can to reach out to those individuals in the small communities. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate the Minister’s response. Recognizing that there is a real disparity between how kids are doing in the small communities compared to the larger centres and, actually, Yellowknife, I’m worried that this government will feel fiscal restraints and fail to adequately fund the Education Renewal Initiative.
Can the Minister commit to a substantial increase in funding for this initiative and especially in attacking dismal education outcomes reported in small communities? Mahsi.
The Member is quite correct; with our GNWT fiscal constraint, we are challenged with that throughout the whole Northwest Territories. At the same time, we must move forward on the initiatives before us. We certainly will be providing or developing an action plan towards Education Renewal Initiative and Innovation. That will be available by this summer. Based on that, it will highlight the cost factor for those recommendations being brought to our attention as part of the recommendation plan. Once that’s available, then we will go through a business planning process, then we will highlight the cost factor from there, so it will be captured as part of the business planning process. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think I’ve highlighted some realities and facts that our government is challenged with, but more so the responsibility of Cabinet and the Minister. At this point, there seems to be a push for an action plan to be developed and strategies, initiatives, to address the poverty issue.
What steps will the Minister take to ensure that there’s an immediate response towards addressing these very core issues of poverty in the small communities? Mahsi.
As it’s been highlighted with the budget address in this House, it is capturing a lot of social issues in the small communities. I believe we have gone a long way to reach that point where once we go through this action plan through the Education Renewal Initiative, then it will capture those small, isolated, vulnerable communities. We initiated that earlier.
Part of the pillars we have is focus on small communities, small community schools. Those are key factors and part of discussions we have been having with engagement with the public and we will continue to do that. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
