Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to go back to questions for the Minister of Education regarding early education opportunities. I am concerned that the Minister is missing my point. He does talk about the Aboriginal student achievement program that is focused in on helping Aboriginal youth. I want to make sure that it is crystal clear, I absolutely support that program and I think that is a great beginning for lifelong learning. Mr. Speaker, my concern falls on sort of the broader policy of how we help students at the age of four in the early education program, the junior kindergarten. Mr. Speaker, what does the Minister of ECE suggest for an option for that second group or half of the population that is unfunded? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I am glad the Member is supporting this very important Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative. This is a very important piece of work that is before us as a territorial government and also my Department of Education, Culture and Employment. What I am referencing is the information that is being gathered from across the Northwest Territories will guide us as we move forward in the next step. What the Member is referring to is part of the process, the discussion that is ongoing. We have heard on junior kindergarten at that level, as well, in the forums. Mr. Speaker, this is a guiding principle that will lead us to a successful initiative. I am looking forward to that. This particular discussion that we are having here today will be part of that discussion as well. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, I don’t have to educate the Minister on the facts that kindergarten wasn’t once funded and then it was only funded half time, and as we all know now, it is funded full time, Mr. Speaker, thanks to past Education Ministers.
Mr. Speaker, is it the intent of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to work towards supporting junior kindergarten? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I am not sure how I can get around this. I did commit in the House that this is part of the process of the new initiatives that are coming up. I do support the students in the education system 100 percent. Definitely, again, I have to reiterate that Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative strategy will guide us through that venue. Mr. Speaker, we will do what we can because this is the voice of the Northwest Territories. It would have handprints of the people of the Northwest Territories. It is not coming down from the top down as the face-to-face meeting and getting their direction, feedback and suggestions. That is the way we should be working. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, I am glad to hear the Minister say 100 percent he supports those students, so I guess it would be a very clear answer if I asked a question. Does that mean the department is going to work towards funding these students? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, again, we support our students across the Northwest Territories through the education boards that we fund on an annual basis. It has been very successful to date. Again, it is at their discretion to allocate funding, if they wish to, on pre-kindergarten, whether it be during kindergarten in various areas that they want to pursue. They have been successful to date. I must commend them on that. They continue to pursue those initiatives. We support them, as well, because we provide funding. We have to work with that. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister is correct that school boards can divert funding to specific education programs that they feel that obviously fall under the Education Act or a good stewardship of the money, et cetera, under their board guidance, but, Mr. Speaker, would the Minister be prepared to work towards developing a pilot program that can help develop or foster these junior kindergarten programs to ensure that early education is enshrined in our childhood development very early on and demonstrates the commitment of the government to ensuring kids have a great start in education? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, again, that process is before us. I will be informing Members of the update on that. Mahsi.
