Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, early in my statement, I had talked about the small community employment initiatives, so my questions are to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
In most of our small communities there's a description that caught my attention; it's called "non-market communities" and it's pretty true. Most of our small communities are remote and isolated and, of course, there is no economic market in those small communities, but for the most part our small communities have 50 per cent employment rates, are very strong in our traditional economy, and as I said, they are remote and isolated. With that in mind, can the Minister describe the changes made to the Small Community Employment Support program following the 2017-2018 budget deliberations earlier this year? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I'd just like to commend the Member's community of Fort Providence and the youth for all the work that they are doing in the community that he mentioned in his opening comments.
On April 1, 2017, with the enhancements that were implemented with the Small Community Employment Support program, we did look at expanding eligibility, increasing benefit levels, and adding flexibility for communities and employers as well as organizations.
We are also looking at communities that were previously ineligible to allow them to apply for funding, and the communities of Behchoko, Hay River, Inuvik, Simpson, Smith, and Norman Wells are now on those lists. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Minister clearly had indicated there's a big slant towards regional centres, and he just described that, and what this program was intended for was for small communities. What further changes will be forthcoming and when can we expect their implementation?
Because we put the program in April 1st, 2017, we've been trying to get that funding out to more communities so that it's being utilized at a better rate. We are also looking at some of our other initiatives. With Skills 4 Success, working with some of the small communities on projects where we've seen successes, and I think the Member had mentioned some in his Member's statement. We are going to continue to review those and see how we can look at other policy changes that need to be developed, but we're going to have a look at this.
As the Member knows, and as Members of the Assembly know, the previous funding that was allocated for Small Community Employment Support programs wasn't fully utilized. We made a significant increase and we're trying to make sure those dollars are being spent so that we are creating employment in our smallest communities.
The Minister had indicated again that more communities could be able to access this program and that there are other smaller communities besides the City of Yellowknife and the larger regional centres. The question I'm interested in is, through the rest of this fiscal year, how will the Department of Education, Culture and Employment work with regions and communities, especially the small communities, to create new jobs, for example under the Small Community Employment Support programs?
We have career development officers, employment transition officers in all the regions, and we are trying to get them to get that information out to our NGOs, our companies, our businesses, our band offices to make sure that they understand that this program is actually in place and how we need partnerships, we need better dialogue and communications on how we can work together to get more employment in small communities.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it seems that we have a lot of interest from our small communities in terms of trying to enhance and at least reinvigorate the economies in small communities, especially for people who are out of work.
The Minister has clearly indicated partnership arrangements, work in progress with various organizations, including the small communities. Before the conclusion of the sitting of this House, would the Minister be able to provide a status report in terms of some substantive figures that show that this program has impact and that we're lessening the unemployment rates in small communities? Mahsi.
Since the beginning of this fiscal year, we're about halfway in now, and there is a significant increase to the Small Community Employment Support program. I have asked the department what significant investments and changes have been made and seen in terms of getting those contributions out to the small communities. I will get that information, and I can share it with the Members for their respective regions and communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
