Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier I spoke about the KAIROS Blanket exercise and the importance of governance like ours at the Legislative Assembly and how important it is to understand the effects of residential schools, and my questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister describe the cultural awareness training that the new NWT teachers participated in, in 2017? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. About three years ago, the department started developing this conference called New to the North, and any teachers who are just beginning their career in teaching or come up from the south or outside the Northwest Territories, they go through a series of cultural awareness training and make sure that all our teachers that come from the south understand the legacy as well as the history of residential schools and the impact that it had on our communities or residents so our teachers that are going into these small communities are aware and well prepared for the situations that they will get in in terms of teaching in our schools. Also with that said, it is not only for our teachers but within our Department of Education, Culture and Employment, it is mandatory for all our staff to take cultural awareness training, and that includes one of the blanket exercises that is very well known throughout the Northwest Territories.
That is good to see, that the Minister is quite involved, especially in the education system. Mr. Speaker, my second question for the Minister is: what role does a Minister see in teacher training and classroom curriculum for something like the KAIROS blanket exercise?
In our Northern Studies 10 course, which is mandatory for all of our students across the Northwest Territories, one part of the Northern Studies 10 program is having the students participate in the blanket exercise. Just like our teachers, we want to make sure our next generation of youth understand the history and legacy of residential schools in the Northwest Territories, and as I mentioned earlier, the impact that it had on our residents or families in our communities, and to make sure that our students are well aware of that as well.
I appreciate the response. Mr. Speaker, we travel around Canada and we work with other Indigenous governments in other provinces and territories, and sometimes the lack of knowledge for Northerners in residential schools, whether it be in provinces in southern Canada or in the North, are sometimes not recognized with Indigenous groups that have gone through this, and especially families. Mr. Speaker, my final question is: would the Minister consider engaging facilitators to lead this exercise for senior staff in his department and also the Government of the Northwest Territories to better educate bureaucrats, MLAs, when dealing with Indigenous people and Indigenous governments?
Yes, we do engage with other departments in terms of cultural awareness training, as well as the blanket exercise. Myself, I participated in the blanket exercise when I first got elected and was given the portfolio of Education, Culture and Employment. When I did it, we had other jurisdictions: Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Yukon. Nunavut participated in this as well, and we do encourage other departments and other leadership in the Northwest Territories who want to participate in this type of cultural awareness training. We would be more than happy to facilitate it as well, as we do have the train the trainers programs as well, and actually even with the City of Yellowknife, working with them to get some cultural awareness training for their staff and employees as well.
Masi. Oral questions, Member for Yellowknife Centre.
