Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Just going back to my Member's statement on self-employment and trades, I have questions for the Minister of ECE. My question is: what programs are available in the NWT for those interested in the trades vocation? Marsi cho.
Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If someone wants to get into trades, there are a lot of ways to do it, of course. We offer trades courses at Aurora College here. There is more emphasis being put on the trades at the high school level. Our career development, it's a different name. The officials from ECE go into the schools and talk to the students, and tell them about other career opportunities. They are having those conversations with students now, saying that trades is a career that you can get into. That type of work needs to happen more and more. I know, for a long time, trades was sort of a secondary consideration, but the fact is it's good work.
Over the past couple number of years, the labour numbers in the NWT have gone down, but the number of self-employed people has actually gone up, has increased by 500, and trade is a perfect way to become self-employed. There's always work if you are a tradesperson. There are a number of programs. I won't go through them all right now. I'll let the Member ask some more questions because I might just answer them all if I keep going on. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Well, I'm glad that his department is going into schools and promoting trades. That is something we need to start earlier with the kids. My next question is: what is the department doing to promote trades and self-employment initiatives in the NWT as a whole?
One of the things that ECE is committing to doing is creating a blue seal certification program for journeymen or journeypersons. This is something that exists in other jurisdictions, and what it is is the technical aspect of being a journeyperson plus a business component. This is something that requires that the people who get the certification have those business skills. It's an additional thing that people can strive for. There is also the ECE self-employment program, in which the department will work with clients to help support their business idea. There is funding for courses to attend training, for books, for tools, for travel. ECE will help facilitate meetings with BDIC as the Member mentioned earlier, and they can help come up with a business plan. If someone is committed to starting their own business, whether it be trades or anything else, there are programs that are available. I can provide more detailed information to the Member, as well.
Just to give a little context on this one here, I used to work for Diavik and for the community's department, and we used to go to places like Wekweeti and Whati and stuff. I remember going to school. We were trying to explain trades to very young grades, and we couldn't get through to them. Finally, I said, "You know, I think I have a good example." I told a grade 6 term, "You know how, in Star Wars, there's Jedi's? You don't just become a Jedi overnight. You have to become a Padawan first. You have to train under somebody, and then you become one. That's how trades works."
I guess, on that note, I want to know what the Minister is doing to promote trades in our schools, in grade school?
. As I mentioned earlier, we have the career and education advisors. What they do is they have those conversations with students, starting at grade 7, so it's not quite as early as the Member is speaking about, but they start letting kids know about their options early on so that those students can then make sure they're taking the right courses to get where they need to be. We also have the SNAP program, which is something that's available all over the territory, although it does take some partnerships; it's not something you can just roll out. There are a number of things like that, and, like I said, we just need to do a better job, and I'm working on this myself, in promoting the trades. Trades are great occupations. I don't really like to have a boss, necessarily, and, if you have a trade, you can be your own boss. Always, that work is always needed. You can work in a big company. You can work on your own. You can work in a small community. You can work anywhere. Trades are great opportunities, and we really need to get that word out there and make sure that we are guiding the students who want to go down that path down that path.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
