Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. On Wednesday, I was very excited to hear the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment make reference to the take a child to work day, and the Minister said that the department is currently working on revamping the program. I'm wondering if the Minister can please speak to how they are revamping the program and if those changes will be available for November of this year. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The take a child to work program is a great program. It has been offered for many years. It's very successful. Unfortunately, in this last year, due to COVID, it went online, and so it was not at all the same experience. It will be back in full force in the fall, and I can look into any potential changes and get back to the Member. Thank you.
I welcome the opportunity to discuss take our kids to work day opportunities with the Minister. I know that there are a lot of businesses that would love to get involved and play a greater role in the day. My next question for the Minister is: Given that this government has a mandate priority of advancing universal childcare, I am wondering, since we need to start somewhere, if the Minister would be willing to provide universal childcare for full-time Aurora College students.
The Member is sort of jumping around with her questions, topic to topic, but that's okay. I get where she's coming from; it all ties together in the end. Right now, the government has a mandate to advance universal childcare, and that's what we are working on. We are going to be making some advances in determining just how we are going to do that, and we are going to be making those advances in the coming months.
As for right now, standing up here and saying universal childcare at Aurora College, I can't say that. I would love to be able to say it, but we're not there yet. The fact is, there are not enough spaces in places like Fort Smith for all of the students who would need childcare. As well, there are community learning centres throughout the territory and other campuses. We are not at that point yet. We need to build up the number of spaces. We need more trained childcare workers before we can go full on in universal childcare, but I whole-heartedly agree that that would be awesome.
I am happy to provide some context of connection between my questions for the Minister. I am looking for different ways that we can think outside of the box in order to get more people involved in trades. I do feel that providing Aurora College students with universal childcare would be a great way for us to encourage more people to go back to school, because I know that childcare for young children is a barrier for people. It was identified as a barrier for me to be sitting here, and that's why we have now a kitty that we can access for subsidies for childcare for people to become more involved in politics who have young kids. I am thankful for that, and I want other people to have the same opportunities.
Within the same breath, I understand that there are needs for infrastructure for childcare, but I also believe that there are other ways that that can be attained, and that could be attained, as well, through subsidies for existing childcare spaces. I am wondering if the Minister has an idea of what the cost would be associated with providing subsidies or universal childcare for Aurora College students.
No. I don't have those numbers now because part of those numbers would involve capital infrastructure costs, because it's hard to call something universal childcare if it's only a subsidy for the lucky few who can access it. We need more infrastructure. We need more trained individuals before we can say that we are providing universal childcare. I don't have those numbers.
That being said, the federal government has expressed an interest in some sort of a national universal childcare program. I will be meeting with the federal Minister next week to be discussing this to see exactly what that vision is. I have had a number of conversations with him already and expressed to him that this government and this Assembly are very interested in advancing this. It's in our mandate, and there is a lot of support for it. I really look forward to that and seeing how we can move forward for universal childcare, not just for the college, but for everyone.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I am very happy to hear about this conversation that will happen next week, and I will be sure to come and visit the Minister after that phone call. I would love to know what the cost would be. If the Minister or the department is prepared to look into that, I think it would be valuable information going forward, as we are in a budgeting exercise, and we will be doing the same for every year that we are privileged to be in this House.
Given the conversation that the Minister is having next week with the federal government, the Yukon government just announced yesterday that they are doing $11 a day childcare, and they have an average cost of childcare on a daily basis of $43. Here in the Northwest Territories, in Yellowknife, in my days of paying for childcare, it was about $55 a day. Speaking to other parents in places like the Beaufort-Delta, it can go upwards of $70 a day for childcare. $11 a day would be pretty amazing to have in the Northwest Territories. I am wondering: Can we be more like the Yukon? Thank you.
The Northwest Territories is unique. The Yukon is unique. I don't know if we are going to be more like the Yukon, but I think that we do share the goal of eventually providing some sort of universal childcare. The Yukon just announced this yesterday. We reached out to them immediately this morning. We don't really have any details on what exactly their plan is, how much it's going to cost, or anything like that, but we are going to have those conversations. Once we get that information, I want to give the Minister in the Yukon a call and see how things are rolling out, what led them to this, and any concerns like that. I also want to point out that the Yukon does not have a junior kindergarten program, so any of the four-year-olds who aren't in care have the opportunity here for at least some sort of childcare during the day, some sort of enriched environment.
This is an exciting time when it comes to this topic. I am open to hearing all of the ideas that come forward, and over the next few years, we might be able to make some big strides if we can get the support of the federal government and the Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
