Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment on the recent jobs and demand report. As I noted in my statement, there's a large gap between what will be required for new jobs and where our residents stand in terms of educational attainment. So can the Minister tell us whether the department has reviewed this new report and what is the plan to close our educational gaps for jobs in demand? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member will be happy to know that nobody is more excited about this report or nobody uses this report more than the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. It's an essential document. We always talk about having data, making datainformed decisions. Well, this is that data. So I'll go through some of the ways we use it here.
First, it's open to the public. So the public can look at this and they can make a determination of what they might want to do. So as the Member stated, school teachers are in high demand, the most high demand job over the next 20 years. And so, you know, that can drive people's, you know, paths in life.
The report is also used by postsecondary institutes. So the Aurora College's strategic mandate agreement document references labour market information and the need to align its program offerings with the labour market information. So that's actually right in the their mandate. The report is also the foundation for our skills for success initiative. And the two priorities in there are increasing skill levels through relevant education and training, and bridging education and employment gaps through targeted support. So it allows the department to tailor its programs based on that report.
In addition, we have our career and education advisors, which I've spoken about many times. These are the people who go out and they work with students, grade 9 to 12, to help them figure out how to get to that next point in life after school or what further school to take. They use this information, Mr. Speaker. And we're renewing the JK to 12 curriculum. That information is also useful in those efforts.
So, Mr. Speaker, that information is being well utilized across the department. Thank you.
Merci, Monsieur le President. The Minister's got me convinced. It's good. This is a good and useful report, and I commend it commend it to and those that prepared it.
In terms of educational gaps, a number of them come to mind between what our residents have currently achieved and what will be in demand. So can the Minister tell us how this report will influence our postsecondary education planning and work currently underway to close gaps between educational outcomes in regional centres and smaller communities? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the Member's pointed out that, you know, there is a gap between what the jobs that are going to be in demand that are needed and the education and skills of a number of our residents. And the fact is that has been the case for a long time. We bring a lot of people up from the south because there are a lot of jobs here already that our residents can't fulfill. So, really, this is the land of opportunity. You talk to people who come up here from the south, and they'll tell you oh, I can't believe, you know, the opportunities. If you want to work, if you want to work hard, you can make something of yourself in the North. So and sorry, getting back to the Member's actual question here, as I've already mentioned how the college, it is intending to use these this report to ensure that its offerings are aligned with the jobs that are in demand. We have other institutes in the territory that are emerging, organizations offering programming. They can look at this when they're designing their programming. And we also have you know, maybe I'll leave it at that. I could just go on and on, but I'll let the Member ask his questions. Thank you.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for his enthusiasm and passion. It's clearly evident.
So one of the interesting takeaways of this jobs in demand report is that not many jobs seem to be found or will be created in the resource sector. So can the Minister tell us what, if any, adjustments are being made to teach training programs, such as Skills 4 Success, in light of the jobs in demand report? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the Skills 4 Success isn't a program. It's sort of an overarching framework. And within that framework, we can make adjustments based on things like these jobs in demand reports so we can tailor programs. I will say that a lot of the labour programs that ECE delivers, they're delivered using federal funds, and so there are parameters around those funds. But that being said, those are continuous we're continuously working with the federal government to adjust those parameters based on things like the jobs in demand report and what we hear from employers and from employees as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. Obviously, effectiveness of our Student Financial Assistance Program is a cornerstone of postsecondary success. We say our program's among the best in Canada. But actual graduation or completion numbers tell perhaps a slightly different story when it comes to results. So can the Minister tell us whether the effectiveness of the Student Financial Assistance Program has been reviewed recently and what, if any, further changes might be coming in light of this new jobs in demand report? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department actually recently completed a review. I guess we completed it back in June. It came to this House. We came looking for more money. We found more money internally, and we really enhanced the SFA program. The Member speaks to completion rates of postsecondary students. So one of the things that we've done is we've removed the barriers to completing programs in terms of the financials. So sometimes residents, they might not do very well in a semester. We're not going to punish them for that. We're going to continue to fund them so that they can move forward with their education. Some people need a bit more time. Mr. Speaker, I know all about that. I spent a few more years in postsecondary than maybe I should have but in the end it was all worth it. But, you know, the cost of going to university and going to college, getting postsecondary, it can be prohibitive for people, especially from small communities where, you know, there's maybe not jobs for students to save up to go to school, where the cost of living is very high. So we've also increased those amounts as well. So we have done our best with this last program review that we just finished to reduce those barriers to the greatest extent that we can. And the students going to school this semester are the first to avail themselves of these new rates and this new program. And so I hope that we see some great results. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
