Bill 8 is now ready for third reading. What do you want to do next? Mr. Dent.

Do Members agree?

Agreed.

---Agreed

It has been quite awhile, colleagues, since we've dealt with this department. If you recall, we had just heard a presentation on education 2000 and we were still on general comments with regard to the departmental budget. Any general comments? Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Can I ask the House if I could invite witnesses into the Chamber?

Mr. Nerysoo would like to have his departmental staff assist him. Any objections?

Agreed.

---Agreed

Everybody agrees. Mr. Nerysoo, maybe you could take the witness table then. Sergeant-at-Arms, maybe you could assist the witnesses or make them comfortable at the table. Thank you very much, Mr. Nerysoo. For the record, since it is awhile since we met here, would you like to identify your witnesses, please?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On my immediate left is the deputy minister, Mr. Hal Gerein. On my right is the director of finance and administration, Mr. Paul Devitt.

Just to help Members, we are in the book, on 18-11, program summary. We haven't gone into any detail yet. We are still on general comments on page 18-11. Mr. Arvaluk.

General Comments

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to ask the Minister of Education, at the beginning of last year divisional boards of education were given quarterly funding. The money was put right into the bank and they collected interest. After collecting interest, that interest was used for Inuktitut curriculum in the Baffin and Keewatin. But after that the government established monthly funding for the divisional boards, and they were not generating interest any longer and it was not replaced by any extra funding for the Inuktitut curriculum. Is there still no funding to teach the Inuktitut curriculum in the schools for the Keewatin and Baffin regions divisional board funding? Thank you.

Mr. Nerysoo.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The resources that are allocated to the educational programming are intended to respond to the program and the curriculum that is being offered, and, as such, that is the basis on which we provide the financial resources. If the decision is that you teach in an aboriginal language, then the resources could be used for that particular purpose as well, or in that context.

Thank you, Mr. Nerysoo. Mr. Arvaluk.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman. When they were developing the Inuktitut curriculum, I think it was every two months that there were some educational programs in Inuktitut. Is there timely development of Inuktitut curriculum in your department?

Mr. Nerysoo.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There is work being done on the Innuqatigiit Inuktitut curriculum that would apply across the board, to all boards. It would be the base curriculum in which the Inuktitut language would be taught or, in fact, it would be used as the teaching language. We have done that in the same context with the Dene Kede curriculum, where there is a basic core of instruction that would be offered. In that sense, the resources that are being provided to the divisional boards will be used, in fact, to teach that core program to the students.

If I might respond to the honourable Member regarding the method of payments, he is correct that several years ago we changed the method by which we provided financial resources and payments to our boards. We went from quarterly payments to monthly payments, and that was the result of a decision that was made by Cabinet upon instruction by the Auditor General that that was the method by which we should be making payments. In spite of that, the department still provides levels of financing based on need, in some cases. For instance, the greatest need for some of the resources is at the early stages of opening their schools, and as a result of that there is a bit more money being paid out at those particular junctures. So, even though we pay on a monthly basis, there is an effort on the part of the department to provide resources earlier to respond to immediate needs of our boards. That is the method by which we are responding to the financial requirements of the boards.

Thank you, Mr. Nerysoo. Mr. Arvaluk.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My last question to the Minister is, under the definitive objectives on page 18-7, under the objective, "To review the implications..." if you are going to improve the NWT curriculum, where are you going to be getting the funding? Under the main estimates in 1994-95, will you be able to tell us how they are going to be funded to improve the NWT curriculum?

Mr. Nerysoo.

Mr. Chairman, I am not going to suggest to the honourable Member that no additional resources may be required to improve or provide additional support services to our students. But, the fact is that what we have tried to do is assess from the initial math exams, some of the additional considerations or options that are available to us without additional resources; in other words, improving how we actually deliver the programs with the resources that we have at present. We are trying to address it in that context because we have two more exams to write -- one this year, which is the reading and writing, and the other is science. The honourable Member knows that we wrote the math exam a year ago. We did not do as well as we had anticipated and probably we knew that would show up in the results. We needed to do an assessment of where our students were. From that, we could then decide and determine the most appropriate methods of response, whether or not it is resources or, in fact, changing the way in which we delivered and taught math in the Northwest Territories.

While I appreciate the comments about additional financial resources, it may be that we can deliver the programs better without additional resources. That is not to suggest we may not, in the end, require it. There have been already a number of initiatives that we have responded to, such as, even for this particular year, I believe the employee termination issue, student transportation, we are dealing with the question of board payment schedules. We have dealt with additional resources for administration. We are dealing with the whole question of funding in a number of other areas. There is a final phase of this review which is to be completed in this particular fiscal year.

Mr. Arvaluk.