This is page numbers 491 - 519 of the Hansard for the 13th Assembly, 7th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was education.

Topics

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 516

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In regards to the issue of grade extensions and the comment that they do cost money, yes they do. The grade extensions were financed by the reprofiling of the $8 million that was saved as a result of the shutdown of the various residences I mentioned earlier. Your reference to a community that wishes to possibly send their students outside the community to go to school is an option that in fact they do have, but they have to be prepared to, at this point, live within their existing budget, working with the DEC at the region in the Sahtu. As I indicated at one point, they have about $250,000, I believe roughly for their grade extension. They have to look at, once again, if they wish to send students south, can they do it with $250,000? If you pull x number of students and that money out of the community, there are implications down the line in terms of the effect that decision will have. They have to look at that. Very clearly at this juncture, as I indicated, there is no new money.

In regard to the letter that Mr. Ootes tabled today, I as well have seen the letter and was struck by the same concerns that the Member raised about the seeming inefficiency of not giving permanent positions and spending, I think it was $18,000 a year roughly to relocate teachers in and out which is a significant cost that is getting checked into by the department. That was one of the first things I asked that they do to find out what the situation is there.

Very clearly, like any organization the size that we are, the issue of efficiency should always be on everybody's mind. Are there efficiencies and economies to be realized? I think there are. Where they are, I think we have to look at some that have been identified like that issue raised in the letter.

The Ministers' forum, as I indicated previously, the plan is that we are going to be looking at the non-monetary recommendations that the department has already been doing that. We will be meeting this week with the forum members themselves to look at their further more specific suggestions in terms of implementation. As well, the week of the 25th of May, we are meeting for three days with the board chairs, DEC board chairs, to as well look at the Ministers' Forum, the strategic plan and accountability framework where we are going to try to touch on a number of critical issues. I still stand by the commitment that I will be able to bring back something in June to this House that will outline specifically how we intend to try and implement working with the communities and the DEAs, those non-monetary items raised in the Minister's forum. Thank you.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 517

The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Minister. General comments. Mr. Erasmus.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Roy Erasmus Yellowknife North

Mr. Chairman, earlier I had spoken about special needs and I did not quite have enough time to properly state what I had wanted to. I am glad that the Minister had indicated that they are going to take steps to rank students with special needs. Hopefully, that will also mean that we are going to be finding a way to address the situation where there may be a huge number of students with special needs centralized or in one location as opposed to areas where there are maybe a lot of students, but where there are not a lot of students that have special needs, particularly, not a lot of students with severe special needs.

The Ministers' Forum on Education had also indicated that teachers and support staff recognized the need for and strongly requested additional training to help them deal with the requirements of the special needs policy and, that most staff members have not received sufficient specialized training to be able to provide the best programs for such a wide range of student abilities and challenges. We were told that in service training has been sporadic and considerably limited by insufficient time and money. Mr. Chairman, this is a huge problem if, in the first place, we do not have a policy that recognizes that some students or that special needs students may be attracted to certain schools and that those schools would require additional funding because of the numbers of special needs students, and particularly special needs students with severe problems and a lot of one on one requirements.

If you add to that the fact that our staff are not properly trained and that there is not sufficient in-service training, this makes it even worse. I guess what I am wondering is the Minister had indicated that they were going to undertake to rank special needs students. Would it also include finding a way to provide funding to the schools that require it the most? For instance, if one school has several students with a lot of one-on-one required that they would receive additional funding over that of another school that may have no students that require one-on-one. Would this project also take this into consideration and make some adjustments for that? Thank you.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 517

The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Erasmus. Mr. Minister.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 517

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The issue of magnet communities that the Member talked about is a concern. Right now Education, Culture and Employment recognizes what they call magnet facilities, but does not have any place in the formula for magnet communities which would be the regional centres with the better services. Yellowknife, of course, probably being the largest and the biggest of all magnet communities where people come for specialized services. As we look at trying to bring greater clarity to the issue of special needs in a more coordinated and effective approach, that will be one of the issues that are looked at. This is going to be a complex undertaking, the issue of special needs is very diverse and wide ranging. As I indicated earlier, the broader the definition, the more people that will be included and the wider the range. We are going to have to look at that in discussion with the DEAs and DECs and people that are involved in the work.

I agree as well that the issue as a government and as the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, the issue of training is one where we as well have to look at doing better. We have to be more coordinated, more consistent in the approach we take to training not only with special needs but in a whole host of areas, but special needs being the question at issue right now. We are going to be looking at how in fact you do that with what we have available, how is it done and how do we build it in so that it is done as a matter of course and not as a reaction or as a sporadic kind of attempt depending on who is there or where the interests may be. So the Member raises some points that we are adding to the mix as we try to move ahead on this issue. Thank you.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 517

The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Erasmus.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Roy Erasmus Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am very pleased to hear that the Minister is looking at improving the training. Would this possibly include mandatory training and possibly be offered or coordinated by the territorial government so that it is not left entirely up to the individual regional boards or local authorities or whatever?

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 517

The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Erasmus. Mr. Minister

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 517

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That is a possible scenario. Once again, we have not, I do not think, reached that level of detail. I would also like to point out that when this budget is finally passed, the intention is to take $150,000 out of the money for Community Strategies for Work and we intend to devote that and direct it to the training of special needs assistants. So, just another added incentive to all the Members to pass this budget to be able to move it along because there are needs out there that we would like to address,

in addition to youth employment, of course. Thank you.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 518

The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Erasmus.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Roy Erasmus Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Added incentives, kind of like a bonus plan. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, I understand that the federal government is also looking at FAS/FAE and taking a larger interest in this problem and, last year I think it was, well rather than mentioning a specific region, I recall that some specialists had done some testing in that area and they had found that numbers as startlingly high as 40 percent of the children in some communities had FAS or FAE. I am assuming that this will also be categorized as special needs. Does the Minister have any indication what type of assistance may be available from the federal government, whether it is to a new initiative or from Ms. Blondin's youth portfolio that we may be able to tap into for the FAS/FAE portion of the special needs children? Thank you.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 518

The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Erasmus. Mr. Minister.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 518

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The federal government, as the Member indicated, has shown a marked increase in interest in the whole issue of FAS/FAE and I met a few weeks ago with our Member of Parliament who is also the Minister responsible for Youth and she indicated that they do want to get involved in initiatives both on their own and they are willing to, I think, sit down with ourselves. My colleague, the Minister of Health and Social Services, as well, just came back from a meeting of Ministers on The National Children's Agenda and that is looking at the information, that is one of the issues that they are looking at and trying to come to grips with. Of course it is early in the day yet in terms of the money, but there is a lot of interest in this issue and talk about working together but money has not really been identified or tied to these initiatives as of yet but we are going to, through the social envelope program departments, we are going to make this an issue and it is on our agenda of issues that we want to develop a common strategy for. Thank you.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 518

The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Are there any general comments? I have Mrs. Groenewegen and then Mr. Henry. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 518

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move we report progress.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 518

The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The motion is in order. It is not debatable. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried. Thank you. I will now rise and report progress.

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 518

The Speaker Samuel Gargan

The House will now come back to order. Item 20, report of committee of the whole. Mr. Krutko.

Item 20: Report Of The Committee Of The Whole
Item 20: Report Of The Committee Of The Whole

Page 518

David Krutko

David Krutko Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Bill 17 and committee report 1-13(7) and would like to report progress. Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of the committee of the whole be concurred with. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Item 20: Report Of The Committee Of The Whole
Item 20: Report Of The Committee Of The Whole

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The Speaker Samuel Gargan

Thank you. Seconded by Mr. Ootes. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried. Item 21, third reading of bills. Item 22, orders of the day. Mr. Clerk.

Item 22: Orders Of The Day
Item 22: Orders Of The Day

Page 518

Clerk Of The House Mr. David Hamilton

Meeting of caucus at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, May 11, and the Standing Committee on Government Operations at 11:00 a.m., Tuesday, May 11. Orders of the day for Tuesday, May 11th.

1. Prayer

2. Ministers' Statements

3. Members' Statements

4. Returns to Oral Questions

5. Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery

6. Oral Questions

7. Written Questions

8. Returns to Written Questions

9. Replies to Opening Address

10. Petitions

11. Reports of Standing and Special Committees

12. Reports of Committees on the Review of Bills

13. Tabling of Documents

14. Notices of Motion

15. Notices of Motion for First Reading of Bills

16. Motions

17. First Reading of Bills

- Bill 18, Loan Authorization Act, 1999-2000

18. Second Reading of Bills

19. Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

- Bill 17, Appropriation Act, 1999-2000

- Committee Report 1-13(7)

- Tabled Document 31-13(7)

20. Report of Committee of the Whole

21. Third Reading of Bills 22. Orders of the Day

Item 22: Orders Of The Day
Item 22: Orders Of The Day

Page 519

The Speaker Samuel Gargan

Thank you. This House stands adjourned to 1:30 p.m., May 11, 1999.

--ADJOURNMENT