Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We are looking at an early childhood strategy that we are working on with the Department of Health and Social Services. There are a number of components we are looking at developing in that area. Some are related to health and some are related to education. The strategy is in development work at the moment. Thank you.
Debates of June 28th, 2000
This is page numbers 241 - 294 of the Hansard for the 14th Assembly, 3rd 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 chairman.
Topics
Committee Motion 10-14(2): To Defer Advanced Education And Careers In Ece 2000-2001 Main Estimates (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 286
Committee Motion 10-14(2): To Defer Advanced Education And Careers In Ece 2000-2001 Main Estimates (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 287
Committee Motion 10-14(2): To Defer Advanced Education And Careers In Ece 2000-2001 Main Estimates (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 287
Charles Dent Frame Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I did not really get a clear understanding of what sort of things might be included in such a plan. Clearly there was no answer as to when this plan will be completed.
Committee Motion 10-14(2): To Defer Advanced Education And Careers In Ece 2000-2001 Main Estimates (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 287
Committee Motion 10-14(2): To Defer Advanced Education And Careers In Ece 2000-2001 Main Estimates (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 287
Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The work done to date was to define the strategies vision and draft some principles. We have identified four key areas as possible to develop: parenting and family supports; pregnancy, birth and infancy; early childhood care and learning; and community supports. With regard to the timelines, we are looking at developing a three year action plan. We hope to have that together this summer. We want to have stakeholders consultations and hopefully have an official launch of this strategy this fall sometime. Thank you.
Committee Motion 10-14(2): To Defer Advanced Education And Careers In Ece 2000-2001 Main Estimates (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 287
Committee Motion 10-14(2): To Defer Advanced Education And Careers In Ece 2000-2001 Main Estimates (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 287
Charles Dent Frame Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Was there any tie into family literacy in those key areas that are to be identified? I had thought this was what I saw in the budget speech. One of the four key areas there was a tie to literacy.
Committee Motion 10-14(2): To Defer Advanced Education And Careers In Ece 2000-2001 Main Estimates (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 287
Committee Motion 10-14(2): To Defer Advanced Education And Careers In Ece 2000-2001 Main Estimates (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 287
Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, there is an intent to tie this to family literacy.
Committee Motion 10-14(2): To Defer Advanced Education And Careers In Ece 2000-2001 Main Estimates (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 287
Committee Motion 10-14(2): To Defer Advanced Education And Careers In Ece 2000-2001 Main Estimates (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 287
Charles Dent Frame Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think it is important that we support families in order to give children the best chance of success, so I will be watching with some interest to see what the department develops in terms of an action plan. I look forward to the updating that I hope will come to committee on a regular basis, so that this does not come as a fait accompli, but that we are involved in the process leading up to the announcement of the new strategy.
Speaking of strategies, Mr. Chairman, in the presentation of the business plan, there were a couple of strategies that caught my eye. One was to implement new day care subsidy guidelines. I was wondering if we could get an outline of what sort of changes we might expect in these guidelines?
Committee Motion 10-14(2): To Defer Advanced Education And Careers In Ece 2000-2001 Main Estimates (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 287
Committee Motion 10-14(2): To Defer Advanced Education And Careers In Ece 2000-2001 Main Estimates (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 287
Committee Motion 10-14(2): To Defer Advanced Education And Careers In Ece 2000-2001 Main Estimates (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 287
Committee Motion 10-14(2): To Defer Advanced Education And Careers In Ece 2000-2001 Main Estimates (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 287
Cleveland
Mr. Chairman, over the last few years, we have had a number of concerns raised with the department by clients of the day care subsidy program, as well as by day care operators. They raised issues with us primarily regarding timeliness of payments, but they had a number of suggestions for other parts of our guidelines that could be improved to streamline our program and make it more effective.
We have taken that advice and are making a number of adjustments to the policies and procedures. We are in the process of implementing them now. They include specific elements with respect to processing of payments. We have cleaned that up. We do not believe there is quite the same blockage as there was previously. Secondly, we have cleaned up some of the areas where there was particular contention, such as areas around determining how the subsidies were paid during holiday periods.
Generally speaking, I think the guideline changes have been very well received, judging from the comments we have had during the drafting process. It has been a process, Mr. Chairman, for some issues that have been underway for several years. Thank you.
Committee Motion 10-14(2): To Defer Advanced Education And Careers In Ece 2000-2001 Main Estimates (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 287
Committee Motion 10-14(2): To Defer Advanced Education And Careers In Ece 2000-2001 Main Estimates (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 287
Charles Dent Frame Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. One of the other strategies that I noted was a strategy to increase community based support services for parents. What does this mean? What sort of programs are we looking at when we talk about increasing some community based support services for parents?
Committee Motion 10-14(2): To Defer Advanced Education And Careers In Ece 2000-2001 Main Estimates (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 287
Committee Motion 10-14(2): To Defer Advanced Education And Careers In Ece 2000-2001 Main Estimates (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 287
Committee Motion 10-14(2): To Defer Advanced Education And Careers In Ece 2000-2001 Main Estimates (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 287
Committee Motion 10-14(2): To Defer Advanced Education And Careers In Ece 2000-2001 Main Estimates (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 287
Cleveland
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. During the update of the departmental strategic plan and the public consultation, we heard from a number of communities, as well as from teachers, from parents and others, that one of the things that could strengthen our school programs was for parents to be more actively involved in their student's education.
The strategic plan update outlined a series of activities and our subsequent discussions through the Ministerial forum outlined a series of activities that could take place to strengthen parental involvement. They included everything from parenting to how to more directly involve parents in the schools so they were more familiar with the education of their children. There was quite a range of different activities.
We are, with the divisional education councils, going to start that process in a focused manner this year. The chairs of the divisional education councils have brought that up in discussions with the Minister, and they are quite keen to strengthen the linkage, if you will, between the education system and parents. Thank you.
Committee Motion 10-14(2): To Defer Advanced Education And Careers In Ece 2000-2001 Main Estimates (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 287
Committee Motion 10-14(2): To Defer Advanced Education And Careers In Ece 2000-2001 Main Estimates (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 287
Charles Dent Frame Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. What about ties in this area to Health and Social Services programs? Is there any cooperation between the two departments in terms of developing these services?
Committee Motion 10-14(2): To Defer Advanced Education And Careers In Ece 2000-2001 Main Estimates (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 287
Committee Motion 10-14(2): To Defer Advanced Education And Careers In Ece 2000-2001 Main Estimates (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 287
Cleveland
Yes, Mr. Chairman, there certainly is. Generally speaking, I think the view is that it is critical at the community level for Health and Social Services staff, education staff to work cooperatively together to address a number of these issues.
We have seen several recent examples of that kind of activity, including some of the cooperation that is taking place with respect to residential school recovery, just as one particular example of some of the activity that has been carried on jointly at the community level, as well as at the territorial level. Thank you.