Thank you, Madam Chair. I welcome the Minister and delegation here today. In fact, it’s nice to see fresh faces. It’s nice to see smiling faces. I see a lot of pink out there too. That is also nice to see. Thank you again to the department for their kind, generous offer today with the carnations. I think carnations are a real nice touch. On behalf of the Assembly, thank you for your thoughtfulness.
With all this newness that we have in the department, I am very optimistic what I’m hearing from the Minister. I see a lot of good things in the opening comments. I am very optimistic that we should have a very good and dynamic year. I will say that for the record.
I also would like to comment on the opening address, picking out certain key things that jumped out of the page when I read, and also indicate certain things of caution in the wind in terms of maybe we need to slow down and look at some things. Please keep that in mind as I’m going through the opening address here.
With culture and heritage, I’m going to focus on the film and media industry here. I had the privilege and pleasure to sit down with the national film producers not that long ago. I clearly asked them what are their needs. What do they need from us to make it better, more efficient, more effective so that they will continue to invest in the North? I think these are the stewards of film and media. I think we have to listen to the requests here. They said they would like to see cultural consultants, a program developed through our college and where they can actually be a part of the process. They would be more than happy to help be part of the on-the-ground training for these cultural consultants. They said they would even look at bringing these students down to Vancouver and Toronto to work with the film industry and teach them the ropes.
The advantage of that, Madam Chair, is the fact that now we’ve got these cultural consultants that can actually depict the proper cultural sensitivity when these exact film producers come back up north. So it’s reciprocal. It’s something they can provide to us in terms of the means of advancing a career. On the flip side, we are going to be able to provide them the right cultural capacity so when they are doing their film, their national/international films, they are depicting the right cultural sensitivity. So I think it’s a win/win here and I’m really hoping that with that, we can find a winning solution.
With the official languages, I’m pleased to see that we’re spending $15 million to support Aboriginal languages and programs. However, I’m also concerned that language use for Aboriginal language is in serious decline. We’ve seen the statistics. We were with you there toe to toe. We’re concerned. We have five of the NWT Aboriginal languages that have less than 500 speakers. That’s significant. So when we’re spending this type of money, I caution the department to always keep that in consideration. Are there other ways to use that money more wisely so we can get a bigger impact? You just heard from Member Nadli, radio. How much emphasis do we put on radio? It sounds like it’s a great opportunity to look at that in our communities. So I challenge the department. We’ve got a brand new team here. Let’s think outside the box. Let’s not just keep throwing money in the same direction that we have. We’ve got a languages board, we’ve got a revitalization board, we’ve got a lot of tools out there to help with languages, but I’m gravely concerned that just throwing money at existing programs is not going to bring languages back. So I challenge this brand
new team with the Minister to come up with better ways.
Early childhood development, I am very pleased with where this is going with the department and I continue to support them on their quest. I sat with the Minister of Education and the Minister of Health when we were doing our family resource centre talks with the community. I’m glad to see that we’ve got two pilot buildings, or two pilot sites to lead in Ndilo, but I’m also challenging the department, don’t just rest your laurels on that. I’m sure if you went back and looked at all the comments from all the participants, they are very, very supportive. The community is ready and willing, so if we are able to get these pilots off the ground this year, let’s push the agenda. Let’s get these out there. They want to build capacity, there is a lot of building capacity we can do in this area, so I challenge the department to push that agenda. Don’t wait until the last year of our Assembly to make these big announcements. Let’s use time on our side while we’re here.
I’m also pleased, Madam Chair, that they are completing all the actions outlined in the Child Daycare Inspection. Of course, this is a direct result of the Auditor General of Canada, and I’m pleased to see that this is part of your opening address and your commitment to that. I challenge you to continue.
K to 12, we know that school enrollments are on the decline in the Northwest Territories. That’s a challenge. So I also say in the same breath as I said how we preserve our languages, I also say let’s be very, very careful and conscientious how we’re spending $166 million, please. When you have a decline and you’re still throwing money in the same way, we’ve got to think outside the box. I’m going to challenge your department in the details of this budget but throughout the next fiscal year as well.
Launching NWT Elders in Schools, all I can say is top notch. That is an incredible leap and I encourage you to continue down that way.
Inclusive Schooling program, the Minister and department are very much aware that there have been a lot of comments in the House. Many Members have made reference to the concern that we’ve removed some of those funds and we have to put them back. But I’m saying if we are going to put them back, let’s be smart about it. We need to redefine the distribution of money and we have to base it on the needs of the students and not by a formula assessment which we did before. I say that again, the needs of the students and not by formula assessment. The money has to follow the students, not the school boards. I want you to make sure that that’s emphasized, if possible, in the next year.
Advanced education, the Minister and I had an opportunity to be a participant with Skills Canada. I really encourage you to continue with that program.
It’s not mentioned in your opening address, but I think it should be. I think it may have been a miss. I’m hoping the department and the Minister is equally committed with Skills Canada in terms of its ongoing ability to entice and flush out all these students that we could put to work and give them the tools. More so, the Minister is very much aware of my passion, and the only time you get excited is when you go down there and see these kids yourself and watch our students do incredible things and compete on a national stage and win, not bronze, not silver, but gold. So we’ve got to be pretty proud of what those kids have achieved for the NWT.
More so, the Minister and I looked at the opportunity down in areas where they’ve had their national competitions, and it was called Try a Trade. The Try a Trade program we can’t offer here because it involves bringing that skill set to the Northwest Territories, but the Try a Trade program allowed students to try trades that they would never ever see. I encourage that we put some money towards Skills Canada to not only bring our regional winners but bring those students that show, by investing some time and energy, show them trades that they have never seen before. Let’s open up their eyes. If anything else, they are a booster squad to our regional winners and it’s okay to have cheerleaders down there, as I found out. The more noise you make, the better I feel, and I encourage you to do that.
Again, I appreciate the commitment and response to the Auditor General’s review to education and the accountability framework. Again, anything to do with the Auditor General, you will get 100 percent from this Member here.
Last but not last, the Student Financial Assistance, I am very pleased to see there is more money to go into supporting students and, also, with living allowances. That’s definitely on the right track. The only thing I brought up a number of times, and it still doesn’t seem to be resonating on the radar, is our appeals process for SFA is in dire need of an overhaul. So I’m challenging this new crop, this new group of senior people here with education, to put that on the radar for this next fiscal year.
In summary, Madam Chair, it comes down to two key areas to which I’m hoping the department – again this is on my perspective and observation, not only as a member but also as an academic – there’s two striking features that I think we have to focus on if we are going to truly have a direct impact with our kids. One, without a doubt, is increasing our graduation rates. That is a true key indicator, a performance indicator, and I think everything we do as educators, everything we do as a department needs to focus around graduation rates. We have to push that number up and be on par with our provincial counterparts.
Number two in my books, in terms of the best measurable possible, is keeping kids in the classroom. One statistic that drove me, and I was just stunned by, is that for every six years of education, there are a number of students that miss one year. So by the time they graduate, out of K to 12, they would have missed two years of education. Now, that is a statistic that is incredible. It doesn’t matter how much money you put in there, we have to keep these kids in their seats. How do we do that? That’s the challenge I have for you. At the end of the day, that involves your graduation rates and then we deal with things like functional grade level. You can’t get functional grade level if you miss two years of school by the time you get to Grade 12.
So I want to put a lens on those two areas of statistics. I challenge the department to always have that under their hat when they’re dealing with issues. Does it meet the means test? Everything you do. Graduation rates and keeping these kids in the classroom. I think if we can do those two, we are well on our way, Madam Chair. Thank you very much for your time.