Good afternoon, colleagues. Item 2, Ministers’ statements. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.

Mr. Speaker, mining has a long and rich history in the NWT. For more than 60 years, our vast resources have made us a land of great potential, and we need to make the most of that potential. One of the main priorities of this government is to have an economy that is strong and diversified, and we identified the need for a comprehensive, environmentally sustainable Mineral Development Strategy.

Later today, at the appropriate time, I will table the Mineral Development Strategy Panel’s report, titled “Pathways to Mineral Development.” This report represents stakeholders' opinions and offers a number of recommendations based on their input as well as the panel's own extensive experience. The recommendations in this report will play a key role in shaping the final Mineral Development Strategy.

The panel held over 40 meetings, where they heard from more than 120 individuals representing 65 different organizations. This consultative approach will ensure that any strategy created by the GNWT is a true reflection of what is needed to attract new investment, supports those in the industry who are involved in mineral development projects in the territory, and upholds our commitment to environmental sustainability.

The majority of participants in the process supported development of the NWT's mineral resources. They expect the Mineral Development Strategy to identify initiatives and pathways for balanced mineral development that will protect the environment, respect Aboriginal cultures and

lifestyles, and leave Northerners with a lasting and positive legacy.

In order to address the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities, the panel has identified five areas of action. First, we need to create a competitive edge. This includes enhancing geoscience, incentives to promote exploration, marketing of the potential of the NWT as a place to explore and mine, and investments in infrastructure. As well, we need to create a new NWT regulatory environment.

Our work must include engagement with Aboriginal groups and communities to build capacity and have more effective consultation. It must be sustainable. We need to continue our efforts into workforce development and public awareness, including funding for training programs, increasing awareness of career opportunities, and improving public understanding of the mining industry.

Mr. Speaker, our government has a vision of a territory in which a strong economy provides jobs and opportunities for our people and their communities. We need to make progress on not just economic priorities but also social and environmental priorities to achieve this vision. That includes plans and strategies like the Mineral Development Strategy, a complementary Economic Opportunities Strategy, and other linked initiatives such as the Land Use and Sustainability Framework and a Northwest Territories Anti-Poverty Strategy.

It will also be closely integrated with the NWT Energy Plan, as both energy and mineral development sectors face the key challenge of lack of territorial infrastructure. With the release of today’s recommendations report, a final Mineral Development Strategy is well underway. A strong economy creates sustainable, vibrant communities. It provides jobs and opportunities so people can avoid poverty, while government investments in education and training help ensure our residents can take advantage of the opportunities available to them.

At this time I would like to acknowledge the Members of the Advisory Panel who are present in the gallery this afternoon. The work they have put in so far will ensure the Strategy is comprehensive, balanced and reflects the needs of industry,

residents and NWT businesses. As well, I would like to thank the NWT/Nunavut Chamber of Mines – our partner in this endeavour – for their support and input during this process. Their advice and experience has been invaluable.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to offer a special thanks to the Members of this Assembly who contributed their time and feedback through the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure, as well as individually, to this process. We are happy to have this support now and moving into the future when the Mineral Development Strategy becomes a reality.

Before I conclude, I would like to invite all Members to an event I am hosting in the media room after question period during our afternoon break. The NWT/Nunavut Chamber of Mines, along with the Mineral Development Strategy Panel will attend. Panel chair, Mr. Angus Robertson, will give a short presentation highlighting the findings from the recommendations report. I ask you to join me and the Members of the Advisory Panel as we move one step closer to our goal. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Item 3, Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to talk about an NGO in Hay River. It is the Hay River Council for Persons with Disabilities.

I would like to take my hat off to this organization, who has been faced with many challenges and yet continues to persist in their efforts to assist the people in our community who have disabilities. They do this in spite of not very much help from this government. As a matter of fact, I would say this government discouraged their efforts.

This small group of people gets $35,000 from this government. For that, they employ a half-time person, but what they also do is they look for funds from other sources and they have leveraged up to $455,000 to do programs in the community to help Hay River people who have disabilities and they have done so much on their own initiative.

Mr. Speaker, they do employment programs, housing programs, handivan, they teach life skills. They have a little program called Rags to Riches, where you can take clothing or articles to them. They will cut them up and they will make them into things they can sell and they will turn rags into a little bit of money.

They have done everything. They have held bake sales. They’ve held garage sales. They get $35,000 from this government and a whole lot of hassle to go with it.

Mr. Speaker, I will tell you a few things that have recently been said by members of the public service. We won’t name them because that’s not the appropriate thing to do, but who have gone to meet with the Council for Persons with Disabilities in Hay River.

They sat down across the desk from these hardworking volunteers – one of them is on salary, the rest are volunteers – and have said to them, “You just have to learn to say no. You shouldn’t be doing all these things for these clients. You just need to learn to say no. You shouldn’t be doing all this. And when they still come to you with these problems, you need to refer them to other places in the community where they can go for help.” Hey! News flash! There is no other place. If there was, they wouldn’t have to be taking on this role.

This organization has had to move seven times in the last few years, going from pillar to post to try and have a roof over their head. Kindly, Minister Miltenberger came down there one time and he actually said, you know, here is some government office space, under the health authority. They did move there, but it turned out it ended up costing them more money because they had to pay for their own Internet, but they were in a government office. But these people come down from Yellowknife, where the funding goes here in spades, okay? The infrastructure here is pretty wonderful in Yellowknife. But they come down to a little organization like this in Hay River and they tell them that the space that they have, it’s gloomy. There are cracks in the floor. They’re trying to take a sow’s ear and turn it into a silk purse to have something for these people with disabilities, and they get, basically, discouraged by the people who are supposed to oversee this program who work for the government who are from Yellowknife.

I’d like to seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

At a recent exchange between some members who represent departments who came down to Hay River to speak to these people who were saying you need to learn to say no, you need to refer these people to other places, you need to hold more fundraisers, in that same conversation they dared to mention that your Ministers have been down here and they have seen the hard work we’re doing, and they’re seeing what we’re doing and they’re supporting it. The response they got – and I want to put this on the public record, and this is referring to Mr. Lafferty and referring to Mr. Beaulieu – your Ministers have big hearts. They say things like that, but they don’t

control the budget of the departments that we work for. I want that on the public record, and we had better start showing some respect for these people in communities who are now looking at helping Fort Providence, Fort Resolution and Fort Simpson get programs going for people with disabilities. This is not coming from a government department. This is from volunteers in Hay River, and I want them to get some support and some respect.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Non-governmental organizations, or NGOs, do a lot of important work in our communities. Some receive GNWT funding to deliver critical services such as shelters for the homeless, mental health and addictions services, services for disabled people, friendship centres, daycare and youth centres and women’s shelters. Put another way, these groups are doing vital social service work that the government would have to do if they weren’t there, and doing it better.

The NGO Stabilization Fund was established in 2009 to help these groups stabilize and develop the capacity to manage programs and services. It covers costs that aren’t core funded, like board and staff development, strategic planning, community outreach or transition costs. But the fund only has a budget of $350,000, and it’s been stuck at that amount for the last four years. It’s only open for NGOs, not to community or Aboriginal governments, land claim organizations or schools, and it’s only open to groups that already receive some level of funding from the GNWT to deliver critical service, but it cuts out new groups that might want to start offering a service in, say, Fort Providence or Enterprise. There isn’t even enough money to cover the need of all the groups that do qualify under the policy.

In 2012-13, 11 out of 27 applicants were approved, but several of the approved groups didn’t get the full amount requested. Even though many of the groups will receive funding that are based in Yellowknife, they do serve people from my constituency and we’re grateful for their work. I support raising the budget of the NGO Stabilization Fund to at least $500,000 each year.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to also speak on NGOs. I’d like to thank the members of the Government Operations for bringing this mini theme day forward. It is a very important issue, especially out in the communities.

We are very concerned about the level of funding that’s being provided. As my colleague indicated, one of the community groups in Hay River definitely would want to receive some funding, but have limited success getting funding from the territorial government.

There are many organizations out in the communities that need this type of funding. Some of them are new organizations. Some of them are organizations that just feel defeated. The committee has given us information on how many people applied and how many people were eligible, and half the people that applied were not eligible. Whatever the criteria, they were eliminated from the process. The money that they do get, you have to fit a round hole in a square peg type of thing. That’s the problem. There is a difficulty there.

We hate to sit here and criticize Yellowknife and our colleagues here, but the majority of the funding goes to these centres. Some of them are Yellowknife funds, but some of them are territorial groups, territorial groups that say they are territorial groups, but we are having difficulties in the fact that some of the funding is not getting out to those regions. Some of the funding is burnt up on O and M and operation costs of running these organizations. I know they are trying their best. I know they are trying hard, but it is frustrating when some of these organizations are supposed to be representing the Territories and the funding doesn’t ever get out to the regions at all. There have been several communities or organizations that I’ve talked to that said, we don’t get any assistance, or we get a small amount of assistance to do a special event, I think. We definitely need to increase the funding. We definitely need to look at the criteria that fit this program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, support the improvement of the Non-Government Organizations Stabilization Fund as a vital tool for mobilizing the energies and effectiveness of our partners in civil society.

As I pointed out before, three pillars support the functioning of a healthy society, government and the market represented by business have their role to play, but they must act in partnership with civil society, both individual citizens and their representative groups of non-government organizations.

The NGO Stabilization Fund has made a valuable contribution to assisting a subset of those public partners, but limited to only those NGOs providing critical government services according to their definition. The fund’s effectiveness and impact is also limited by being ineligible to a broad band of social and environmental and other organizations. As a result, we are failing to mobilize the full range of civil efforts.

Obviously, government is responsible for operating a wide range of services, but it cannot provide for all public interests, and it has challenges funding those programs, programs it does provide. That is where our civil partners have an essential role through the motivation to act where there is need, and to do so effectively with very modest support and to attract other sources of support.

The fact the government doesn’t offer a service is no yardstick of whether it is critically needed: food banks, food rescue, children’s sports and environmental organizations, a myriad of community organizations, really. We could all give a list of examples of critical programs being provided by NGOs, specifically because government does not provide them.

The research abounds on the leverage of huge multipliers and value achieved by resourcing NGOs with their access to volunteer and in-time services. Our NGOs are community-based and grassroots, providing targeted services sensitively designed.

Pulled from our $1.6 billion budget and growing, we need to identify significant and meaningful dollars beyond the current $350,000 to help our NGOs meet these needs that go beyond the stabilization criteria of the NGO fund. We should also look to providing a mechanism that goes beyond a one-time annual process. In many cases, our NGOs step forward immediately in response to new and emerging needs, and even crises. We need to be equally flexible and responsive when our NGOs step up to confront urgent new demands.

Let’s recognize the work of our amazing volunteer community and the service to society that they provide. I will be working with my colleagues through committee for an overhaul and expansion of the NGO Stabilization Fund program. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also stand here in the House and use my Member’s statement to talk about the NGO Stabilization Fund.

In my work in doing a lot of volunteering, working on committees, past government work, working in actually offering some of these programs through some of the departments that I have worked for, we have a lot of really great NGOs out in the Territories who are doing excellent work. Coming into the government, I see the process of how long it takes to get a budget passed to support some of these organizations that we put policies in place that prevent them from actually accessing some of the dollars that are in there.

For instance, our youth centres are great organizations doing a lot of great work. Our MACA department does offer half a million dollars for these organizations to do their work, but that is not enough. This past year I think they averaged out somewhere in the amount of $14,700. Then if you go back a couple of weeks in the news report, a lot of the Aboriginal kids that have been in foster care are due to neglect.

A lot of times these kids are the ones that access the programs at the youth centres and friendship centres. These youth centres burn out their staff and they also don’t have enough dollars to run specific programs.

Looking at the website earlier, it talks about how this NGO Stabilization Fund supports NGOs that deliver critical GNWT-funded programs critical to NWT residents. It also talks about how it recognizes that a lot of these NGOs provide essential services that follow under GNWT policy objectives. Those should say that we have to support them even more, or fight for dollars to get the programs up in place.

You have a lot of organizations doing a lot of great work right now and we really need to support them by upping the NGO Stabilization Fund, making it a little easier for these non-government organizations to access funding so that they can provide these critical services, essential services that are needed in the Northwest Territories. All we have to do is look at the reports, discussions that we have with governments and all these indicators that should be red flagged that need to be adjusted.

With that said, Mr. Speaker, I will have some questions later for the Minister of Health and Social Services on some of those prevention and promotion dollars that we did fight for during the last budget session. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. The Government of the Northwest Territories has had an Affirmative Action Policy since 1989. The goal of the policy is that public service is representative of the people it serves. The population of the Northwest Territories is 51 percent Aboriginal and 39 percent of the workforce is Aboriginal. In 2011, the latest year available, indigenous Aboriginal employees made up only 32 percent of the public service. That is the same figure as the year before and pretty close to where it has been for the last 10 years.

The policy is not working, Mr. Speaker. Meanwhile, my constituents, mostly indigenous Aboriginal people, are having a tough time getting government jobs. When they apply on competitions, a lot of them don’t make it to the interview stage; they get screened out. The excuse is that the person hasn’t shown on paper that they have relevant education and experience. Even when they do get interviews, some positions are not appealable and often, as such, a potential employee is not allowed to see their test results or get a copy of them. They feel that this is unfair and that when they fail these screening tests, they cannot even challenge them. Many positions call for much more formal education and experience than a person really needs to do the job well.

The 2009 Statistics Canada indicates that 30 percent of adult Aboriginals with high school and no diplomas are unemployed. If an Aboriginal person does get an interview, sometimes they lose out for cultural reasons and values. Many Aboriginal people believe it is childish to blow your own horn and talk about yourself, but that is exactly what you are supposed to do in the job interview. Also, when they feel that they are the best person and they don’t get the job, they don’t like to appeal and cause trouble.

Our system does not value traditional knowledge, values and northern experiences nearly enough in the selection process. Devolution is almost upon us. We are told there will be many new jobs, but how many will be filled by Aboriginal people?

I think we need a system to review how and why Aboriginal residents are not being attracted, screened in and hired. The government must find better ways to fill its shop now and in the future, for Aboriginal Northerners over the long term. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

: Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like my colleagues, I too will speak about NGOs and the NGO Stabilization Fund today. To be clear, I fully support the concept of the NGO Stabilization Fund, but I have concerns with the current purpose and value of the fund.

NGOs are so very important in the Northwest Territories. They provide vital programs and services to our residents, services not offered by GNWT departments. NGOs work tirelessly to improve the lives of Northerners and this government gives them little financial support. I want to say emphatically that I find no fault with the staff who manage the fund’s applications and awards. My concerns are with the fund itself, specifically with the policy that guides the fund.

Firstly, the value of the NGO Stabilization Fund has remained constant, $350,000 per year since the fund was first implemented in 2009. Over the last four years, our NWT NGOs have grown both in number and in the activities and services they provide. Not so the dollars in the Stabilization Fund. For the past two years, the annual total amount requested by eligible applicants to the fund has exceeded $800,000. The amount requested by prioritized eligible applicants has exceeded $480,000.

The funding available through this program is, clearly, inadequate in relation to the needs in our territory. It needs to be increased to at least $500,000, an amount which would then at least meet the needs of the prioritized applicants from last year.

I’m also concerned that the assessment factors used to evaluate applications to the fund place a higher priority on management, governance and organization development than for extraordinary operations costs. It is the extraordinary costs which can easily destabilize an NGO, yet we do not accept them as valid criteria for purposes of this fund.

I’m also somewhat dumfounded to see the fund criteria, which state that new projects take precedence over those supported in previous years for the same NGO. If the goal of this fund is stabilization, I would think ongoing support for an initiative would provide greater stability to the organization than one-year, one-time funding for a project.

I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

The last concern for today is the lack of financial assistance for emerging NGOs, those NGOs who are developing valuable civil society and volunteer bases. These new guys on the block do not currently receive GNWT funds and so they do not qualify for any of the dollars in the NGO Stabilization Fund. A separate fund is needed to assist these emerging NGOs as they get started and find their feet.

The NGO Stabilization Fund has been a welcome addition to the financial assistance given by the GNWT to NGOs providing important services for NWT residents on behalf of this government. It’s an invaluable program and must be continued, but in the future it must undergo a thorough, consultative review, be broadened and expanded with a view to improving the fund to better benefit Northerners served by our NGOs. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today we are talking about the NGO Stabilization Fund that was established back in the 16th Assembly to

help out the organizations that are doing a lot of good work in the Northwest Territories, and it’s not easy to make ends meet for these organizations. A lot of people welcomed the NGO Stabilization Fund when it was first established, but in our small communities, and especially for our elders, it has been a disappointment. Elders in Yellowknife are very fortunate to have Aven Manor and all the programs that go with it. I know our elders in the Sahtu would really appreciate having programs like that.

In our smaller communities, we do not have these facilities, the organizations, the corporate donors or enough volunteers to make programs like what Yellowknife has had, without a lot of government support and funding. How are we supposed to get started?

The NGO fund only helps NGOs that are already there. It doesn’t help any new NGOs to get going, even if your organization is registered properly. Small communities without NGOs are out of luck. The government stands back and waits for applications to come in, knowing that most of them come from Yellowknife. There’s about 350-some-odd NGOs in Yellowknife, only 33 in the Sahtu where there’s lots of NGOs that are not easily paired off in terms of the ratio number. That’s not good enough.

Our elders in the smaller communities deserve better. I would like to see this government either

change the NGO Stabilization Fund or come up with new funding that would also allow small communities like Colville Lake and Tulita to start some programming for elders.

Our elders are precious to us and we want to give them the best quality of life and keep them in our communities as long as possible. We need the government to work with us to make that happen, not hide behind the complicated funding policies that hardly anybody or no one understands.

I’ll have questions for the Minister at the appropriate time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Imagine a world free of hunger. Imagine a world free from poverty, or imagine a world free from sickness. This does sound too good to be true, but in reality, we all know that this is utopian thinking, and for the practical person in all of us, we know that the world is not free at all but suffers from quite the opposite.

To combat this reality, we count on the benevolence and stewardship of non-governmental agencies to fill the gaps where public services leave off. In essence, many NGOs are the lifeblood that complement or fulfill the delivery of care, food and wellness needed by many of our residents. A world without NGOs is like a world without oxygen. You cannot live without the other.

It strikes me as odd that today many of us here have to stand before this House and somehow play on the purse strings of the Department of Executive to urge them to change their tune. Why, you may ask? Well, for starters, as you heard from many of my colleagues, the demand for services does exceed the supply of funding. A mere $350,000 is doled out annually for a handful of lucky recipients, only to be used to soothe the pain. This funding is not for lavish, expensive sports cars. This funding is not for posh office furniture, and I can guarantee you that this funding is not for expensive executive travel to faraway lands. No, Mr. Speaker, this money is for the lights, the heat and the power, if you’re lucky.

I know we need to be stewards of the public purse, and I for one am very conscientious of our spending dollars. Yet, it pains me to see waste going on in our government, duplication of services, ivory towers of self-preservation, and yet we allow our NGOs to somehow manage with nothing. Moreover, we ask them to do the job we don’t or, in many cases, won’t.

This is not only unfair, it is not even human for us to expect such. Yet, we’ve allowed this to go on for

too many years, and this must stop. There is a solution, and that solution is we have the ability to change minds. We have the ability to change hearts, and we certainly have the ability to change lives.

This change has to come from the top down. It has to come from our Premier, and it has to be supported by Cabinet. Let’s do the right thing and increase our funding for NGO stabilization, and let’s open up the doors to funding for emerging NGOs who need our support at their critical junctures.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Despite all that is said about small communities in this House, I doubt most residents understand the situation across our territory. When I see our budget, sometimes I wonder if our government really wants to improve the situation.

Here are a few key facts: Eight communities have no nurses; ten communities have no police; many communities lack high school education; we have employment rates as low as 34 percent in our small communities, compared to 80 percent here in Yellowknife; 38 percent of homes are in core need, comparable to 9 percent here in Yellowknife. I could go on and on, but I will just throw out one more fact: More than 10 percent of NWT households experience food insecurity.

In the last Assembly, the Committee on Sustainability of Rural and Remote Communities was set up. It put together an investment strategy to address small community needs. Over two years, $5.1 million was included in the budget for some very good initiatives, including one-window access to government programs and assistance, more early childhood programs, the Small Community Employment Program, programs to support youth, training for court workers to help reduce crimes, and new settlement maintainer positions in six communities.

This good work was supported by the government. It was supported by MLAs, and the budgets reflect that today.

It is another story under this current government. The Rural and Remote Communities has accomplished very little. There is no money in the budget. Committee members can make all the recommendations we like, but we have to scramble for a few dollars after the fact, and the money might have to be pulled from some other programs.

We are not trying to get more cuts to inclusive schooling. We want to make a difference for the

people in the small communities and the whole territory.

I will be asking the Premier some questions about the lack of attention to the needs of rural and remote communities later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Hockey teams, dance classes and even fiddle camps are a few examples of out-of-school programs and activities that are fun for kids, but not for all kids. You need to find a way to encourage the development of these qualities that people learn from physical education, and the type of self-esteem they get by being involved in these particular programs.

It’s a real shame that many children in the NWT are left out of these very precious opportunities. These experiences are left out. Why? Because many parents cannot afford the equipment or even the fees. If you are on income support, I can tell you right now, it doesn’t make it any easier. To be fair, income support does provide some money for some school-related things like bus passes – how fun is that? – or even gym shoes so they can play, but there are no allowances for outside activities, as I said earlier.

In this day and age, when schools are chopping away their budgets and Education Ministers continue to claw back money from what is the fun stuff, such as physical education, enrichment programs such as arts and music, these programs fall by the side. Isn’t the development of our young minds an occasion to develop these special things as well?

There is a real opportunity being missed. Surely government can find some way to help afford these things. We could provide some allowances for children to be involved in these very important programs. Don’t let financial burdens of poverty slip through the opportunity of developing and enriching these young minds that so readily deserve these chances.

Could the next Leela Gilday, Brendan Green, or even Shirley Firth somewhere be nestled between opportunity and poverty, with no way to break free for these opportunities that kids deserve? Allowances could be organized so we could pay directly to the organizations.

I know the Minister will complain and whine and grind and grope and moan and talk about the cost

of social programs. Yes, he is right, but investment is more than just infrastructure. It is about the investment of the bricks and mortar we call our children that we are building for tomorrow. We must do all we can to help build these bricks and mortar enrich the lives of our young people. We must find ways to show them that we care. Do not put up barriers. We will find new ways to open doors. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure today to recognize in the gallery our Advisory Panel on the Mineral Development Strategy. I will start with the chair, Mr. Angus Robertson. Next to him is Dr. Murray Duke and we also have, from Yellowknife, Mr. Rod Brown. I would also like to recognize Allan Twissell from Northways Consulting, who helped pull it all together, and the folks from the NWT Nunavut Chamber of Mines, Ms. Cathie Bolstad and Mr. Tom Hoefer. Thank you very much for all your help. Also in the gallery is our director of minerals, oil and gas, Mr. Tim Coleman. Welcome, Tim. Thanks, and welcome to everybody else too. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Lafferty.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize the president of Aurora College, Ms. Jane Arychuk, who is on annual leave to spend time with her family that are coming from the South. I would like to recognize her sister and brother-in-law, Karen and Kim Clouter, who are visiting from Ontario. Welcome to the Assembly.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize a constituent from Hay River South, Mr. Tim Coleman, in the gallery today.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Hawkins.

Mr. Speaker, maybe for sake of brevity, I will recognize the whole opportunities panel as one group. Thank you very much for your hard work. I’d like to recognize a constituent, Kevin Campbell, and if I had seen him earlier, I would have gotten the names of his visiting friends, so I will only assume it is family from the South. That said, welcome to everyone in the gallery today. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to welcome Ms. Jane Arychuk, a former resident of Fort Providence, also a former principal and teacher. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize Cathie Bolstad, a resident of Weledeh and well known by everybody, I am sure. Also, Elizabeth Portland with Ecology North and Natural History Group and other roles, and any other residents of Weledeh. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Bouchard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to recognize not only a constituent but a member from Hay River, Tim Coleman, who travels quite a bit back and forth, and also the Mineral Strategy Group, thank you for coming today, especially Cathie Bolstad, who travels to Hay River regularly, annually for a golf tournament. It is good to see their support for Hay River as well. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Today I would like to welcome in the gallery Mr. Gerrand, our Conflict of Interest Commissioner of the Northwest Territories. Welcome, Mr. Gerrand. I would like to welcome everybody here. My sister Mary is in the gallery today. It is always good to have family.

Item 6, acknowledgements, Mr. Yakeleya.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to give my congratulations to Ms. Beverly Masuzumi from Fort Good Hope on receiving her Education Hall of Fame on May 30, 2013. Beverly is known for her true leadership in the past and her passion for educating the students in the Sahtu. She spent 10 years working to improve educational opportunities for our students by being part of the local education authority board and the Sahtu District Education Council, and was chair of the district education council for those six years.

On behalf of the Sahtu region, I would like to again congratulate Ms. Masuzumi on her strong belief in our education system, our students and our communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Item 7, oral questions. Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am not sure who to ask my questions to and I am not even sure what to ask at this stage. You can tell I am a little frustrated with the lack of support for some very valuable NGOs. I don’t think we have really quantified the value that NGOs bring to a situation. If we as a government had to pay for the work that they do, we probably wouldn’t realize the same results and we probably couldn’t afford it.

The council that I refer to in Hay River is the Council for Persons with Disabilities. They teach literacy counselling; they fundraised $50,000 in the community to operate a handivan; they offer their food and shelter program; they have healthy food initiatives; they do a Community Gardening Program; they do PC training with clients that are in Hay River.

We have a facility in Hay River, an assisted living facility for persons with disabilities, as well, and we really appreciate having it there. Don’t get me wrong, but that facility costs this government about $4 million a year to operate and there are 10 clients there. If you do the math quickly, with all the overhead and everything, that is about $400,000 per client, and yet we have an NGO in Hay River that is out there working with people with disabilities in the community, in which they get from this government $35,000 per year. If that NGO were not doing this work, who would be doing it? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Beaulieu, Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A lot of the work that that particular NGO does now, I think, was done because there was a lack of services in that area in Hay River, so it would be difficult to say how they would be able to obtain those types of services if it wasn’t for that particular NGO group.

Could I get the Minister to concur that this NGO does do good and valuable work in our community, and the value of their work far exceeds the $35,000 a year which they get from this government and our given grief that goes along with it? Can the Minister concur this is valuable work worth far more than what they receive from this government? Thank you.

I’ve had the opportunity to meet with this group and I do agree that the work they do is very valuable. I had an opportunity to speak to the people that were in the office at the time taking a course. I personally knew all of them

in there and spoke with them, and they were very pleased to be given an opportunity to learn what they were learning there in working with this particular society. Thank you.

I would like to thank Minister Beaulieu for his visit to Hay River, for taking time out of his busy schedule, for going there and seeing the facility these folks were in, for listening to them, for hearing what their challenges were and what they were offering the community, and he did express great support. I have to say that and I want to thank him for that.

How can we translate that, as Mr. Beaulieu heads up the Department of Health and Social Services, how can that commitment and support for an NGO translate down to the people who actually deliver that support within the public service? How can that be communicated so they understand that’s the goal and that’s the opinion of this government? Thank you.

We are going to be able to have that discussion with the senior management at the department. We’re also dealing with the local authority, and between ourselves and the authority, we recognize that we do fund each of these non-government organizations and this particular organization does receive some funding from the department, but the majority of their funding does come from outside of the government. So I will make sure that the department understands that these guys could use some support when they’re leveraging this kind of funding in the community.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

As a result of the things that I’ve shared here today, and my colleagues have shared here today, I would like to see this government come out with a statement saying that they recognize and appreciate the valued work of NGOs in our territory, and that those NGOs go towards making this territory and the lives of many people better than they would be, and that this government cannot do everything alone, and that we support, encourage and thank those NGOs who do this work for us. Can this government send a message like that out? Thank you.

The government is moving more and more into multi-year funding with the organization. We continuously have discussions with these organizations, trying to develop some wage parity with these organizations. So the government is recognizing that these organizations are valuable and we’re trying to step up to the plate. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned, my questions will be directed to the Premier. During the last Assembly, $5 million was allocated over two years specifically to meet crucial needs of small communities. Why is that not continued under this government? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the last Assembly we were operating under a very severe fiscal situation and at that time the government of the day foresaw that there was going to be a very severe economic downturn. So when the Assembly started, the government of the day decided that we would cut programs, so that we could take that money that we obtained by cutting programs. I think we had a target of about $132 million and that money, in turn, was used to make funding available to a number of different committees. I think we were about to cut about $65 million in programs and that’s where the $5 million came from to make available to the community and sustainable and rural communities.

This government, the 17th Assembly, decided that

we were not going to cut programs, that we were going to maintain programs, although we had a very tight fiscal situation. We managed our way through the fiscal situation, and I should point out that we have a number of committees and none of the committees have any funding allocated to them to dispense. The committee that you reference is there to provide advice to the government and Cabinet on very unique conditions that small and rural communities face.

The public probably does not understand how spending recommendations made by the Rural and Remote Communities would be handled by the government. Will the Premier describe the process for us?

We have a committee made up of a combination of Cabinet Ministers and MLAs. We have three Cabinet Ministers and five MLAs on the Committee on Sustainability of Rural and Remote Communities. The terms of reference provide that it would provide advice to Cabinet.

The way I would see it is that this committee, we would have to work it so that it can tie into the budget process so that their recommendations can be provided on a timely basis, in time that they could be considered when we do capital planning and our main estimates.

What are the government’s key priorities for improving services and infrastructure in rural and remote communities?

Obviously, we want communities in the rural and small communities to have a similar quality of life to other communities in the Northwest Territories. I’ve always said that one shouldn’t be penalized because of where they live, so we would endeavour to try to work in that regard.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I heard the Premier when he first began saying the past government was facing a little financial difficulty, like most of the country. In the small communities, not much has changed since then.

When will the communities see more programs being offered, and will this government continue that $5 million in this government?

We would have to work with all Members of this Assembly to try to address that decision. At this point in time, we are just starting our main estimates process, and there are tremendous demands for fiscal resources, and if the Legislative Assembly feels that that’s the direction we should go in, obviously we look at all of these parameters when we do our main estimates.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I detailed in my Member’s statement about the difficulties of Aboriginal people gaining employment. Well, the ones that remain unemployed. Getting employment with our Government of the Northwest Territories, I’d like to ask the Minister of Human Resources questions in this regard.

Firstly, what is the department currently doing to meet the Government of the Northwest Territories’ commitment of a public service that is representative of 51 percent of our population that is Aboriginal?

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The GNWT is committed to developing a competent public service representative of the population it serves. There are a number of things that we are doing. We do have the Affirmative Action Policy that we apply to all staffing actions. But we’ve also put in things like the Associate Director/Superintendent Program and a few other programs. We also have the Aboriginal Employees Advisory Committee, which has been put together to provide some guidance and direction to myself and Cabinet on how to improve representation of Aboriginal peoples within our public service.

In the Member’s statement, he mentioned how difficult it is, or some of the frustrations that individuals who are going through the competition process have identified. One of the things we are doing to help address that is we put together How to Apply on a Government Job, which is a workshop, and there are some materials for reading as well. It is going to be made available throughout the Northwest Territories. I have shared the brochure with my colleagues.

I have indicated that we will be going out to all the regional centres and hopefully communities, as well, to provide this workshop to help individuals better understand the competition process in the Northwest Territories and what they can do to help strengthen their opportunities or chances of obtaining employment in those communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Minister is right; people are really frustrated about their chance of trying to get employment. As I detailed, a lot of them get screened out and don’t know why.

Can the Minister undertake a process to review the human resource hiring process to ensure Aboriginal candidates are continually engaged and involved and encouraged if they are not the successful candidate? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that is already being done. That is one of the things that the Aboriginal Employees Advisory Committee is looking at. They are looking at all of the processes that exist out there today and are trying to identify what some of the gaps might be, what some of the things that are occurring that might limit some of these candidates from actually taking the next step.

As I have indicated, we are doing the How to Apply on a Government Job, which we hope will help individuals understand the process better and what things they can do with their resumes and during interviews that will help strengthen their application and their bid for positions within the Government of the Northwest Territories. By way of review, that is one of the things that we are hoping to get advice and recommendations on from the advisory committee. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister truly understands the situation. I would like to know if this practice is currently being done right now. I have constituents that are screened out. They are hiding the test results from them, not showing them, not encouraging about how to better themselves for the next applications if they continue that.

I would like to know if this current practice that the Minister is talking about is being used by our front-line human resource and the departments that people are applying on. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to say yes. It is something that I have made clear to the deputy minister that I would like in the regional centres and Yellowknife, everywhere there is staff in action, for our staff to take that additional step in helping individuals understand why they are screened out. It doesn’t happen in every case, I can’t say that, but I will continue to encourage the deputy and his staff within the department to provide that extra step to help individuals understand why they may have been screened out and what they can do better.

I would encourage all the Members to encourage their residents and their constituents to please take the How to Apply on Government Jobs. It will help people understand some of the intricacies of our process and will hopefully help them make it through to the next step and get the jobs that they are qualified to do. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Some of it is changing the processes too. One of the biggest issues is the inability of people that apply to appeal a job. I know that short-term positions are not appealable. Sometimes if they are an outside applicant, then they cannot appeal those jobs. I would like to know if they are going to improve that process too. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I think the Member and I should sit down and just follow up, because I’m not sure I fully get that question.

There are appeal rights. All Aboriginal candidates have appeal rights for GNWT jobs, with the exception of casual jobs. There are no appeal rights on casual jobs. Any time that an individual applies on a term or an indeterminate position and they are Aboriginal or P2, they have the right to appeal that competition. If they are an existing employee and they have applied on a job and they are screened out, regardless of their affirmative action, they have a right to appeal that position. The appeal rights are there. Some people choose not to use them, but they should be notified of their appeal rights by the screening committee or the staffing officer responsible for that file.

I would be happy to sit down with the Member and have some more discussions around that so I better understand where the Member is coming from. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the NGO

Stabilization Fund. Through the process, there was a review and there were no changes at that time.

I want to ask the Premier, in regard to this fund, will the department again look at reviewing this NGO Stabilization Fund in light of what he is hearing today, to ensure that some of these programs, some of these fundings can get to some of the critical services that some of our people are delivering now on a voluntary basis in our communities?

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct; we reviewed the NGO Stabilization Fund to clarify which types of NGOs were eligible to apply and also to respond faster, to process the applications faster and flow the money out on a much faster basis. We were able to do that. This year we have had 14 applications. Thank you.

Certainly, the Premier is correct on the NGOs delivering essential services in our communities that support the government’s objectives of healthy, strong communities and also developing capacities, and to manage programs and services.

I want to ask the Minister, in regard to the review, the society sometimes needs to be in good standing or needs to be registered within the Northwest Territories are created under a federal statute. I want to ask if the Minister can look at the flexibility of this eligibility of NGOs to include groups like land claims or other groups that also do essential services because of a lack of volunteers or people to fulfill those critical services to our people. Would the Minister continue looking at, seeing if this is a possibility in some of the small communities?

Essentially what our government wants to do is we want to help NGOs that have no other access to funding. I would think land claims organizations negotiate land claims agreements with other governments and they have access to resources. I would think skidoo clubs were the same; they could access resources. We don’t want to lose sight of the fact that funding the NGO Stabilization Fund is focused on those NGOs that provide essential services to the Government of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Under the land claims, not all the land claims have a golden pot waiting for them to fund certain programs. There are permitted activities in the land claim that would also allow them to service some of the activities in the communities such as programs and school programs and such, so they don’t have the ready, available funds at times. That is why I am asking the Premier if he would look at this review again to

see if it makes sense within the communities in the land claims that help the people through these activities that are allowed in the land claim chapters.

It sounds like the Member is focusing only on the NGO Stabilization Fund when the NGO Stabilization Fund is just a fund to top up funding to NGOs that provide essential services for the Government of the Northwest Territories.

We have a third-party accountability framework, which is called Excellence Through Partnerships, and I think that is more appropriate to the line of questioning that you are taking. We have three categories of NGOs and I am sure that when we review it, if we get more specifics as to how or why you think land claims organizations should be funded by this government as an NGO, to see if they fit into any one of those three categories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

My focus is because these are probably one of the most efficient and effective operations that give NGOs support in our communities and the land claims is one of the biggest ones here.

I want to ask the Minister, would he also look at the eligible NGOs policy where it says if in Yellowknife you receive $50,000 or more in funding from the GNWT annually, so that’s an automatic $50,000 that goes to Yellowknife if you’re a Yellowknife NGO. So is that somewhere else where the regions can also get that type of funding automatically on an annual basis if we can make out a policy that’s equally shared across the Territories?

I want to clarify that the NGO Stabilization Fund is just a top-up fund. There are three other categories of funding that are providing funding to NGOs from all different departments. So I’m sure that if you clarify what it is that you want for land claims, we can see if it fits into one of those categories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In respect to the NGO Stabilization Fund that we’ve made a priority here today, there are real needs at the community level. For example, in my riding there is a real need for youth programs in terms of ensuring that there’s funding for programs and resources. At the same time, we’re contending with real social issues like homelessness. For those reasons, this fund is relied upon from the community organizations outside of Yellowknife.

For the Premier, as Minister of the Department of Executive, is the Premier willing to consider enhancing the NGO Stabilization Fund for 2014-2015 to at least a minimum of $500,000? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We would like to fund all of the requests, but we have a finite level of resources and we are going to the main estimates process. We will also be rolling out a number of strategies that pertain to social programs, such as the Early Childhood Development Framework, the Northwest Territories Anti-Poverty Strategy, the Minister’s Forum on Addictions and Mental Health recommendations, Economic Opportunities Strategy, Mineral Development Strategy, the Land Use and Sustainability Framework. So we’ll be rolling out all of those frameworks as well.

So I can commit to the Member that as we go through the main estimate process and that as we go through developing action plans for all of these strategies, which I’m sure will impact positively on the communities that need assistance, at that time we will look at all of the requests. Thank you.

I’d like to thank the Premier for making that commitment. Some NGOs are currently delivering critical services, but without GNWT funding they don’t qualify for the Stabilization Fund. What capacity building support is available from the GNWT for such NGOs? Mahsi.

We have a third-party accountability framework and it has three categories. The categories that provide services to the Government of the Northwest Territories, we can provide multi-year funding agreements, and depending on the type of service and the kind of NGO, and if they get funding from the Government of the Northwest Territories, there are different categories of reporting that are required. So if you’re not providing essential services, then your reporting requirement is not as complicated as for the NGOs that provide essential services. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of ITI. I’ve spoken critically of ITI’s controlling, non-inclusive and delayed approach, not always intentional, I know, in delivering the Growing Forward Program at the community level, and its failure to germinate

citizens’ enthusiasm and capacity to carry projects forward.

Yesterday I learned of one more example. Rather than turn granted money over to a YKDFN community garden for supplies, ITI made the purchases on the basis of the YKDFN supplied list. This stuff arrived and it’s the wrong stuff. Yet again the garden is put back further in starting at this critical planting date.

What’s up, Mr. Speaker? The wrong stuff is bought because the department simply is not knowledgeable in this area. The result is there’s another loss of project control for the gardeners; they lose the opportunity to develop purchasing and ordering skills.

Why are we persisting in this approach rather than an enabling an approach that grows real experience and capacity?

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m familiar with the community garden in Ndilo. I had the opportunity a couple weeks back to have a tour of the garden itself and get into K’alemi Dene School. Talking to one of the contractors down there, she had mentioned that there was some work required on that community garden. This is the first I’ve heard of wrong supplies being ordered, but we will certainly look into what transpired in this case and make sure that the necessary goods arrive in Ndilo so that the garden can proceed.

Thanks for that commitment from the Minister. I will note that in two weeks from now the days start getting shorter. Unfortunately, there’s more. As of today, well into our brief but intensive growing season, YKDFN is still waiting for approval on the basic supplies. No word back on buying seedlings, seeds and equipment. Surely ITI wouldn’t have placed the first order if it weren’t going to approve the remainder. It’s June 4th and

the season is running on.

Will the Minister commit today to blowing out this log-jam and getting this garden project approved now? This community can’t afford another growing day lost.

There is obviously a need to get this work done, and I will give the Member the commitment that I will go back to the department and try to find out exactly what is happening and how we can continue to move the community garden project forward in Ndilo, without hesitation.

I very much appreciate the Minister’s commitment there. Part of the problem here is that nature does not run on a fiscal year basis. I’ve talked to the Minister about this. We’re

delivering a $6 million agricultural support program on a bureaucratic cycle that won’t consider applications until months after the seed orders should have been placed.

This program has five years of dedicated funds we know are guaranteed. Applicants say they will have their plans for next year by January 1st . They plan

ahead. Why can we not adjust this application contribution agreement process with the standard qualifier clauses stating contingency of funds of being available, and tune this program up for delivery on a growing year rather than the fiscal year cycle?

That is certainly something I believe the department will be looking at. It makes perfect sense to allow the funding to flow when it’s needed, and not on a financial calendar or a bureaucratic calendar, but instead with the true growing season in mind so that we can make the most out of the money that we have. The good news is we are going to be spending another $6 million in the area of agriculture over the next five years, and that’s some good news.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister again. I know this Minister is interested and supportive of the gardening and food security issues. Many of the issues gardeners face relate to the lack of understanding and agricultural knowledge of ITI staff that gardeners must apply to or expect support from. As a consequence, highly qualified and experienced public gardeners and NGOs are stepping into the lurch only to be undermined by a lack of equally sound and knowledgeable support from government.

What will the Minister do to ensure this timely and quality support is available from ITI now and in future growing seasons?

Mr. Speaker, we have competent staff in the regions. We have competent staff here at headquarters. If the Member has some examples of, as he mentioned, staff not giving other folks the right type of information, I would be more than happy to have the Member write to me or write to the deputy minister and advise us of such occurrences. We have a big program to deliver and the staff that we have are trying their best to deliver the programs that we have. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before I begin, I would like to formally acknowledge and admit my error. I recognized the Mineral Development Strategy Advisory Group as the opportunities group. In all fairness, we’ve been receiving panels, advice for strategies, frameworks and many other things. They can have my apologies. They’re all blended together. Thank you for your fine work.

My question is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Does the Minister of Education recognize that there is a serious problem here for opportunity for those people who live in an impoverished situation? There’s an unfairness that many of the children won’t ever be able to participate in music programs, arts programs and even some extracurricular sports programs.

What does the Minister recognize in this impoverished situation, and furthermore and more importantly, what is he willing to do once he recognizes this particular issue? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I do believe there were three or four questions in there; I can only answer one. With the distance that has been brought to our attention through the poverty strategy that we have engaged with the public, NGOs, it is important for us to be part of that as income support. We have made some changes over the years, even major changes in 2007 that reflect on communities’ needs. Along the way we have been making changes. We are glad we are part of the Anti-Poverty Strategy that is coming forward in this Assembly, along with other strategies as well. It is important for us to be part of the process. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

One good thing, the Minister clearly can count because he said there were a couple of questions in there, maybe three, but since 2007 he has proven he can’t answer one of those three or number of questions highlighting those changes.

There have been no changes. I pulled out the regs. There are zero changes providing these opportunities for kids for poverty.

What does the Minister really recognize and what is he willing to do about this situation that children who are part of families on income support cannot participate in music, extracurricular arts or even extracurricular sports? There is a fairness and equity here. We are missing a huge opportunity to do something. I would like to hear it.

Mr. Speaker, we are doing something. I am answering his questions as well. Part of the curriculum that we deliver, K to 12 and beyond that, we provide a music program. We provide various other programs in the school as well. We will continue to enhance our programs. These are areas that we are very interested and also we are working closely with the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs to deliver those programs, even after-school programs. We are involving the parents. We are trying to make a difference. We are making programs deliverable, even working closely with the college and different agencies to deliver these additional programs beyond K to 12. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I pulled the regulations. There is nothing that talks about this. If the Minister wants to talk about funding education through K to 12, let’s talk about that, but K to 12 funding doesn’t support the initiatives I’m talking about. I’m talking about income support. Welcome to the file. Please. My goodness. Under income support there is nothing that supports music, arts and extracurricular sports.

What is the Minister willing to do on that? Will he launch on this opportunity to say, let’s investigate this and let’s do something to ensure that these children have the same opportunity as other children deserve? Let’s do something and we can do it today. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we do provide basic fundamental funding to the clientele that we service, the income support clientele. The funding that we provide is shelter, food and clothing.

Again, we are working through various programs such as Municipal and Community Affairs have numbers of programming through NGOs such as we do.

As the Education, Culture and Employment department, we provide almost $7 million in various NGO funding that consists in a breakdown in the communities of various funding that is accessible by the parents, by the children, by the community members. Continuously we have been providing that to the communities and we will continue to strengthen our programming into the communities even more. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.