Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be joining my colleague, the Minister of

Education, Culture and Employment, in tabling Right from the Start: A Framework for Early Childhood Development in the NWT later today. This framework not only responds to the priorities of this Legislative Assembly, it also answers concerns that are top of mind for the people of the Northwest Territories.

Research informs us about the importance of the first years of a child’s life, and the wisdom of our elders and our communities has confirmed this. The return on early childhood investments has been well documented.

The Early Childhood Development Framework will guide our actions in this area over the next decade. It contains commitments to action in seven key areas. Starting during pregnancy, we need to ensure that expectant mothers have the support they need, whether it’s help to stop drinking, eating a healthy diet, being protected from an abusive relationship, or getting the best prenatal care possible. We can do a better job of providing early childhood assessment services to all families, and we will improve our range of programming to respond to identified needs.

We have heard that we need to help families by providing better outreach and public education initiatives, and this will be part of our commitment to action. We also need to make sure that families have access to quality, affordable early learning and child care programs.

Finally, the Framework includes a commitment to monitoring, reporting and ongoing evaluation of our efforts in these areas.

Over the summer we will finalize an action plan to support the commitments in this Framework. It will outline our priorities for action over the next three years, and will be supported by a monitoring and evaluation framework so that we report on progress and adjust our work in response.

Mr. Speaker, this Assembly has a vision of a strong, prosperous Northwest Territories where our people can thrive and reach their full potential. Achieving that vision takes a balanced agenda that makes progress on not just our social priorities but also our economic and environmental ones. Right from the Start is an investment in our people and it is also an investment in our economy and our environment. Along with the other strategies this Government is putting into place, it will help us ensure our people are able to share in the benefits and responsibilities of a unified, environmentally sustainable and prosperous Northwest Territories. I look forward to updating Members on the success of this strategy in future Sessions. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.