I will go to the Minister for a response, if he chooses.

Mahsi, Madam Chair. I would just like to thank the Members for their comments. There are a lot of important comments pertaining to this budget and a lot of areas for long-term strategies as well.

First of all, there was a discussion on Sachs Harbour boarding and so forth. I believe part of the discussion that we had regarding e-learning is that is the way to go now. There’s been a question whether there will be an investment in eLearning and why we didn’t see it in the budget. This is a brand new area that we are exploring. I’d like to see us invest in those areas the next business planning cycle. It may not be here now, but this is an area I am interested in, and it’s the way to go.

Part of the heritage, the structure, I realize the Justice department is working on that as well. Part of my portfolio is heritage, so I will definitely work closely with the Member and also with the Justice Minister, because it’s been addressed in this House already. We want to be involved in that, as well, because it’s part of our heritage and history. So we’re looking forward to our continued discussion in this area, Madam Chair.

Increases in income support/income assistance in the Beaufort-Delta due to potential low activity happening at this point, we are monitoring that. We are doing what we can to provide more opportunities, like training. We talk about labour market development agreements for individuals that don’t qualify for EI. We addressed that earlier in the House as well. We need to maximize the programs we have in our department, along with others.

In the Beaufort-Delta, as you know, there’s going to be activity that will be happening, and we need to prepare our people for that, whether it’s on a contract basis through ITI, whether it be qualified, skilled individuals. We heard “skilled individuals” on numerous occasions, so we will be working on that.

Part of our goal is to have a decrease in income assistance throughout the Northwest Territories. Every time I meet with my department, I always stress that. We need to decrease that number.

Increase in film, this is an area that ITI and my department… My department deals directly with arts and crafts, ITI deals with the film industry, but we are working hand in hand and we are getting involved even further. We’ve had some requests in the past, as well just recently, and we are working towards that. So I’m sure you’ll see some increase in the funding as we continue our discussion for next year’s business planning cycle. I believe there’s more than one individual organization that has been requesting. Then there have been several meetings with Minister Ramsay, as well, through these groups.

Official Languages Act, there’s been talks on numerous occasions on more efficient operations, compiling all of the information, the resources. I think we’re working towards that. As you know, there’s going to be a symposium that’s going to be happening on Aboriginal languages in the next couple weeks, and we want to seek input and ideas on the second phase of our approach, the Aboriginal Languages Secretariat, how it’s going to look, and part of the whole organizational structure is to amalgamate and also compile all the resources that we have within our department. I’ve stated before, we have over $14 million within our department and we want to have that available to the communities. So we’re doing what we can to be efficient and effective in that area, and that’s part of the reason why we’re establishing this Aboriginal Languages Secretariat.

Early childhood development, the renewal. The framework itself is very complex. We’ve had a lot of good discussions, very positive. We had some elders, over 80 elders came in, in the last couple weeks, along with stakeholders. There have been three of the most powerful speakers that came out, as well, experts in the field. So we had a lot of input and now we’re getting ready to start developing a plan towards that, their recommendations, their discussions. Out of that you’ll see a lot of great opportunities that we need to move forward on. Obviously, that would be the next business planning cycle. This business planning cycle was initiated last fall. So, obviously, this is an area that my department is totally focused on. It’s one of the first priorities. So we will be coming back to this House with a package in the spring session to table a document. That’s our target.

The student support, working with the various school boards, I understand that we need to make some changes and we need to have different methods where inclusive schooling has been brought up on numerous occasions. We currently provide funding to school boards based on a

formula, but we’ve been told that it’s not really working. We’re just handing out the funds to the school boards and there’s no results base in return. So this is an area that I’m seriously looking at as part of our education renewal. We want to make some changes. As Mr. Dolynny alluded to, potentially the funding should follow those students, not directly to the school boards. Those are areas that we need to discuss. We do have some time to do that now and we want to get ready for next year. It’s going to be very complex, but at the same time, we’re investing into our kids and we want to find the most efficient ways of doing that, the most effective way as well. So we are diligently working towards that within my department. That’s another priority area for us. We talk about the research on evidence based across the board.

There has been an adult education review, as you know, that has been undertaken. We are working closely with the college on this particular piece of work. The question was, is it ready to go out yet, and that’s a discussion that we’ve been having with the college. I want to present to the standing committee on the status on that, and when the time comes on our business plan, we can talk in detail on that.

There’s been discussion on income support that we should focus on the needs of the individuals as opposed to whether it be computer-driven or a policy. This is an area that I’ve instructed my department to seriously look at, potentially in some areas where there could be some flexibility. It’s been brought to my attention on numerous occasions. So I’ve already instructed my department to look in those areas, how we can work with that. So once the information is available, I will be sharing it with the standing committee. Any changes that we foresee making, then I’ll definitely be before standing committee.

As you know, with modern technology, it’s always changing. The fibre optic, we had a presentation this morning. It looks like it’s going forward within the next couple of years. Obviously, our school boards, our school system, education system will take full advantage of that, whether it be on-line programs and all those digital and various features that will be available to us, we’re just anxiously waiting for that. So we’re very excited, and it sounds like it is moving forward and there’s going to be a lot of discussion. The federal government is a partner in this as well. We’ve already invested in the fibre optic through this government as well. So we can’t wait until it’s up and running.

The small schools, whether it be Trout Lake or Colville, is an area that we’ve been discussing as part of our capital planning process, although we’re not talking about capital here today. This is an area that I’ve also instructed my department to look seriously at how we make that a priority in the small

communities. Part of that is also education renewal. As you know, one of the pillars talks about the small community schools. So it does capture the small communities and, based on that, I would like to see some changes. The capital infrastructure, we go through that on an annual basis and we’ve put those requests forward, but there are other pressing needs and so forth. But definitely the small community schools, the two schools that have been addressed in this House on numerous occasions, we will be working with that. I’ve instructed my department to look at it seriously.

Library services, there’s been some increase in funding over the years and Mr. Menicoche has raised that issue on numerous occasions in this House. I still seriously want to work with him on that and how we can get around that. We’ve been working with the town council the last time we initiated our discussion, but I’ll definitely get the latest status on this particular subject and maybe we can continue with our discussion on the next step, how we can go about this.

Economic development, new resources similar to the Sahtu region. The Member referenced that and that’s an area that we have to keep a watchful eye. Again, we will be working closely with ITI, the economic arm. If there’s a need such as the Sahtu, a similar approach, then we will be developing those positions based on the needs of the community. So we will be keeping the Members posted on that particular area.

Senior Fuel Subsidy is an area that I’ve instructed my new associate deputy minister to tackle. We’ve heard it not only here, but even outside visiting in the communities. An elder will come up to us, their kids are looking after them, and I’m fully aware of that. At the same time, there are some individuals that do take advantage of the system, but I’m sure there’s a way we can get around it. So that’s a challenge that I’ve given to one of my senior staff. We will come back with a plan; we are developing a plan of action.

There has been an increase in the $10,000 threshold a couple years ago, I believe. So those are areas that we can still play with, but at the same time, we’re going to come back with a plan.

The language is an area where… We need to focus in those key areas where we’re losing our language, such as the Gwich’in and other official Aboriginal languages. We’ve provided some funds towards that and we are working closely with the federal government, as well, to increase our funding. As you know, we only get $1.9 million a year for Aboriginal languages. The French language also gets $1.9 million. So that’s an area that we’ve been stressing with the federal government to increase that funding. Within our own existing fund we have just over $14 million in different pots that we continue to invest into the

communities to revive our languages. There is a languages symposium that’s coming up and we’re investing in that, hoping that we’ll get some returns out of that.

Child and Family Resource Centre, that’s an area that we felt was needed so we put that forward for two communities, Tulita and Ndilo. The funding was supposed to have been rolled out this past fall. We’ve been working with the local bands to make that a reality. At this point, we are, again, continuing to work closely with the organizations to make it a success. Even though it’s a pilot project, I believe we’ll be seeing these types of projects into the communities on a long-term basis, because I believe it’s needed. But at the same time, we are going through a developing framework. How is that going to play out? How it is going to look at the end of the day? Is the family resource centre still a priority within the framework? If it is, then we’ll continue to move that forward.

There’s a question on a child daycare inspector, whether it should be full time or part time. That’s an area that we work closely with various organizations, especially the daycare organizations. They provide us feedback, and based on that, this position came up. We can discuss it further when we’re in detail.

The Elders in Schools has been in the works for some time. I’ve addressed it in the House, as well, just recently. We are moving forward, and this fall, I’ve committed in this House, that there will be elders programming into our schools. We may not capture all 49 schools, but at least we’ll capture some of them. That’s an area that we are focusing on right now. That’s the target date, for the ’13-14 school year in the fall. So we are moving forward and I am very excited about this. It has taken some time, but at the same time, we want to have a product where there are no mistakes. There’s been a lot of confusion and lot of miscommunication in how we can deal with the payments and so forth, but I think we’re finally getting around that.

The graduation rates and getting kids ready for school are also priorities within our department, especially in the small, isolated communities. Again, I have to commend the Beaufort-Delta for undertaking e-learning. That’s an area that’s been successful to date, even though they just started recently. That’s an area that we want to introduce into other regions as well. Especially small communities that cannot delivery Chemistry 30 or Biology 30, so those schools can take advantage of e-learning. My department is working closely with a program, with the Beaufort-Delta and others that are taking on that offer.

We want to increase the graduation rates, of course, and have those students ready for post-secondary, instead of them upgrading over and over again.

Another one that has been addressed is income support. Unemployment is high, and delivery in a respectful way, I totally agree with the Member. We have professional staff who deal with the clientele and they provide productive choices. If there’s a training requirement that should be provided to them, as well, through the various programs we have within our department. So we will definitely follow through if there is an issue there with professionalism. I have even stated in this House, I believe it was a couple months ago, that there was training that was being undertaken for CSOs, client service officers, to deal with clientele. So I can provide more detailed information on that, Madam Chair.

The youth centre is a collaboration with other departments as well. Not only my department, but MACA and the Health department. Again, it’s come down to capital infrastructure, but at the same time, what kind of program can we offer now today? That’s an area that we can deal with interdepartmentally. Members are here; Ministers are keen listeners and they’re taking notes, so we’ll definitely work towards that.

The community learning centre has been addressed on a couple of occasions in the Sahtu region, and now it’s been addressed in other regions, as well, such as Deh Cho. This is an area that we need to work closely with ITI, as well, and with the community organizations. What are the needs of the community? What kind of training is required? With the facility itself, can we use the existing facility? Going into communities, usually there are facilities that could be available such as community learning centres. The college will have to be involved as well. We need to take full advantage of our community learning centres that are in our communities. We will commit to working toward establishing programming into the communities.

There was another one on the potential of doing research, possibly producing books and documentation. I believe we have started that already and we will continue to enhance that. There has been some language programming and language documentation with CDs and DVDs, but this is an area that I’d like to further look into with the Member that raised that issue.

Language and broadcasting. We currently sponsor broadcasting in the North. Obviously, there’s always an outcry for additional funding. We continue to monitor that and we feel that broadcasting is an effective way of communicating to the communities. In the Northwest Territories they only listen to CKLB and CBC. Right now, the federal government does contribute, but I believe there have been some debates over that. We continue with our existing funding to those organizations.

I did meet with my department to find out where we’re at and how we can increase in those areas, whether it be the resources. We talk about nine Aboriginal languages and French and English, 11 official languages. Most of the languages are spoken on the radio, so this is an area that I’m very interested in how we can work with that. We have been working closely with CKLB. CBC has its own funding allocation directly from the feds, but we will continue to work with them.

The decline in K to 12, again, I have touched on that already. The need to better spend efficiently, I totally agree with that. I believe this whole education renewal, part of that is Inclusive Schooling. We need to highlight and also capture the system’s accountability. That is one of the pillars with the small schools especially. The small schools are always left out, whether it be educational value, as Member Yakeleya alluded to, and I want to capture all of that within the renewal. Also, how we invest into our kids, into our schools, the school boards most effectively, efficiently. Within the renewal I would like to see that captured and make some changes towards that. Again, I will be going back to the standing committee with those changes.

Skills Canada, I was there with Member Dolynny. It was very exciting to see our own kids, our own Northwest Territories kids performing very well. We won some medals there. The Try a Trade, we saw them in action. We would like to see them here in the Northwest Territories, the venue. It would probably have to be in Yellowknife because there is so much equipment and so many people that will be coming for part of the project, I guess. Industries will definitely be involved and our department and ITI and various organizations, MACA and so forth, and other Aboriginal organizations I am sure will get on board. This is an area that the Member raised with me. I would like to further explore if there is any interest from potential partners and then I will update the Members on this particular piece of work. We will continue to sponsor on an annual basis to Skills Canada. I have already committed to that over the last few years. We see a real success in this programming, in Skills Canada. So we will continue to make that investment.

The SFA appeals process has been brought up next fiscal year. I would like to seriously look at this as well within my department. We just went through an SFA review and there have been some several recommendations towards the SFA appeals process. It has been brought up in the past. I definitely would like my department to look further into that and see if it can be brought forward.

Part of the discussion that took place was keeping kids in the classroom. Obviously, this will take the whole community to be part of. It won’t be just the teachers or the school boards or the leaders, but

the parents and community members. Part of the renewal, obviously, will cover to some degree in that area of small community schools. How can we improve in those areas? Through the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative, when we had undertaken that, we assessed them. We have developed some recommendations in that area. Keeping kids in school was one of the priorities of that initiative. We have provided some funding towards that as an incentive. It has worked out well, but I think we need to do more because we have 49 schools we have to deal with. This is an area that will be part of the discussion of educational renewal.

There has been a discussion about the flexibility of funding. We currently provide funding based on enrolment to school boards. The Member indicated that there should be some form of flexibility for a community. I can address that with the school boards and raise the same issue with the school boards on how we can get around that. The Member indicated that funds given out in columns such as if there is bus service, everybody gets the same but not every community has a bus service. I realize where the Member is coming from, so I will be addressing that with the school board chairs.

The two positions in the Sahtu region, the Member is asking what kind of work that is. We will be getting to further detail when it comes to that. It does highlight what kind of positions, career development and others. This was based on the activity that will be happening in the Sahtu region. We feel that it is a worthwhile investment such as with other departments that are investing in this area too.

The TEP program that the Member also discussed, he was saying that they are ready for it. This is an area that we have initiated with other regions. We are ready to head into another region so that could be the Sahtu region. We will be meeting with the school board to discuss further.

In concluding, the federal government, we were asked how come they are not contributing towards the school. Their policy states that they don’t provide infrastructure funding towards educational facilities. We have approached them and we will continue to do so. I think we found an area that we can probably tackle in another venue with the federal government, so we will continue to push that forward.

Educational shake-up, I totally believe that is going to happen with education renewal. That is coming before the Assembly Members here.

The anti-bullying legislation, as you know, the NWTTA is actively involved. We’re not doing this in isolation. We continue to work closely with them. How it’s going to look is a debate we are going to be having. We’re doing a comprehensive plan right now. There is legislation that we have been tasked

to look into from this Assembly. At the same time, we are doing a comprehensive plan to deal with what we currently have within the schools across the Northwest Territories to deal with bullying. That is an area that we will be coming back to this House with this spring. That is within the 18 months.

Aurora College, as you know, is part of the capital discussion, but I have also instructed my department to look further into this where we have initiated some option papers in the past. I want them to look at the options paper again. When we come to that, I can discuss in further detail. Some Members are familiar with the option paper I am referring to.

The Languages Commissioner and the partnership with the community groups, those are key points that we will be having with the language symposium and also the Aboriginal Languages Secretariat that will be established. They will be dealing with the roles and responsibilities or the compiling of all the resources that we have within our department, and they will be working closely with the Aboriginal groups. I think we are on the right path. It will take some time, but we will get there eventually.

There has been talk about a skilled and trades workforce. We need to continuously work closely with Mine Training Society, Aurora College, Aboriginal organizations, and industries. ITI is part of that as well. I believe we need to be prepared for any activity that is happening within our communities.

Last but not least, obesity is on the rise. Again, my department, through schools, will be working closely with the Department of Health and Social Services. Mahsi, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister Lafferty. We are on page 10-7. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that we report progress.

---Carried

Thank you, Minister. Thank you to your witnesses. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses from the Chamber. I will now rise and report progress.

Can I have the report of Committee of the Whole, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Tabled Document 9-17(4), NWT Main Estimates, 2013-2014, and would like to report progress. Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of Committee of the Whole be concurred with. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. A motion is on the floor. Do we have a seconder? The seconder is Mr. Abernethy.

---Carried

…(inaudible)…

Hey, Mr. Hawkins!

---Laughter

Item 22, third reading of bills. Mr. Clerk, orders of the day.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Accordingly, this House stands adjourned until Thursday, February 28th , at 1:30 p.m.

---ADJOURNMENT

The House adjourned at 8:22 p.m.