Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Let me start off by saying thank you to the Members for speaking up for JK. It is a very important subject of this Assembly. I am truly looking forward to the next business plans because I’m hearing that there will be an influx of funding for ECE. So I’m looking forward to that.

[English translation not provided.]

Mr. Speaker, in summarizing, as I stated in Tlicho, in a perfect world where resources are limited and there are no competing priorities, I would have asked for an additional $7.4 million to introduce a program as important as Junior Kindergarten and important to the Members as well.

Our financial landscape is very different today. That is not the world we are currently operating in. The Minister of Finance, in his budget address, appealed to us, all of us, to live within our means and exercise fiscal prudence, to take a hard look at what we spend our money on now and to see if we can do better at re-profiling some of it.

That is our responsibility as a government and department and we did just that. Money has been re-profiled to be spent more effectively. This front-end investment in early child programming like JK will pay off in the long run, is an investment in education. The choice before us was to either wait several years or more until the overall fiscal situation improved or look to the $150 million already invested that the government provides for our education to see if we can re-profile existing funds to make JK happen for families and children who need it sooner than later.

My recent commitment at guaranteeing a PTR for each educational authority will, in fact, add new dollars to this already significant $150 million being invested. The PTR top-up is not insignificant to the case of Yellowknife, around $1 million for each board, depending on enrolment. This money will help offset the contribution educational authorities make to junior kindergarten across the Northwest Territories. It will also assist them in implementing junior kindergarten in their own schools.

The following facts show that $7.4 million re-profiling can be sustained without jeopardizing any existing students and here’s why. The research shows the NWT provides more government funding

for students than any other jurisdiction. That is a key fact, because even low PTR means low funding for students. Our PTR is not the worst in the country. In fact, we are very close to being in line with the Canadian average.

Our Collective Agreement for teachers is the envy of many teachers across Canada. Despite an increase in funding in our educational system over the last five years, graduation rates in small communities have actually decreased, which means that more money doesn’t necessarily give you the better outcomes.

Lastly, many of the education authorities do carry substantial surpluses. That has been highlighted in this House, which is the taxpayers’ money after all.

On the issue of junior kindergarten programming needing to be professionally designed and delivered by properly trained staff, I can advise the NWT integrated kindergarten curriculum for four-year-old and five-year-old children will be professionally designed and developed based on current sound, solid research and developed for our northern context. It was built on the foundation of our culture curricula, the Dene Kede, the Inuinnaqtun, to help young children to become confident and proud of who they are and where they come from. It is based on honouring the fact that each four-year-old and five-year-old child is very different and has, therefore, unique gifts and strengths as well as learning styles. It is based on the foundation that children learn best through play and hands-on experimental learning.

It is my department’s goal to see that JK and kindergarten classrooms are inviting, safe, active, fun and stimulating spaces where children can develop a sense of curiosity about the world around them.

Education authorities already have the responsibility to ensure all the staff they hire within their schools have the experience, the skillset, the ability to work effectively with and teach the children of all ages and abilities. Junior kindergarten will be no different.

Of course, the minimum requirement to teach in a school is a bachelor of education degree, in our schools. Our society cannot lower this standard as…(inaudible)…certified educators in front of our most precious resources, our young children. Education authorities understand how important it will be to hire qualified teachers, educational assistants who have been trained in early childhood development and education to work in both JK and kindergarten classrooms.

On the issue of Junior Kindergarten Program needing to be oriented towards early childhood development and not a hybrid Junior Kindergarten Program, I can assure you that the NWT curriculum views children’s development along the learning

continuum, not a prescribed pace adhering to the ages and stages. The learning is designed to allow children to learn and develop at a pace that best suits their needs, not under the old-fashioned model of rows of desks where all children are required to do the same activities at the same time being led by a teacher.

The NWT junior kindergarten curriculum and program is developmentally appropriate for four-year-old and five-year-old children, and it’s grounded at the latest early childhood development research and practices. My department consulted with internationally acclaimed early childhood development experts such as Dr. Stuart Shanker and Dr. Jane Bertrand.

On the issue of rolling out JK in communities without the Aboriginal Head Start program, my goal as Minister is to ensure that all parents and families have a choice to consider JK as an option for their child. In three of the communities, the Aboriginal Head Start program is also delivered in our NWT school system. JK is not about creating competition for the Aboriginal Head Start program, it is about creating options for parents and children. The implementation of junior kindergarten will not change the way Aboriginal Head Start programs are funded.

The Aboriginal Head Start program has received federal funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada since 1997. According to that agency, the funding contracts are renewed annually. For the last three years, the Public Health Agency of Canada has been collecting information to support the renewal of Aboriginal Head Start funding; however, no decision has been made whether funding will continue in the ’16-17 fiscal year. At this time the Public Health Agency of Canada can guarantee that the Aboriginal Head Start program will receive funding until March 31, 2016. For 17 years the Aboriginal Head Start program is mandated to provide programming for three- and four-year-olds. JK, the junior kindergarten, will be available to all children both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal across the Northwest Territories.

We are proud to say that 23 out of 29 small communities committed to delivering junior kindergarten starting this fall. I would like to say thank you, mahsi, to those individual communities that are taking on this important initiative. I am very much looking forward to their success.

Since this is a direction to this Cabinet, the Cabinet will be abstaining from the vote.