This is page numbers 4961 – 5000 of the Hansard for the 17th Assembly, 5th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was communities.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my question will be for the Premier of the Northwest Territories, and it’s related to Junior Kindergarten and how it relates to consensus government.

Can the Premier indicate to me how we deal with a topic like this, that’s been before this House for over a year, talking about the funding requirements. How does consensus government deal with this issue, one issue that keeps repeating itself with no results? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d be very pleased to try to explain how we got there from here. As the Member may know, in the previous Assembly we had a Program Review Office, which still exists, and I was glad to hear one of the Members say that as a government we have to adhere to our own legislation, and I think that’s what we have to do.

The Program Review Office reviewed the education system. The Program Review Office pointed out to us that we were not adhering to our own legislation; we were overfunding education by over $17 million a year. It was pointed out that we should invest more in early childhood development, and that’s what this government has done. We have invested in Junior Kindergarten. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

I’m just wondering about the concern, and I see the concern is not Junior Kindergarten and the fact of whether it’s needed or not.

How do we deal with this consensus when we’re talking about how it’s being rolled out? The concern is from different communities, from different leaders throughout the Territories saying that this program is not being rolled out properly when there’s other organizations and other programs, such as the Head Start program, that are being overrun by this Junior Kindergarten program. How do we deal with that in consensus government?

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

Aboriginal Head Start program is a federal program and it’s federally funded, and I don’t see us interfering in any way

with Aboriginal Head Start. Where there are Aboriginal Head Start programs where Junior Kindergarten is being introduced, we’re working it out so that they can coexist.

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

I understand the situation, but I understand that these kids are being removed and they’re being put into the public system. Who wouldn’t take that on? It’s a free program, but it’s a program within some of the communities that’s not necessarily needed. I guess the rollout is the question.

How can we change the rollout going forward in consensus government?

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

In consensus government we pride ourselves in being open and transparent and working things out. We’ve just rolled out Junior Kindergarten. It’s only been in place for three months in communities where they have nothing. They don’t even have daycare. So, as we do in consensus government, we are surveying the program, how it’s working, and we will be reviewing it as early as the next session of this Assembly. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I understand that Cabinet is proud of this program and I understand that Junior Kindergarten is going to be a good thing for some of the small communities that don’t have anything. The question that I have is, it’s being rolled out now, it’s being implemented. Some of these organizations, some of these small communities already know those concerns.

Will the Premier commit to doing some sort of general meeting on Junior Kindergarten with all those people that are being affected, a Junior Kindergarten charrette let’s call it, will the Premier commit to that?

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

We are always open to the very innovative suggestions from all of the Members of this Assembly. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are addressed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I wasn’t going to ask questions on education today, but in listening to my colleagues ask the questions and the answers that haven’t been forthcoming, I feel that I need to ask some questions.

Mr. Bouchard just asked whether or not the government would pull organizations together, and

that was my last question but I am going to go with it first. We need to get the organizations together that are currently providing programming for four-year-olds and ask them how we can accommodate Junior Kindergarten and their programs together without the one destroying the other.

I would like to ask the Minister of Education, will he commit to meet with all organizations that are currently providing early childhood development to four-year-olds in the NWT, with a view to finding a solution that works for both ECE and the NGOs. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Minister of Education, Mr. Lafferty.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I’m glad the Member asked that question, because we met this morning on that particular topic. We were talking about the communication dialogue with the 23 communities and having some sort of forum or symposium for the whole Northwest Territories. It’s a matter of bringing all the organizations to Yellowknife. I guess you would have to have it here, from the regional perspective. It would take some time to arrange that.

But as the Premier alluded to, we are open to these types of forums, to listen to the general public. It is already on our website as well. I like to hear from the general public as well. We are trying to be as open and transparent as we possibly can, to reach out to those individuals at the community level. Mahsi.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thanks to the Minister. I have been listening to some of the words, and the Minister, earlier, said that he wants to hear the perspective of the people that are involved. My question to that is: Is he actually listening to what the people are saying to him?

He mentioned the teachers’ conference on social interaction, and this is an opportunity for him to hear from the people that are in the program. That is not an evaluation. What we need is an evaluation. I think he also mentioned the survey of schools that are currently doing Junior Kindergarten. A survey is not an evaluation. We need to have an evaluation of the program. Every community, every school that is currently delivering that program needs to be looked at, the pros, the cons, the good, the bad and the ugly.

So I would like to know from the Minister, what evaluation is he speaking of? When he talks about evaluation, exactly what does he mean besides some kind of a forum? Thank you.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

I’m open and I want to hear from the general public’s perspective. Whether it be a symposium, a forum, the survey that I have just committed to, I want to share with the 23 communities, the regional centres, even from the Yellowknife perspective. If JK is coming to them, I

want to hear them, the parents. I want to hear the parents. Right now I am just hearing it from the school boards, but I want to hear from the parents’ perspective, because what we are hearing now is 23 communities with Junior Kindergarten is working fine for those communities that are delivering it, but at the same time I want to reach out to those individuals. So when we talk about the evaluation of our Junior Kindergarten program, we’re only into three months of delivering Junior Kindergarten into our communities, so we need to re-evaluate what we have learned since the delivery of the Junior Kindergarten. Those are just some of the discussions that I am currently having with my department.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Anytime something new is implemented there are always growing pains at the beginning, and we are obviously experiencing growing pains, but what I hear the Minister saying is, yup, nothing’s wrong, but where anything is wrong we’re going to wait a year before we do something about it, and I think that’s very much the wrong attitude.

I’d like to know from the Minister, if he can tell me, does he have any intention or will there be any consideration for making changes to phases two and three of the rollout of Junior Kindergarten? Is that an option that he will consider and that we may possibly see in the future?

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

It was the Finance Minister, our Premier and I who have stated that we are going to re-evaluate our situation. We still have time until the next delivery of JK into our regional centres and also to Yellowknife the following year. This is a situation where we are seriously looking at and also to share some perspectives from the 23 communities, the regional centres and from Yellowknife’s perspective. We’re doing what we can to reach out. Whether it be the taskforce that we established, the toll-free number, the website, we’re doing what we can to reach out to the communities.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Minister I would say that reaching out and hearing and surveying is not an intention to make changes. I did not hear one word from the Minister that tells me that he has any intention of making any change to the programming.

I’d like to know from the Minister, he needs to tell me, he needs to tell us on this side of the House, what does he need to understand that changes to the Junior Kindergarten program will make it better? What can we put in front of the Minister to convince him that there needs to be some change going forward?

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Those are just some of the surveys and also the inventory that

we’re going to be collecting from communities, and based on that, obviously, the decision needs to happen, or if there are going to be changes, obviously, I would have to bring it back to my Cabinet colleagues and say there is an outcry in this area. That is the input that I’m seeking from the general public, because we’re responsible for the whole Northwest Territories, not just 23 communities but for regional centres and also for Yellowknife in order to deliver a successful Junior Kindergarten.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Just recently I talked about the fungal jungle in terms of the potential of the morel mushroom industry to more than likely experience a bumper crop after the forest fire season that we experienced this summer.

My question to the Minister is: Buyers of wild mushrooms are typically from out of territory. What is the department doing to ensure buyers have business licences?

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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