This is page numbers 4035 – 4074 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.

Committee Motion 18-17(5): Early Childhood Development Priorities, Defeated
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Frederick Blake Jr.

Frederick Blake Jr. Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Even though I am a major supporter of early childhood development, at this point I am not in favour of reallocating any additional money at this time. The reason being, last year, when we did ask for increases to our budget, it took away from other areas within the department and that has really been felt within the communities.

Inclusive schooling, for example, I think the department is moving ahead. I know this year is the first year we are doing junior kindergarten. Some people may not be in favour of that, but in the smaller communities it has a huge impact. I know a lot of people are very thankful and positive about that and are looking forward to how it could work better.

The department is also doing very well with the Head Start program in many of the communities. It is very successful. I know one thing we need to do is add more training and that’s one area that can be done during the summer to prepare for next fall and I’m really looking forward to that. Thank you.

Committee Motion 18-17(5): Early Childhood Development Priorities, Defeated
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Thank you, Mr. Blake. To the motion. Minister Lafferty.

Committee Motion 18-17(5): Early Childhood Development Priorities, Defeated
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I fully agree with the Members that we need to invest into our early childhood and that’s exactly what we’re doing. We’re putting $8.2 million into this budget in ‘14-15 for early childhood development and learning. The majority of it, $5.1 million, is going towards daycare and day home subsidies, healthy children initiatives, small communities initiatives and also…(inaudible)…top-up.

These are key investments into our communities and I am fully supportive of that as well. Also, the Department of Health and Social Services deals with all these different deliveries into the communities to focus on zero to three, so we are working very closely with them to deliver those subsidies to support those zero to three years of age as well.

Mr. Chairman, not to elaborate further, I just want to highlight, we are currently in a process, once the budget is approved, $8.2 million will be going towards that to the communities. As this is direction to this government at this time, Cabinet cannot support this motion. Mahsi.

Committee Motion 18-17(5): Early Childhood Development Priorities, Defeated
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Thank you, Minister Lafferty. To the motion. Mr. Yakeleya.

Committee Motion 18-17(5): Early Childhood Development Priorities, Defeated
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a few comments to this. It’s really speaking about reallocating, and people are hearing us in the communities. We do that on a regular basis. We see that, we allocate a few dollars here and there, we do things that certainly we want to see projects in the communities. This is a statement from this side of the House to say that the Early Childhood Development Initiative that we have taken on and the government has been working towards is a top priority to meet the objectives of the 17th Assembly,

so what we are saying is that we, as a government, could do it. I have seen some amazing things on this side in the last 10 years, how money has been moved around, reallocations, coming up with new dollars to put this, if our minds are strong, towards it.

I do agree with the Minister that $8.2 million is a lot of money, but when you look at it, the overall number of communities, programs that we have to serve for early childhood development, it doesn’t seem quite enough. Of course, we are stretched with our dollars here.

I just want to say that this motion is talking about something that we always do as a government. It’s not something that cannot get done, it’s something that we want this Cabinet to look at work towards and see if we can meet our objectives. We all support early childhood development, just how we do this, we have disagreements about how we go about it. That’s all I want to say. Thank you.

Committee Motion 18-17(5): Early Childhood Development Priorities, Defeated
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. To the motion.

Committee Motion 18-17(5): Early Childhood Development Priorities, Defeated
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Some Hon. Members

Question.

Recorded Vote
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Question has been called. Call for a recorded vote. All those in favour, please stand.

Recorded Vote
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Doug Schauerte Deputy Clerk Of The House

Mr. Moses, Mr. Bromley, Mr. Yakeleya, Mr. Dolynny, Mr. Hawkins, Ms. Bisaro.

Recorded Vote
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

All those opposed, please stand.

Recorded Vote
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Doug Schauerte Deputy Clerk Of The House

Mr. Menicoche, Mr. Blake, Mr. Beaulieu, Mr. Abernethy, Mr. Miltenberger, Mr. McLeod – Yellowknife South, Mr. Lafferty, Mr. Ramsay, Mr. McLeod – Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Recorded Vote
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Votes are six for, nine against.

---Defeated

Committee, page 10-17, activity summary, Education, Culture and Employment, operations expenditure summary, $241.213 million. Mr. Moses.

Recorded Vote
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know the first round that I got through I focused a lot on early childhood development. I know when we give out our funding to our education authorities, being the Member that represents Inuvik Boot Lake and the Beaufort-Delta Education Authority and discussions and talking with both educators and staff, the amount of funding that they do get in that region alone, I’m not sure how the formula is given to the students, but in that area alone when we fund the Beaufort-Delta Education Authority it does have a very high cost associated to travel. So when we want educators or people from the authority to go into the communities, especially the coastal communities, there’s an added cost that really affects their budget and the amount of time they can go and support their teachers or go see how a school is doing. It does affect the budget. So it also affects the amount of programs that they might be able to do that year and might possibly be taking away positions within the authority that might otherwise be beneficial.

I think the department, when they do give out funding, has to have something in there that addresses the high cost of travel within the Beaufort-Delta region, and I’m sure it’s the same with the small communities in the other regions as well. I just want to ask the Minister how is that being addressed or looked at when we’re allocating dollars to these authorities. Thank you.

Recorded Vote
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Minister Lafferty.

Recorded Vote
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. As it stands now, I can only speak to how we’re contributing to the school boards. I do have a list of just over $146 million to the school boards and the Beaufort-Delta Divisional Education Council is top on the line. We give more money based on the enrollment and also the cost factor as well, as the Member alluded to, the high cost of living in the communities.

My deputy alluded earlier that we’ll be re-evaluating the funding formula to the schools. So this is an area that could change as we develop the discussion paper on whether we’re going to be changing the formula funding. That’s an area that we’re going to be discussing. So what I’m sharing with you is current to date and then that will obviously see some changes. Mahsi.

Recorded Vote
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Moses.

Recorded Vote
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you. I’m glad to hear that formula funding is something that’s going to be looked at and addressed. I think it’s long overdue because each authority only gets so many dollars to spend and when a lot of it goes into travel, that’s a lot taken out of the education components, the support components there.

Moving forward, one way that we can affect this is through a program that the Minister is very familiar with and that’s the e-learning program. I just wanted to make a little comment on the e-learning program. Committee has seen firsthand that program in action, seen the results that were given in a presentation, as well, to some Members on the increase of school marks as well as the options of doing academic classes that otherwise couldn’t have been done before. So just really amazing, innovative ways of educating our youth in the small communities. In the Beaufort-Delta there are seven of them that can be affected in a positive way. In the Sahtu there are four communities that can get this type of program delivered. In the North Slave about four or five. Then in the Deh Cho there would be four communities that could get on the e-learning system and we’d get high quality education to our youth in those small communities but also provide an academic course to these classes.

I know the Minister is aware of the e-learning program. It’s a great program. In fact we passed a bill in this House getting information using the e-learning system from students in Tuktoyaktuk, from the students and educators. So that e-learning system helped us pass legislation in this House. So, history, amazing.

I don’t know what to say any further, except that I do have a motion that I’d like to read into the House, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Recorded Vote
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Go ahead, read your motion.

Committee Motion 19-17(5): Expanding E-Learning Services, Defeated
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

February 26th, 2014

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.I move that this committee recommends that the government increase its allocation to fully fund the e-learning initiative currently provided and funded by the Beaufort-Delta District Education Council. Thank you.

Committee Motion 19-17(5): Expanding E-Learning Services, Defeated
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, Mr. Moses. A motion is on the floor. To the motion. Mr. Moses.

Committee Motion 19-17(5): Expanding E-Learning Services, Defeated
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Before I get into this motion specifically, the department and all Members of this Assembly have noticed that the Regular Members have introduced three motions particularly to this department. It’s not that we’re questioning their authority over what they’re doing, we just want to support the great things that are happening in education right now, early childhood development, child daycares and, in this case, the e-learning program.

We see what’s happening in the communities. We see how things are changing within the communities and throughout the Northwest Territories. This one in particular I think, the Beaufort-Delta is using its resources, a lot of its resources, actually, to get this education. I think last year it was four communities in the Beaufort-Delta. We want to set a goal of reaching all seven of those communities, but I mentioned earlier that we have communities that don’t have that type of education or the academic courses. We have four in the Sahtu, about four or five in the North Slave, four in the Deh Cho where this program can really do some wonders and have an impact on the education and the health and livelihood of our youth in the Northwest Territories.

As I mentioned, we did see the success of this program firsthand and we did pass a bill, the Education Act, we did an amendment to it, getting input from Tuk educators and students. Obviously, I brought this forward because we want to support the great work that the Beaufort-Delta Education Council is doing and the innovative style they are using to get this program into the places that need it, especially the coastal communities, they’re the next communities on the list and we want to look up and down the valley. We’ve got the fibre optic link coming in and going to be worked on and completed and that gives us a great opportunity to hit those communities in the Deh Cho, to hit those communities in the Sahtu and right across the Northwest Territories.

I don’t know what else to say, but I think that it’s an opportunity that we give the students from the smallest community to the biggest city here in Yellowknife equal opportunity, decent and quality education, and support our educators, support our

authorities that are making decisions at the regional levels and support the good work that the department does do, as well as support the work of standing committee and also of Members of this Legislative Assembly.

It is Education Week and it’s a great way to recognize the great work that’s going on out there. Thank you.

Committee Motion 19-17(5): Expanding E-Learning Services, Defeated
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, Mr. Moses. To the motion, Ms. Bisaro.

Committee Motion 19-17(5): Expanding E-Learning Services, Defeated
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to say that I do support this motion for a couple of reasons. One is that I have been able to personally see this initiative in action twice now and it is providing education at the high school level to communities that would not normally be able to get the range of courses that they are getting through the e-learning initiative.

Secondly, I think the fact that this is being fully funded by the Beau-Del District Education Council is patently unfair. This is an initiative on the part of this particular district education council and they are being funded on a per capita basis the way every other school board is being funded, and yet this is an initiative that is of huge benefit to the department because it’s affecting the schools within this particular district, but they are also wanting to expand into the Sahtu, so it’s not just for this particular education district.

The department has to realize that an initiative like this, the Beau-Del has spent a lot of money over the last three, four, five years to develop this particular program, and it really ought to be funded by the department. It shouldn’t be funded by the district education council.

Committee Motion 19-17(5): Expanding E-Learning Services, Defeated
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. To the motion. Mr. Blake.

Committee Motion 19-17(5): Expanding E-Learning Services, Defeated
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Frederick Blake Jr.

Frederick Blake Jr. Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I really support this e-learning initiative, and although we are asking for more funds here, I have been contacted by the Beaufort-Delta Education Council and they’re very excited for the coming year because they are getting an increase of $500,000. They’re really excited about that. I know the Sahtu is ready to come on board, and once that happens, I think that we could move forward on there and maybe increase it more next year, but at this time I can’t support this.