Mahsi. Once the evaluations in occurrence, once it’s completed, by all means we’ll be sharing that with committee.

Thanks to the Minister for that commitment. I wanted to ask some questions about inclusive schooling, and I’m going to kind of follow-up where Mr. Hawkins left off. I’m really disappointed to hear the deputy minister say that we cannot fund inclusive schooling by need. It’s a statement that this will not happen. My understanding is we currently fund per capita or per student, but I also have an understanding that there is supposed to be, and I think it’s been about a year and a half now we’ve been hearing about a review of the inclusive schooling funding formula.

So the deputy minister indicated that the report on the inclusive schooling review is supposed to be coming in May, but when I hear a flat-out statement that we can’t fund based on need and that we haven’t got the review yet, that really sends up a flag for me and suggests that the decision has already been made. I have to point out that it may be difficult to fund on need and it may be difficult to establish need in communities, but there are many ways of doing it. You don’t have to have an expert in every community in the NWT. We certainly have planes and we can fly people in and out. We certainly have planes and we can fly children in and out. I need to point out that there are magnet communities in the NWT and those communities with services attract students with special needs and those communities who attract students with special needs do not get funded to the level that they need to be to properly allow for the assistance that are required for certain students.

So I sincerely hope that what I heard is not what has already been decided. I hope that once the report is done that there will be an opportunity for committee to have some input, for school boards to have some input. I would like to just ask the Minister, when this report comes out in May, is it going to be a done deal, or is there an opportunity for input from Members and all other stakeholders? Thank you.

Mahsi. When it comes to inclusive schooling, this is what we have to date. There’s legislation that we have to follow, but we are listening to the Members. That’s the very reason we’ve listened to the Members, now we’re going to reviewing. We’re reviewing the inclusive schooling. So we want to make changes that reflect on the students’ needs as well. Based on the review, based on the input from the school boards, the school boards will be actively involved and will give us options to make some decisions if this is going to be based on students’ needs, the community’s needs and so forth. So we’re seeking out that information and it will be coming in May. We will be addressing this with the standing committee prior to May on the information that’s been compiled. We can obviously present that to standing committee, get their input and then develop some action plans towards that.

The school boards are actively involved, they will be actively involved and the review will give us some options. Mahsi.

Thanks to the Minister for that info. I’m struck by the Minister saying that the school boards will be involved. I would hope that in doing any review that there would have been some canvassing of the people that are providing programs and running inclusive schooling. If that hasn’t been done then I have to say I can’t put much credence in the report or the review that is coming forward.

I’d like to ask a question about the amount of school contributions. On page 10-17 if I look at the ‘14-15 Main Estimates it indicates about $131.7 million and yet I go to the next page and education authority contributions are $152 million. So can I get an explanation of what the difference is, what are the school contributions on page 17, what are the school contributions on page 19? Thank you.

Mahsi. When I say school boards, it would consist of those experts that are in the field, the professions. So it was generic when I said school boards, but they will be involved with the professionals and experts in the field. I’ll get Ms. Martin to elaborate a bit on the difference between $131 million or $150 million, or Mr. Heide.

Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Mr. Heide.

Thank you, Mr. Heide. Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks to Mr. Heide for that. Okay, having learned that, that’s great. That’s kind of what I thought, but my other concern, I guess, or lack of understanding, is that on page 10-35 we have another number, a different number again. We’ve got 148. So from 152 to 148, can I understand what the difference is there. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. We’ll give the Minister a second here. Mr. Heide.

Mr. Heide, the Member indicated page 10-35. Mr. Heide.

Thank you, Mr. Heide. Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think my time is up.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. I’ll just give you one final supplementary to this question. Ms. Bisaro.

I don’t know, Mr. Chair. I wasn’t quite ready for that. I think I’ll just leave it at that. I appreciate the explanation and I think I knew that and had forgotten. So I’ll have further questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Again, I’m moving on with the second round of questioning. I have Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to ask the Minister about the involvement of elders in our schools. If the Minister could just briefly let me know which schools have elders in their schools and where the funding is coming from. If he could provide me with the department’s plans of ensuring that all the schools will have the best opportunity to bring elders into their schools.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister Lafferty.

Beginning in 2013-14, we launched territorial Elders in Schools programming dedicating just over $400,000 to ensure the elders are actively involved through NWT schools. Our contribution is to the school boards and they decide how many elders will be hired based on the numbers. Some are larger populations and some smaller. This is also a first for us. Obviously, over time this number will increase. We know the hours elders will be working in school will be minimal with $400,000, but it will be increased over time. Mahsi.

I want to ask the Minister how many schools and school boards on record have elders in schools. I know he provided funding. I appreciate that. That’s a drop in the bucket. I want to know how many schools today. What are his plans? Can he provide the plans to us?

As I stated, part of our contribution is to all school boards. There are approximately 37 communities, but we deal with all the school boards, the $400,000. At their discretion,

they hire elders on an as-needed basis, as well, so this is an initial step for us as a department. We’ve never had this before. We feel we need to have more presence in our school systems. Our prime focus is increasing this over time. Mr. Chair, all I can say at this point is our contribution is towards all the school boards. Currently, we have 37 communities that are accessing it. Obviously, we want all schools to be captured. Mahsi.

So, Mr. Chair, the funding has gone to the school boards. Is that correct?