This is page numbers 4285 - 4326 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 public.

Topics

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Mr. Speaker, I'll just work on the one question. We worked closely with the community in identifying a location for the Joe Greenland Centre and their preference was the existing location. So the demolition took place and the building is down. If all goes according to schedule, the elders should be able to move back in there in spring of 2015. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As a follow-up to my Member's statement, I am gravely concerned that we're not doing enough for our NGOs who provide critical services for the Northwest Territories. Further to this, our Executive website is now over a year old and provides no information for funding for the upcoming 2014-2015 fiscal year. We need a firm, renewed commitment from our government that sends a clear message to support our NGO sector. With that, I have questions today for the Premier.

Given the paired down Executive, which now has divested itself of devolution and the program review functions in the 2014-2015 Main Estimates, will the Premier commit to a renewed approach to NGO support and funding?

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm pleased to advise the Member that in addition to the $350,000 that he referenced, this government spends millions of dollars on third-party agencies. Not only that, through the Anti-Poverty Strategy we're going to put another $500,000 to put towards use for our NGOs. We have so many third-party agencies that we have a Third-Party Agencies Accountability Framework and to ensure consistency of dealing financially, we've developed criteria for determining the level of accountability and we use that accountability to determine the level of funding. Thank you.

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

Thank you. It's a given that we have many NGOs offering similar programs, sometimes overlapping mandates and duplication of synergies. What is the Premier prepared to do to assist these NGOs streamline their operation and stretch our funding dollars? Thank you.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

Thank you. The Government of the Northwest Territories does not prescribe NGO mandates or activities. What we do is we assist them. So with the NGO Stabilization Fund, for example, we provide short-term support to NGOs for governance, management, organizational development and extraordinary operations so that they can continue to provide the essential services.

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

Thank you. Will the Premier commit to developing an NGO support office similar to what we see with the BDIC, but which helps emergent NGOs get on their feet and address my earlier questions assisting existing NGOs streamline their operations and maximize their funding? Thank you.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

Thank you. Yellowknife used to have a storefront for voluntary organizations and it was not very well utilized. At the end of the day it was shut down, so we're using other processes to assist NGOs. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Premier share what the Department of Executive is doing right now, because their website is currently a little outdated, and what are they going to do to reach out and assist NGOs seeking funding for the upcoming 2014-2015 fiscal year? Thank you.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

I'm not sure when the Member checked the website, but I checked it today and it looked like it was updated. But for the Member's information, for 2013-14 there were 16 applications and 11 organizations were granted funding. For this upcoming year we have guaranteed that we will have our request for applications before the end of May and that we will have the money out before the end of July. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last week I had questions for the Minister of Education on junior kindergarten. I want to follow up with some questions about the funding for other programs that are going to be affected by junior kindergarten.

Has the Department of Education looked into the effects of taking four-year-olds out of the systems we have? I'll use Hay River as an example, obviously. We have a playschool, we have Growing Together and we have a Head Start program. These are programs that are affected by that, so I'm wondering if the department has looked into the effect of the enrolment in those departments by introducing junior kindergarten.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

The introduction of junior kindergarten this fall, the following year in Hay River is not meant to replace other high quality programming being delivered in Hay River, playschool or Head Start programming. We are providing families of the NWT with a high quality, affordable education option for four-year-olds.

The early childhood program continues to provide ongoing funding through all these licenced daycares and family day homes, as Members alluded to earlier. This also addresses where we have different pots of funding that I've highlighted in the House, I believe it was last week or the week before. Language Nest funding like the Small Communities Initiative, some Small Communities Initiative funding, Healthy Children Initiative funding. Part of the funding that we provide to licenced child care programming or licenced daycare programming is to offset the costs of operating, whether it be the day home or the licenced operators. We will continue to provide that funding to these establishments.

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

I guess the issue is if those organizations don't have four-year-olds, are they funded per capita or per student? How will they continue to exist? Will the enrolments be so declined that they will not be able to operate? Has the department looked at that enrolment and do they fund per student?

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

We made some changes to our early childhood programming and then based on the student attendance and the reporting mechanism and so forth. We're trying to make it easier for the licenced operators to function effectively and efficiently. Yes, my department, again, is working very closely with operators in the Northwest Territories, not only Hay River but other communities that have four-year-olds going into the school system, because we're fully aware that the planned focus will be zero to three, so that's the planned target. We're doing what we can to subsidize them with all the program subsidizations that we currently offer.

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

I've received information from one of the organizations, the Head Start program, that basically they had been informed that they are now a zero to three not a three/four, and I guess they're quite disturbed in the fact that they have been running this for over 20 years. They were asked to realign after the Department of Education has done that.

How can the Minister justify that we're changing the focus to zero to three when these organizations were established to do three to four?

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Early childhood consultants have been working with the operators throughout the Northwest Territories. We will continue to do so. These are just some of the areas that have been in discussion with the operators. We're offering a free junior kindergarten to the Northwest Territories and allowing more focus on the zero to three as we move forward this fall, the following year and also the third year phased approach. The free junior kindergarten has been offered as a free basis. It has been a fee-for-service in some of the communities. This is an opportunity for those individuals, the parents, the single parents that cannot afford junior kindergarten.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my experience, nothing is free in this world. The point is that the funding for the junior kindergarten is going to be from within and now it's affecting other organizations, other communities that have Head Start programs. My concern is that these Head Start programs and other organizations will fail. I'm just wondering: Has the department completely assessed this in their plan to launch junior kindergarten both in the small communities and in the larger centres?

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

This junior kindergarten is not new to us. We've been engaging the general public since the early start of the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative, the early childhood development, the framework itself now, engaging education renewal and innovation. There has been a lot of discussion pertaining to this, and yes, there is going to be an evaluation of what's needed at the community with those operators, what kind of subsidies will be required, and we will continue to subsidize them. We will continue to strengthen that. We don't want to see operators losing out. Those are just some of the discussions and our early childhood consultants are working very closely with the operators.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Nadli.

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. I think I've raised this matter on water treatment plants in the House on numerous occasions. A particular highlight is in Kakisa. Because they don't have a water treatment plant, people have to schedule their lives around water delivery and perhaps it sometimes could be delivered today, and so people have to make due with perhaps a 250 gallon tank that could last until Friday. Other examples are recently ITI had invested with the community a fish plant, and it was noted that the operations would probably be contingent on a water supply.

With those in mind, what are the barriers to establishing a local water treatment plant in Kakisa? If I could pose that to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.