Thank you, Ms. Eggenhofer. Mr. Dolynny.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the deputy minister’s reply on that. To the subject of daycares, daycare operators in general and the communication and interaction with the department. There have been, I guess, some barriers to that in the past, as a Member trying to facilitate a better collaboration with our daycare providers. What is the department prepared to do in this upcoming year to reach out to daycare providers in the Northwest Territories to engage them in a fulsome discussion, talk about their issues, engage with them in terms of what’s best for them and best practices? Is there a plan of action that we can share with those of us who have daycare providers in our riding that our department is going to be there for them this year?

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister Lafferty.

Mr. Chair, most certainly. The daycare operators have been actively involved, giving us feedback and advice on these recommendations that were brought to our attention, and we want them to be involved along the way, as well, as part of our working partners. There is a communication plan, obviously, being drafted, as well, how can we best approach those stakeholders. We will share what we have on file, what we’ve developed with the standing committee so they can share with the operators, because we want them on board as well. If we are making changes and additions to what’s been highlighted

here as part of recommendations, we need to hear their perspective as well.

Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Next on my list I have Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m going to continue on with some questions about daycare from where Mr. Dolynny left off. With regard to the review, it’s going to be completed fairly soon, I gather. The end of the month, I think I heard the DM say. I asked some questions of the Minister, I can’t remember, within the last couple of weeks, in the House about consultation and what consultation was undertaken for this review. I asked the Minister if operators had been consulted, and I think he advised yes. Then I asked who those operators were. Can I get, from the Minister or the department, an indication of the names of some of the operators that were consulted, because from what I hear, they weren’t.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Deputy Minister Eggenhofer.

Thank you, deputy Minister. Ms. Bisaro.

Thanks, Mr. Chair, and thanks to the deputy minister. I haven’t seen the response. If it’s been written, it hasn’t gotten to my desk yet, so I’ll look forward to that.

I wanted to ask a question, as well, with regard to the training that Aurora College does for early childhood educators. I’ve not managed to figure out exactly the length of the program and I guess the viability of people who are educated under that program if they transfer to another jurisdiction.

My first question would be: What is the length of the Early Childhood Educator Program that we deliver through Aurora College? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. We’re just looking for detailed information on the actual delivery through Aurora College. There have been some programs in addition to what we’ve had before, where we had certification in early childhood programming. Through our southern institution partners, we’ve also been involved and engaged with developing diploma programming. That’s still in the early stages. Those are just some of the discussions that we’re currently having. We’re just trying to get the most detailed information from the college, what they currently deliver, and we can provide that information to the Members.

In the absence of that information, I’m not sure if this question will also be able to be answered. It’s my understanding that the program delivered by Aurora College doesn’t meet national standards for sure. I don’t know if it meets the standards in any other Canadian jurisdiction besides the NWT. If somebody is educated and receives an early childhood diploma or certificate, whatever it is that we produce through Aurora College, how portable is that certificate or that diploma when they go to another jurisdiction, Alberta or Ontario or Quebec for instance? How does our program stack up against other programs across the country, provincially but also nationally? Thank you.

Mr. Chair, obviously we want our Aurora College programming to be adaptable and comparable to southern institutions. That’s why it’s key to have key partners involved with delivering these core early childhood programs, even through our venues of Aurora College campuses and throughout the Northwest Territories. We’ve had this discussion. It was brought up in this House, certification diploma programming. That’s when we came out with the different initiatives on staff grant money and the scholarships. Based on scholarships, obviously we want to attract those individuals to come back to the North who are taking either diploma or degree programming in early childhood in southern institutions, for them to come back. We’re working very closely with the college to identify those key programs, whether they be certification or diploma. We want it to be recognized inter-provincially across Canada, even through my other portfolio as labour market. Even provincial jurisdictions are recognizing those other college programs as well.

We want to deliver a program that’s recognizable by other provincial jurisdictions. That’s our overall target. I will get my deputy to elaborate a bit more on the dual credit for early childhood studies. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Deputy Minister Eggenhofer.

Thank you, deputy minister. Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m pleased to hear that there’s an uptake on that dual track or whatever course that you talked about. The Minister, in his response, totally used future tense. We want to be portable. We want to be equal. I’d like to know where we stand right now, whether our early childhood education certificate – I think it’s a certificate – whether it equates to any other certificate or diploma or degree elsewhere in the country. If it does not, when are we going to get to the status that the Minister referred to in the future? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Deputy Minister Eggenhofer.

Thank you, deputy minister. Next I have Mr. Bromley on the list.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’ll just follow up on a couple of things. On the last series of questions, I think the relevance is we are putting in place early childhood development programs knowing that we don’t have a lot of expertise here. The last time I looked, our graduates from ECE programs at Aurora College did not meet federal standards. It sounds like some work was done and we decided we can’t afford that. That’s unfortunate, but I do appreciate the effort to support, through scholarships, early childhood students who choose to pursue those qualifications through other routes. It would be nice to try and build that here when we can.

Also, on the ALBE programs, I want to reiterate the concerns that Ms. Bisaro had put forward last time we chatted on this page. I think had this been an Auditor General report, then last year they would have been all over this with a second report saying, “What the heck is going on here?” There’s been no response. In this case, it was our own Program Review Office that did the analysis in a sort of parallel mode to the Auditor General, and they said we have serious issues here. We don’t have a clue what’s going on, and four years later we don’t see things happening. It’s very, very disappointing.

Moving on to the culture and heritage division, I see that they oversee the Aboriginal Languages Secretariat. Is that a new role? How does that work? Typically this has been run by the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, our cultural programs, but is this new? How is this working? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Lafferty.