Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Public Engagement

The committee held public meetings in Yellowknife, Inuvik, and Hay River, advertising these through newspaper, radio, and social media, and held its public clause-by-clause review in Yellowknife on May 25, 2017. Both Yellowknife meetings were also streamed live through the Legislative Assembly's Facebook page, receiving more than 1,000 views together. We have also received 237 written submissions and completed a media scan, and have published related correspondence with the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. These are available on the committee's web page on the Assembly website.

Outside our review of Bill 16, we previously received public witness presentations and written submissions on junior kindergarten, and also held a public meeting in December of 2016. The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment has made a number of commitments in response to collaboration between the committee and himself. We thank him for this and for his department's continuing work.

The Status Quo is Not an Option

We are all stakeholders in education. Between 28,500 and 36,700 jobs will be opened over the next 15 years, with 78 per cent of those requiring post-secondary education and/or significant work experience. Yet we are currently ill-equipped to meet this demand. Although overall graduation rates have risen, low rates in small communities continue to decline, while school attendance, achievement, competitiveness, and resourcing weigh heavily on Northerners' minds. Mr. Mike Harlow, president of the Children First Society board in Inuvik, said, "The last thing this region needs is reduced spending on education. The reality is that we need jobs. We don't have jobs, so the best investment in this region is education."

Ms. Elizabeth-Ann McKay, chair of the Fort Resolution District Educational Authority and who travelled from Fort Resolution to Hay River to address the committee, said, "When new things are proposed, it never comes with a price tag. We're struggling. There's no new money. We're getting more reductions from the GNWT...education, being the key priority, needs to be really looked at and funded accordingly." Mr. Adrien Amirault, executive director of the Northwest Territories Teachers' Association, spoke in favour of the bill and advised the committee that, "The status quo is not an option." Other witnesses, although speaking against the bill, also argued that current practices do not suffice. Our role as legislators is to consider views brought forward by those "on the ground" in tandem with proven best practices to assess whether Bill 16 will ultimately bring the territory closer to the change we need.

ISSUES

The Role of Standing Committees

With rare exception, bills creating or amending legislation cannot become law without referral to the appropriate standing committee for review. Several witnesses echoed the committee's own feeling that, with Bill 16, the department has presumed upon the committee. The bill's unorthodox progress has also made it difficult for interested parties to participate in consensus government. Witnesses in Yellowknife and Hay River questioned the purpose of the committee's review if, as the department has previously indicated, the proposed changes will proceed regardless. Either the department found tolerable the risk of being able to deliver only a fraction of the "up to 100 hours" committed to during negotiations with the NWTTA, or it presumed the committee would accommodate the legislative needs required to fulfill the government's bargaining promises. Neither is acceptable to the committee.

School Funding Formulas

We repeatedly heard that new programs like JK cannot be implemented without adequate funding. Although the GNWT has committed to "fully fund" the cost of JK implementation in the 13 communities that do not currently offer the program, the department acknowledges that its funding formulas are tools to determine funding allocations, not tools to determine the adequacy of those allocations. JK funding falls short.

To implement JK, schools are expected to stretch Inclusive Schooling and Aboriginal Language and Culture-based Education funding for 13 grades (K to 12) across 14 grades (JK to 12). Indeed, although the department funds inclusive schooling above the legislated minimum, territorial board chairs have already flagged this funding as insufficient and in continued decline. They have collectively called on the department to restore it to 2012 levels. Although the department previously suggested JK students following a play-based curriculum may require less support, ECE's data on resident children's school readiness contradicts this claim. Significant transportation costs are also anticipated. Mr. David Wasylciw, president of the Northwest Territories Montessori Society, also expressed concern that the department's intention to fund JK at a pupil-to-teacher ratio (PTR) of 12:1 is not enshrined in legislation and so lacks staying power. Because an amendment related to PTR would fall outside the scope of the bill and so be ruled out of order, the committee sought the Minister's commitment that JK be funded at a ratio of 12:1 or better for at least the life of the 18th Assembly. The Minister has made this commitment and pledged to share current school funding formulas with the committee. For this, we thank him.

The committee also sought the Minister's commitment to assess JK-specific inclusive schooling, Aboriginal language and culture-based education, and transportation costs and to bring forward a supplementary appropriation bill in the next sitting to ensure adequate funding for these services in in the 2017-2018 school year. Revision of current funding formulas would be required for surety beyond 2017-2018. In partial response, the Minister has committed to seek increases to inclusive schooling funding should current funding prove insufficient and that the department will cover transportation costs when those costs are determined. We thank him for these commitments and will continue to press for truly full funding in the outstanding items. I would now like to turn the report over to my colleague, the MLA for Mackenzie Delta.