Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Yellowknife South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to recognize all the students who are here today, in particular, Maurissa Antle, a constituent from Yellowknife South. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. I, too, would like to welcome all the students who are here with us today. Good luck with your studies. Make us proud. Also, to those who we may not have mentioned today, welcome. It is always nice to have an audience as part of our proceedings. Masi. Item 6, acknowledgements. Member for Sahtu.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to acknowledge the late Gordon Lennie, who passed on at the age of 69 on the September 9th day of this year.

Gordon did not take nature for granted; he worked to make sure his passion was being protected. Gordon was involved politically with the NWT Metis Association and the Metis Heritage. He also co-authored a book called The Fiddle and the Sash: A history of the Metis of the NWT. Mr. Speaker, his most important love was his children. Gordon was a well-respected bush man who will always be remembered. Mahsi.

Masi. Our condolences to the family as well, and also to the region. Acknowledgments. Item 7, oral questions. Member for Nunakput.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier I spoke about North American Indigenous Games, and my questions are for the Minister of MACA. Mr. Speaker, my first question is: can the Minister advise how the Aboriginal Sports Circle of the NWT uses the funding it receives from the GNWT for the North American Indigenous Games? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Aboriginal Sports Circle receives $663,000. That money was to support Team NWT at NAG. Most of the money actually was spent for team travel. It is expensive to send people from the northern communities and pay for their accommodations while they are down there. Some of the money was used for territorial sports organizations. They were provided grants so that they could complete the selection of their teams for the games, and that is how the money was utilized. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I appreciate the clarification. Mr. Speaker, my next question is: for the next North American Indigenous Games, how will the department support and improve long-term planning in athlete development?

The next Northern Indigenous Games are actually in Winnipeg in 2020, so in the meantime, we are actually doing a sector-wide strategy with all of the stakeholders, sports and recreation organizations to look at gaps, to look at areas that we are duplicating, to look at areas that we could improve. Part of that is looking at how to get more participation for all residents of the Northwest Territories. The other thing that we are doing within that strategy is we will also be implementing the Truth and Reconciliation recommendations surrounding sports, as well.

It is good to see that long-term planning is getting under way. I know the year before, the planning was maybe about three or four months ahead. I think long-term planning for Indigenous youth and participation will help youth in remote communities. Mr. Speaker, my final question is: in what other ways does Municipal and Community Affairs support their participation of Indigenous youth in sports?

The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs recognizes that physical literacy, physical activity, is actually something that we need to be promoting with youth from the very beginning until actually when people pass on. There are a number of ways that we actually support, specifically for Indigenous children and youth. We support the Aboriginal Sport Circle, which was stated with nearly $1 million for sports programming. That includes the traditional Indigenous Games, including the annual school championships that they do. We support them with canoeing, lacrosse, and archery, snowshoe making, the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships, and an annual awards program. These programs are specifically for Indigenous youth, but we also have programs that are offered for all youth, and all youth includes Indigenous youth, too. Like I said, that starts from the very young. Things like the After-School Physical Activity Program that gives funding for schools to support their things. We give things right from there to our high-performance athletic grants that we provide.

We also do things that often people don't see as related to promoting youth in sports, but we do. The Youth Ambassador Program and the NWT Youth Leadership Strategy are all about role modelling, and role modelling health living, and part of healthy living is to actually take part in physical activities. We support activities from birth till the end, and we will continue to do so.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to follow up on my Member's statement, and I have some questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Mr. Speaker, I must be very honest with you, I'm gravely concerned that the teachers and the social work programs are in peril no matter what the review process or the outcome is. The Minister has repeatedly stated that the programs have limited success but great expense and that they're not having the intended results, but I'd like further clarification. Mr. Speaker, what issues did the department expressly identify in these programs and when did they do so? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think we've gone through this discussion over time, at our last session as well, that decisions were made and we're moving forward in the best interests of students, in the best interests of education in the Northwest Territories and post-secondary. We continue to support our students here in the North at Aurora College programming, the two programs in particular that were discussed. We continue to support the students from our department as well as through Aurora College to make sure that the students who are in those two programs will succeed, will become workers of the GNWT hopefully, and we continue to support them. I think we've had this discussion long enough that decisions were made and the fact that we're moving forward in the best interests of the students and our education in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Minister for his words. I don't know that he answered my question, but we'll move on to my next one. Mr. Speaker, I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to throw the baby out with the bathwater. If something isn't working, I try to fix it. What did the department and Aurora College do to address the issues identified in these programs before they proposed eliminating them altogether?

The Aurora College and the Department of Education, Culture and Employment continue to work together on a regular basis to review programs that are offered at three of our campuses, as well as our community learning centres, and we continually work to support and improve programs and student outcomes throughout those three campuses as well as our community learning centres. I'm going to continue to do that work and work together to make sure that we have the best interests of our students and our education in the Northwest Territories.

I thank the Minister for his words. Again, he didn't answer the question, and I feel like it's going to be similar to what the rec leaders program did, was they kept on moving it and then they got rid of it, so I'll move on to my next set of questions.

Mr. Speaker, under the current timeframe the review will not be completed until March 31, 2018, and recommendations won't be addressed until next fall business plan for 2019. Students and other residents have asked me to help them find out what is going on. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister advise the House what will happen to the teachers and social work program in the 2018-2019 school year and before the review results can be implemented?

As I've stated earlier, we continue to support the students in the TEP program as well as the social work program. We will continue to commit to making sure that they have every opportunity to succeed here in the Northwest Territories at Aurora College, but also students who are getting an education down south. That we're going to commit to making sure that our students have every opportunity to succeed in whatever programs they're registered in, Mr. Speaker.

I can't speculate at this time what the review is going to say and what those recommendations are going to be, but when we do get those recommendations we will formulate a departmental response and we will share it with committee.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for his answer. Mr. Speaker, I understand the department is also currently working on the funding and accountability framework for Aurora College. How can work on accountability framework proceed when potential fundamental changes to the college are being contemplated? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Nationally there are standard performance measures such as number of enrolments, graduations, and student satisfaction that can be used for existing and future programs. I recognize that a new accountability framework will need to be informed by the foundational review, and that's where we are heading moving forward. In the interim, the department will continue to work with the college to advance this work, but also work with the college on how do we best serve our students in the Northwest Territories who decide to get educated here in the North. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.