Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is reassuring that there is a commitment in terms of working with communities. My final question is: how are Deh Cho parks tied into Aboriginal tourism initiatives in the NWT? Mahsi.

Aboriginal tourism is a great initiative that ITI has put forward. We will continue to work with anyone who accesses this program. There are a couple of initiatives there for community governments to access that. As I have said, the Department of ITI will continue to work with everybody, be it Aboriginal tourism, communities, Aboriginal governments, residents of the Northwest Territories, on how we can enhance and use our parks to the best benefit to the residents of the Northwest Territories and all the visitors that come here. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier today I spoke about food security and mostly around economic opportunities, as well as driving down the cost of living, but we also know that food security is very important to us as it relates to our health and well-being and our nutrition, to all of our communities here, in the North.

My questions today are for the Minister of Health, and I would like to ask the Minister if the Department of Health has any kind of policy or strategy currently in place as it relates to food security and nutrition? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when it comes to nutrition in the Northwest Territories, the Department of Health and Social Services through Public Health is trying to educate people across the Northwest Territories on healthy choices, healthy eating, and how it relates to overall health and well-being.

As far as a food security policy, we don't have a food security policy within the department. We're more focused on education and having people understand the value and importance of eating good food. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

That's interesting to know, because I think that as a territory in understanding food security we need to kind of get off just nutrition and understand a little bit better what the broader scope of food security is. To that effect, I'll just talk about food in general.

Does the Minister know some of the challenges, or I'll refer to it as "gaps," that are currently in food security as a determinant of health for First Nations communities, particularly in the area of nutrition?

I don't think we are differing in our opinions around the broader scope of food security and the value of that as it supports health for residents across the Northwest Territories. As I said, we focus on encouraging people to live healthy lifestyles. We do that through our Healthy Family programs. We do that through the education that we are supporting in the Department of Education in the schools around healthy living, healthy eating, and the value of nutrition.

Mr. Speaker, in the information that we provide across the Northwest Territories when we are attending our health fairs or our community health fairs, we are also talking about traditional foods and eating the foods that are available in our communities, whether it is wildlife or some of the other product that grows in the territory, so we're trying to encourage people to live their traditional means when it comes to food, as well.

We understand as a government that there are food security issues and challenges across the Northwest Territories. ITI has been progressive in supporting different programs to help start up community gardens and other mechanisms to get kids out hunting, get people pursuing game when appropriate, when it's available. I know we are facing challenges around caribou. Those things exist, and we are working together as a government. It's not just one department. It has to be all departments working together.

I thank the Minister for his reply. He is doing a good job today at answering forthcoming questions. I want to thank the Minister because he, in fact, did answer my question, which was about what contribution traditional knowledge is playing in food security. I am glad to hear that a number of the initiatives that they are putting out with regard to educating folks on nutrition and good health and well-being is around traditional foods, especially for our First Nations communities. That is very welcomed commentary from the Minister, and it is well appreciated. Thank you, Mr. Speaker

I heard that as a comment. Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of ECE. Mr. Speaker, in his statement today, the Minister said, and I quote, "we will make the money they need to implement junior kindergarten available to them when it is needed." Could the Minister please tell me what the phrase, "when it is needed" means? Thank you.

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Those discussions, we are having right now with the departments and all the boards. If it is needed this fall, we will make sure that that funding is available, as I mentioned in the statement. We could be coming back for a sup to make sure that funding is available. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Is the Minister aware that hiring and layoff plans need to be in place by the end of March? Money will need to be in place to make those decisions. Is the Minister aware of that?

As I mentioned, staff at the department have been meeting with the superintendents to make sure that it is a smooth transition as we roll out junior kindergarten moving forward. All those are being discussed right now, as I mentioned earlier.

The district education authorities and school boards were looking at making a cut of 3.6 per cent to their budget for the next school year in order to fund junior kindergarten from within. Now the government is fully funding junior kindergarten, will this cut be necessary?

As a government, we fund all our education authorities to the tune of about $152 million. What they do with that money is decisions based on the board. That is something that the board is going to have to make, that decision, moving forward.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I didn't hear an answer to my question. My question is whether the school boards will still be required to use their own resources to implement junior kindergarten as they were required to do prior to the budget being announced last week, including a cut of 3.6 per cent of their K to grade 12 funding. Is this cut still going to be necessary now that full funding for JK is in place? Thank you.

As we have all heard here, this government is committed to fully funding junior kindergarten. The reductions that the Member is asking is a decision on the school boards themselves, and that is something that they are going to have to go back and look at. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned, we have staff at the department, after this announcement was made, reaching out to the superintendents as well as the school boards to start having those discussions about safety, about busing. Those discussions, as I mentioned, are happening right now, so we are going to have to wait to see what comes out of that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.