This is page numbers 5679 - 5712 of the Hansard for the 18th Assembly, 3rd 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 going. View the webstream of the day's session.

Topics

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

I am a bit confused because post-secondary education, of course, attendance is not mandatory at all. That is about the student actually applying for their own future. I don't think there is any post-secondary across Canada that makes attendance be a requirement. Like I said, though, there are requirements that say children who are over six and under 16 must be registered in school. Although it doesn't say they have to attend every day, they need to attend to be able to keep up and to be successful. It is an issue that we need to address. I am not willing to say it is parents. I am not willing to say it is because of residential schools. I am not willing to say it is teachers. What I am willing to say is that it is our issue as a society, and we have an obligation to take care of it. I am hoping that the Minister in the next Assembly will take this as a priority as I did and deal with this issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.

Daniel McNeely

Daniel McNeely Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As mentioned in my statement, I cut back on the questions here because I see a lot of answers in the Minister's statement for Education, Culture and Employment, and I was very impressed by the contents of that statement, which I will share with the Sahtu leaders. I see renewed vision in this statement, and that leads me to my first question, Mr. Speaker. In preparation for community engagements to the post-secondary framework final vision and goal, when is this material going to be made available? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We just finished collecting the data. I believe it was at the end of March, actually, that the survey was finished. We're compiling it. It was pretty open-ended, so it is a lot of work, actually, to get the 750. It wasn't just ticking off boxes. They were open-ended questions. We are compiling that now. We will be providing it within the next few months.

I feel that the best way of working in consensus government is actually working with committee. What I am proposing, and I haven't actually, but I'd be sending a letter to committee and asking them to meet with them to be able to look at the draft framework prior to, actually, a finalization. The more we work better together, the more effective our framework will be. You can expect that within the next couple of months, that I will be sending a letter to committee, and that we will be bringing this forward to do the work that we need to do. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Daniel McNeely

Daniel McNeely Sahtu

My next question is: is the Minister willing to make herself and staff available to, in the absence of this framework material, have engagements in Sahtu communities?

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

We do have regional representatives who are in the Sahtu who can actually make themselves available at any time that the MLA would like them to go in and to approach their community. Myself, though, as a Minister, might be a little bit tougher. I would have to check with my staff. My last review of my calendar says that I am booked up, and in fairness, I have even had to talk to other MLAs and say that I can't do constituency tours for four or five days, because I don't have that. I am working day and night and weekends now. We have a lot of work to do. I am willing to be available if I am available, but I don't think that I have more than one day available in my calendar per week going forward.

Daniel McNeely

Daniel McNeely Sahtu

Thanks for that reply. As mentioned earlier, if the Minister's party will include the Minister and staff, if the Minister is taken out of that party there, will the department heads look at travelling dates to the Sahtu communities to pass this message on? I see nothing about renewed vision, as I mentioned earlier, and getting that communication out to the communities is the gap that we need to fill in excelling the aspirations and good feeling of our students. When will the Minister make her staff available?

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

What I am hearing in that statement is that we are not doing a good enough job of actually getting out there and letting communities know. I do apologize for that if that is the truth. We do have regional representations. I will mandate that they actually get into the communities. All of them, not just the Sahtu. All of them should be going out and talking to Indigenous governments, municipal governments, principals, teachers, superintendents, et cetera, to be able to promote and answer any questions on their programs. If we are falling behind on that, I will make sure that that is a priority of mine, to make sure that our regional reps are getting into the communities and doing their jobs.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.

Daniel McNeely

Daniel McNeely Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I look forward to working with the Minister on a proposed schedule of dates and the individuals. Will the Minister commit to doing that, as well, so we can take advantage of the end of the school after graduation month in June, so that the message could come from the Yellowknife head office to the smaller communities? Thank you.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

I will commit to working with the MLA, but I also will commit to actually challenging the MLA to come to me and explain to me why, in his opinion, not on the floor here, but in his opinion, that our regional directors don't have that ability, because that is what their job is. I am willing to meet with the MLA and discuss why it should be that headquarters would have to go into the regions versus the people whom we have hired to do that. It might be a bigger issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the Minister of Education, considering that early childhood development is a very important way of doing business. I think that the numbers are that the government will save $7 to $10 on every dollar spent today of future money that could be spent on that particular youth or child.

I would like to ask the Minister a question about attendance. My understanding of attendance in junior kindergarten and kindergarten is that, initially, step one is that the students will decide whether or not they are going to attend. It is not compulsory that they attend. Step two is they do enrol, and they do attend, but they are not treated like the other students. Even if they are enrolled in junior kindergarten and kindergarten, they don't have to attend. Is that correct? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In all fairness, I mean, we try to get all children into programming, because the greater the chance of success, actually, if you do have early childhood intervention. The act is pretty clear, though. In 12(1) of the Education Act, it states that a child who is six or under -- and I am going to paraphrase a bit, because I have summarized this from the act, but that is the section. It might not be the exact. Children who are older than six and under 16, the act is very explicit, shall register for school. Then 19(3) says children may register if they are under that age.

What that says is that it is compulsory for children who are between six and 16 to register for school. Children who are outside of that age, under six or over 16, may, but they don't have to. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

There is no requirement for anyone under six to register, but my question is: if they choose to register at four and five, at that point, the registration is out of the way, are they treated like all other students insofar as attendance goes?

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

The act in section 27(1), again, I am going to paraphrase because I didn't write it all down. It says that children who are between the ages of six and 16 shall attend, and actually, there is a financial penalty if they don't attend. I believe it is $100; we don't want to make students afraid of school. It says that the parents shall ensure that the child attends, as well. Under that, there is nothing that says that they have to; so, no, children under six or over 16, it does not say that they shall attend.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

I am still not clear on, once the person does register, whether or not they have to attend school. I am going to ask the question a little bit differently. How does the funding work? If you have students who are JK and K in your school, I am assuming that it is a per capita funding for students. How does that work? If they register, but don't attend, are they counted in the funding?

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

The calculation of the funding for JK and kindergarten is the same, when it comes to people in seats, as the older grades, grade 1 to grade 12, and that is any child who is registered by the end of the beginning of the school year, end of September, I believe, that school or that school board or authority is provided funding for that child seat for the whole year. The calculation is done once a year at the end of September, and it carries forward through, and then it is done again at the next school year. Any child who moves in between there, if they register and they decide to drop out, or they don't attend regularly, that counts as actually still paid for that child to be there. It isn't a jeopardy for the schools, if the child does attend or not.

In saying that, though, I have made a commitment to look at the funding formula, do a complete review of it, and those things will be taken into consideration.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, assuming that the education system is beginning to engage students who are four and five years old, I'd like to ask the Minister if students four and five years old who don't register need to have a viable alternative?

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

No, at this point, I don't believe. I mean there could be other acts that I'm not aware of, but I do not believe, personally, that there is any act or law that says that a child that is not enrolled in junior kindergarten or kindergarten has to have a viable option. In fact, within our Income Support Program, one of our productive choices says that, if you're parenting a child under three, you can actually stay home with that child, because lots of research shows that the best early childhood development for a child is to actually have their family around and their parents, ideally, with supports. No, there isn't a requirement that, if your child is not in junior kindergarten, you have to have something else. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. Earlier today, I made a statement about land use planning in the Wek'eezhii management area. To be clear, while I take issue with why GNWT is picking up all the costs related to this effort, I support land use planning there. The Tlicho agreement refers to a land use planning body being established by agreement. Can the Minister of Lands tell us whether that body has been established, and what it is called? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.