Thank you, Minister. Deputy Minister.

Thank you, Deputy Minister. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Madam Chair. If I can get those numbers of exactly where the money lands after the applications are decided on? Next area I would like to talk about is the heritage centres. I think, in there, we are talking about emerging heritage centres. I think about Hay River with our little centre there. Does the department encourage the preservation of artifacts in the local and regional communities, and how so? Hay River, for instance, I will use that as an example. We have had people bringing in artifacts and different items, and we store them there. The funding that I see that you have allocated here is $491,000, which doesn't appear to be a lot of money. Is that for Yellowknife, or is that for other organizations or communities, as well? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister.

That is distributed to heritage centres outside of Yellowknife. For example, Hay River received $60,000 a year; I believe Norman Wells receives $118,00; Fort Simpson, $55,000; Fort Smith, $198,000; and, actually, the Yellowknife Historical Society received $60,000 of that. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think part of our priorities is tourism and increasing tourism outside Yellowknife. Is the department going to look at increasing the amount of funds going to these regional centres? Again, I will use Hay River as an example. The heritage centre had applied for $180,000, but that was through ITI. They got it knocked down to less than half. I am wondering if they can go to one pot and to the other, which might be this one, to get some more money, because I think there is a real opportunity there on the tourism side in the smaller communities, but we have to have something to give the tourists when they arrive. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister.

Thank you. We are definitely putting thought into that. Our mandate is very heavy on increasing tourism outside of Yellowknife, helping build up local tourism infrastructure. That isn't specifically through ECE, but we all work together. The arts strategy is also going to look at how we can build on the strengths in the different communities. The regional economic plans that I think are happening throughout the departments will also inform that.

In Hay River, there is a great facility. It is an old building, and it needs some capital work. It would be a shame to just see that place shut down because they didn't have that funding, because they see a lot of people come through those doors every year. I take the Member's point that we need to support those types of organizations that do drive tourism. When people leave and they tell their friends about Hay River, I am sure they always speak about the museum. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. That is my concern, that building is old, not that old. I worked in there when I was 12 years old. Anyway, it does need work. There are a lot of good things in there. There is a lot of participation, a lot of volunteers. We have also expanded. The operation has been expanded to include a part of the old Hay River hotel, which needs work, and more room, as well, for artifacts or for crafts and for those type of items. I would encourage your department and the Cabinet, as well, to look at how we can maybe provide more funding to the regions to expand. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister.

Thank you. There are always plans to do more. It often comes down to money. The government has been supportive of that centre. The Member mentioned the old Hay River hotel. That was donated by the GNWT. I believe there is a marine vessel that is making its way over to that museum at some point in the near future, as well. That came from the GNWT. We are contributing where we can, but I agree with the Member that it would be nice if we could do more to support those organizations. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Members, are there any further questions for this key activity, culture, heritage and languages? Seeing none, I am going to call the page. Education, Culture and Employment, culture, heritage and languages, operations expenditure summary, 2020-2021 Main Estimates, $18,613,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. Committee, we will now turn to page 40. Early childhood and school services, beginning on page 40 with an information item on page 44. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. This time around, I might start at the bottom of the page. I have the same question in regard to travel here. I am wondering if the Minister would mind speaking to the changes in travel costs. Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister.

Thank you. Recently, we started working with the territorial support team, which is a group of professionals centred in Yellowknife. There are three positions right now, and they assist teachers in schools with instructions for children with higher needs. There is a speech pathologist, occupational therapist, and a mental health specialist, and they travel around the territory to the schools to do visits. They also offer remote support through telephone, email, et cetera, but that's what that increase is reflective of. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I am very supportive of this initiative, and I'm wondering if there are plans within Education, Culture and Employment's long-term strategy to expand this program to other regions of the Northwest Territories so that, for example, they have a team based out of Inuvik? Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister.

Thank you. That would be ideal. That is what we would hope for, that we could have these supports in every community, or every region, at least, but the fact is that it's expensive. The cost of travel would be dwarfed by the cost of having these people in all of these regions. I'm not sure if that answers the question. We would love to, but it's not feasible at this point. Thank you.