Debates of March 3rd, 2020

This is page numbers 437 - 482 of the Hansard for the 19th Assembly, 2nd 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.

Topics

Oral Questions

Members Present

Prayer

Promoting Importance of Oral Health

Trades Apprenticeships

Northwest Territories Housing Corporation Policy on Rent Scales

Whati Housing Plan

Affirmative Action Policy

Health System Navigator

Regulatory Change to Improve Preventative Oral Health

Implementation and Promotion of Environmental Rights Act

Indigenous Languages Promotion and Revitalization

Ms. Green's Reply

Trades Apprenticeships

Rent Scale Policy Review

Anti-Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) Legislation

Process Convention

Affirmative Action Policy

Promoting Indigenous Official Languages

Oral Health Report

Arnica Inn Transitional Housing Project

Review of Rent Scale Policy on Income Verification

Full-time Psychologist for Children and Youth for Treatment Centre

Written Question 6-19(2): Educational Facilities

Tabled Document 47-19(2): "Our Ever Awesome NWT Brushing Song!" Book by Richard Van Camp and Neiva Mateus

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Tabled Document 30-19(2): Main Estimates 2020-2021 - Justice - Deferral of Further Consideration of the Estimates for the Department of Justice

Tabled Document 30-19(2): Main Estimates 2020-2021 - Education, Culture and Employment - Deferral of Further Consideration of the Estimates for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, carried

Report Of Committee Of The Whole

Orders Of The Day

Committee Motion 3-19(2): Tabled Document 30-19(2): Main Estimates 2020-2021 - Justice - Deferral of Further Consideration of the Estimates for the Department of Justice, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Macdonald

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, just to build on what the Minister said, the teachers are employed by the various education bodies across the territory, so ECE does not participate in the hiring process or exit process for those individuals. However, we do conduct teacher surveys to help understand what types of issues are working for them, as well as where their challenges may be. In fact, in that recent education renewal and innovation evaluation, as well as in that STIP evaluation, there were teacher survey components to that, so that we could help understand what some of the challenges were that our teachers were experiencing. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

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The Chair Rocky Simpson

Thank you, Mr. MacDonald. Next, we have the Member for Yellowknife Centre.

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Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a number of questions that relate to early learning and childcare. I understand that the three-year agreement of federal money to create new spaces and lower fees is just about ready to expire at the end of this month. Can the Minister say what was achieved in the first three years of this agreement? Thank you.

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The Chair Rocky Simpson

Thank you, Member. Minister.

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R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you. That's a good question, and those are the kinds of questions that we have to answer every time we spend money, what was actually achieved by this. This is a difficult file, in many ways, because there are so many barriers to improving access and affordability. Some of those are the fact that it's difficult to find people to do this work, and so, you know, wage subsidies that are offered through this program help to retain employees for daycares who may have otherwise not continued to be employed. Is that concrete evidence? Perhaps we need to do a better job of evaluating this. I can go to my deputy minister for some more information. Thank you.

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The Chair Rocky Simpson

Thank you, Minister. Deputy Minister.

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Mueller

Thank you very much. For this past three-year agreement, we really focused on trying to strengthen many of the programs that we had. For example, some of the initiatives were really around instructor training, trying to ensure that all of our licensed early childhood practitioners had opportunities for training in a variety of ways, in ways that they did not necessarily have before. We also focused on developing culturally appropriate materials, age-appropriate materials for all of our licensed centres, and ensuring that they had that consistently across all programs, which, normally, in the past, some of them would not have been able to have access to. We also really looked at, within this, to see what we could do to start the process of developing an early learning curriculum for our licensed program, so basically a foundation, to really look at what does it mean to have a quality program, and to try to engage all of our partners in that. Then, we also were able to continue with a yearly symposium on early learning and child development and were able to bring in licensed staff to be able to participate in that; so, really, a lot of our focus was training and development. Thank you.

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The Chair Rocky Simpson

Thank you, Deputy Minister. Minister.

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R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, and I believe the Member's questions were more focused on our mandate and increasing the availability and affordability. A lot of what we have done is focused on quality and shoring up the foundation of our childcare, but, to the point of increasing it, affordability and availability, you know there is still obviously much work to be done. Thank you.

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The Chair Rocky Simpson

Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

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Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Yes, thank you. Just to clarify, my questions were really about the three-year agreement that is coming to an end and how to point the way forward. My recollection of that agreement was that there was going to be more money for training, for scholarships, for wage subsidies and so on. Do you have any figures about the uptake on that, whether we have more trained people, we have a more stable workforce? Is there any kind of measurement that shows the value for that money spent? Thank you.

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The Chair Rocky Simpson

Thank you, Member. Minister.

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R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you. If I could hand it to Mr. MacDonald?

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The Chair Rocky Simpson

Thank you. Mr. MacDonald.

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Macdonald

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just with respect to the Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, we have an action plan associated with that agreement, that is a bilateral action plan with the Government of Canada, and we are obligated to report annually on the actions within that plan. That is a good place to highlight some of the commitments that we made to Canada in order to obtain that funding for the Northwest Territories. I would probably add that, in terms of strategy, how we have tried to deploy that funding on an annual basis over that three-year period is to enhance the programs and services that we provide. For example, the early childhood program, which is our key subsidy program for licensed childcare centres, we have increased the rates, with the intent of course to help stabilize, to reduce fees for parents, and to help ensure that those programs are sustainable in the long term. As we move into the next phase of that bilateral agreement, we will have more data and more information at our disposal to enable us to make good choices around childcare. Thank you.

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The Chair Rocky Simpson

Thank you, Mr. MacDonald. Minister.

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R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you. If the Member is looking for metrics of how many scholarships, what we have done, the numbers involved, we will definitely put that together. Thank you.

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The Chair Rocky Simpson

Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

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Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Yes, thank you for those responses. I would like to see the annual report on the action plan. I don't recall that was ever shared with the Standing Committee on Social Development, and it would be useful to see it. I understand the point of shoring up the current programming. I am not sure I understand so much developing curriculum for childcare. What I hear most often is that people find it difficult to obtain childcare and they find it unaffordable when it is available. As the Minister knows, there are a number of communities in the Northwest Territories, about a third of them, that do not have any childcare. My question is: how will the next agreement address questions around availability and affordability of childcare? Thank you.

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The Chair Rocky Simpson

Thank you, Member. Minister.

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R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, and I take the Member's point that, in the previous three years, a lot of the work was focused not on necessarily increasing availability and affordability but on shoring up the foundations and using early childcare as a way to educate our youth and to prepare them for school. However, going forward, we are mandated to increase availability and to increase affordability, so we have a number of mandate items directly related to that. In the negotiations of the new agreement, we will be pursuing those as our priorities. Thank you.

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The Chair Rocky Simpson

Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

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Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the Minister for that. Can the Minister say what stage the negotiations are at and when he expects the new agreement to be in place? Thank you.

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The Chair Rocky Simpson

Thank you, Member. Minister.

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R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you. I think it might have to do with the federal election, but it's a bit of a waiting game right now. It's not just us. All of the territories and provinces are waiting to hear back from the federal government about what their offer is and what we could be negotiating for. Thank you. I don't have a timeline for the Member. I am sorry.

Debates of March 3rd, 2020

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