Just to follow up on that, it's an agreement in place already for five years. I don't know where they're at, what stage they're at, but I guess the Minister and his department should look into seeing where they're at and throw feelers out to their federal counterparts and see if they're going to push forward for another five years, hopefully, and work with them with that.

Going onto another one, if I could, is Healthy Food for Learning for communities that we represent up in the Beaufort-Delta. I hope all the communities and the schools I haven't heard. I've heard all good in regards to Tuktoyaktuk, but in the small communities like Sachs Harbour, Paulatuk, and Ulukhaktok for shipping, you could get a lot less than what you would because of the air freight or how you're getting it in. Just making sure that they're topped up in regards to help for healthy food for the students in the schools. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you. My deputy minister can answer that.

Thank you. Deputy Minister Mueller.

Thank you, Deputy Minister Mueller. Member for Nunakput. Member for Thebacha.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to say, I have to make some comments here because Fort Smith, my riding, has brought forth many, many MPs, Premiers, and Cabinet Members, MLAs that were all educated in Fort Smith across the Northwest Territories. We have always been known as the education capital of the Northwest Territories and, hopefully, that we will continue to be the education capital for the Northwest Territories in the future. I am very supportive of both schools and always have been. All my volunteer work, all my work with the Indigenous government for 12 years, has been with the education portfolio with both schools. Of course, every school has some problems, but I have to say that the people that are represented on the DA are very capable people. I am very, very supportive of every aspect of education, because if you don't have a good education, you have nothing. I know that both of my schools in my riding are based on equality, making sure that our children are educated to the very best of their ability. I want to commend the principals and the people who work at the DA office because we don't always agree, but it has been a work in progress, and it has always been positive.

I also want to talk about the Healthy Food for Learning program. When I was the leader of Salt River, we always contributed to the healthy food program at both schools for all of the children, not just for Salt River. We always made sure it was quite a big sum every year. Twice every year, we contributed to this fund, Madam Chair.

The one thing that I want to say that I am not in favour of is that we are not going to start funding elections out of an education fund. I am not in favour of that, and I am not in favour of insurance. I would support my colleagues in any other way when it comes to education, but certainly not that. If I stand alone, I could stand alone, but I take a stand on what I base education on. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Would the Minister like to comment?

Sure. Thank you. The Member is correct that Fort Smith has had a long and successful history with education. There are a lot of great things that have come out of the South Slave DEC, and I have a lot of respect for the chair of the SSDEC who is from Fort Smith. Every time I speak with her, I learn something. I echo some of the Member's comments. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Deh Cho.

Mahsi, Madam Chair. Let me start with the Northern Distance Learning program there. It just hits a vein sometimes with that thing. I might be your biggest skeptic on this program here. The reason I use the word "skeptic" is because I think there was a large graduation just recently of the students in my community, and most had taken online courses. Now, none of them have moved on to higher education. I'm not getting any answers from the Deh Cho Divisional Education Council regional superintendent when I asked for their actual grade levels when they have graduated.

That's why I am kind of skeptical about this program, because I think somewhere in your education renewal or something, I think you are really counting on this Northern Distance Learning program to really improve the student outcomes. Like I say, everything is just fine and dandy on paper, but in actual use, like I say, I'm skeptical of this program. I really wish it would work, because the aim is to bring the classroom teacher, maybe somebody from biology or physics or chemistry. Those are the nice big science programs. Our students in the small communities probably can't handle it, but there probably are some that can. I don't even know if those courses are even being taught there. We all know about social passing. I don't know if we're still practising that with this Northern Distance Learning program. It's lots of confidential stuff there, and the regional superintendent doesn't want to share the information with me, but it's going to have to come out somewhere, somehow. It's important.

I'm always trying to see how we could get our students to better themselves, have better education, but we hit these roadblocks. I don't know if it's the people in charge. I'm trying to really work with the kids to get them going somewhere, but I have stumbling blocks. I was of the mindset that, once a student graduates, they should be doing a placement test just to see where they actually are in their grade level, because maybe we can grab them while they're still young and start walking the streets and falling into peer pressure, and we throw them into the adult education learning system.

The upgrading, that's where you're going to have to spend a lot of money, too. If you want a good education, we have to spend money and work on it. We have to do a better job than what we are doing right now. We should be increasing all of these budgets. I wish I could give you all that money so we could see what we can do to help the people in the small communities, because on here, you're saying that you're making academic courses available and whatnot. Maybe I'll just stop there and just let you or your deputy minister, people in your department, comment on that Northern Distance Learning program. Mahsi.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't want to speak to any specific students. I don't want to identify any students here and talk about how they are doing, but I remember, a few years ago, there was an article in the news that Ulukhaktok was having its first ever grad class. Three students, all going to university, all thanks to Northern Distance Learning. I know that the Member is a skeptic, but the proof is in the pudding.

Northern Distance Learning has quite excellent success rates. It's not just an online course. It is much more interactive than that. It's not distance learning; it is bringing a level of education to smaller communities that has never existed before. A lot of students who participate in it do go on to university. The program has been working. It has been getting better every year, and that's why we continue to invest in it. It is one of the bright spots of education in the territory.

There are students in small communities who are struggling, who have issues outside of school that prevent them from really fully committing to school. Then there are students who are fully committed to school, for whatever reason, maybe they just love school, maybe it's an escape for them, and we are giving them an opportunity to take those same courses that are usually only offered in regional centres and allowing them to attend university. There have been success stories.

In addition to just providing Northern Distance Learning, there is also a bridging program where students normally travel to a university and learn about the university experience. It's more than just the academic side. It is a very successful program. I have to say that, and I have to defend the program. I hope that, despite the Member's concerns, he is still supportive of the budget. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Deh Cho.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I support anything you guys do, but I will always have a skeptic mind. Somebody has to ask questions. I see you have a very big budget and everything. Your academic courses, I don't know, you did not explain anything like that, but you have got success stories. I get that. We probably have success stories in my community, too, but nobody is sharing that information with me. I am wondering about your education renewal. It says you do contributions to the teachers' association and education bodies to make changes to the education system to improve student achievements. Does the department receive any reports of any kind that they can review to see those goals are being attained? Mahsi.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you. Perhaps I can ask the deputy minister. Thank you.

Deputy Minister Mueller.

Member for Deh Cho, is that clear?

Yes. Like I was saying, we have contributions being provided through the educational partners such as what is listed as the NWTTA, that is on page 51, and education bodies, it says. I don't know who those would be, but it's to make fundamental changes to the education system in order to improve student achievement in the NWT. I was asking if the department receives any reports from them and reviews them to see if we are meeting those goals. Mahsi.

Thank you, Member. Would you like me to just direct it to the Minister?

Thank you. We are looking at the education renewal and innovation contributions provided to educational partners like the NWTTA and the education bodies to make fundamental changes. There are a number of metrics associated with that. We do have an evaluation division that recently evaluated a lot of our efforts under there, and there was a report released a little bit earlier than the Auditor General's report, and it came to a lot of the same conclusions in terms of outcomes, but it also showed that the programs that were evaluated were successful, often. That included an evaluation of things like Northern Distance Learning. There are a number of other evaluations, and I will speak to each one. I am just kidding.

---Laughter

I will leave it at that, thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Norn.