This is page numbers 2819 - 2866 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 mrspeaker.

Topics

Some Hon. Members

Question.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Any abstentions? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Bill 34 has had second reading. Second reading of bills. Consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters. Bill 25, Committee Report 15-19(2), Committee Report 16-19(2), Minister's Statement 161-19(2), Tabled Document 412-19(2), Tabled Document 413-19(2).

By the authority given to me as Speaker, I will allow going beyond the reasonable hours of the day with Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes in the chair.

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

I now call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of committee? Member for FrameLake.

MR. O'REILLY; Thank you, Madam Chair. Committee wishes to consider Bill 25, An Act to amend the Education Act; Tabled Document 412-19(2), Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures) No 1, 2021-2022; Committee Report 15-19(2), Report on Yearly Auditor General's 2020 Audit of the Early Childhood to Grade 12 Education in the Northwest Territories; Committee Report 16-19(2), Report on Housing Phase One, Needs for NWT Homeowners and Private landowners. Thank you, Madam Chair.

CHAIRPERSON (Ms. Semmler) Thank you, Member. Does committee agree?

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Some Hon. Members

Agreed.

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Committee, we'll take a short recess and resume with the first item.

---SHORT RECESS

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

I now call Committee of the Whole back to order. Committee, we agree to consider Bill 25, An Act to Amend the Education Act. I'll ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment to introduce the bill.

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R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am here today to present Bill 25, An Act to Amend the Education Act. This bill seeks to amend the Education Act to allow a term of office of four years for elected district education authority trustees in cases where a DEA's community government has a four-year election cycle.

Currently, only election cycles of two and three years for DEAs are permitted by the Act. The proposed amendment arises from the 2018 change in municipal election cycles in Yellowknife from three to four-year terms of office for mayor and council.

Bill 25 would allow the two Yellowknife DEAs, Yellowknife Catholic Schools and Yellowknife District Education No. 1, to move to a four-year election cycle and realign their DEA elections with municipal elections starting in 2022. The amendment will also allow the two Yellowknife DEAs to hold interim elections for one-year terms this fall, as the current three-year terms of the DEA members ends in 2021.

I am pleased to bring forward this amendment to support our education partners in ensuring the efficient administration of their board trustee elections.

This concludes my opening remarks. I would be pleased to answer any questions that Members may have regarding Bill 25. Thank you.

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister. I will now turn to the chair of the Standing Committee on Social Development, the committee that considered the bill for opening comments. Member for Kam Lake.

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Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, Bill 25, An Act to Amend the Education Act received second reading in the Legislative Assembly on March 30th, 2021. It was referred to the Standing Committee on Social Development for review.

On May 31st, 2021, the standing committee held a public hearing with the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and completed its clause by clause review of the bill. I thank the committee for their efforts when reviewing this legislation, and individual Members may have additional comments or questions at this time. Thank you, Madam Chair.

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Minister, would you like to bring witnesses into the Chamber?

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R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Yes, I would.

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Minister, please introduce your witnesses.

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R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Madam Chair. To your right is Mr. Mike Reddy, director of legislative division, Department of Justice. And to our left, making her first appearance in the chamber, Megan Wahlberg, director of policy, legislation and communications for ECE. Thank you, Madam Chair.

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, and welcome. I will now open the floor to general comments on Bill 25. Member for Frame Lake.

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Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks, Madam Chair. First off, I guess I'd like to say that I did raise -- I've met -- a number of the Yellowknife MLAs have met with the district education authorities here in Yellowknife, Yellowknife's Catholic School and YK No. 1, and we knew about the situation of how their length of term for their boards was now out of sync with city council. They requested that there be changes made to the Education Act to ensure that their term of office could be bought back in line again otherwise they'd have to hold separate elections from what the City of Yellowknife does and incur extra expenses, which I'm sure we would all rather see spent on education.

So, certainly, I supported that. I raised the issue in the House. I pushed it, even I-- earlier in this Assembly that this should get dealt with.

So I guess, first off, I'd like to know from the Minister and staff what consultation was done with the two Yellowknife school boards. And, for example, were they given a copy of the language in the bill? Thanks, Madam Chair.

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister.

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R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Madam Chair. There was extensive consultation with the Yellowknife school boards. I've had numerous conversations with the chairs of those boards as well. As to the question of whether or not they were provided with the proposed language, I will hand it over to Ms. Wahlberg but first I'll note that the consultation with education bodies, and consultation in general I think, is to figure out the what not necessarily the how. And so when it comes down to the particulars of the, you know, the words used in legislation, it's our job as the government to ensure that those words achieve 'the what' that the school boards want. But I can pass it to Ms. Wahlberg for further information. Thank you.

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister. Ms. Wahlberg.

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Wahlberg

Thank you, Madam Chair and thank you, Minister. It's not my understanding that we provided the exact draft bill to the Yellowknife education bodies. However, we provided them with the plain language wording of it and they agreed to what was provided. And we made sure that they fully understood the change in the wording and the way that it was impacting the amendments to the legislation. Thank you.

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Member for FrameLake.

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Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks, Madam Chair. So here's what I said in the House on February the 6th, 2020, about these bills when I was asking questions to the Minister of Education. The situation for CSFTNO, which is Commission Scolaire Francophone des Territoires du Nord-Ouest, which is the Francophone school board, is different as I mentioned in my statement, in that its commission represent two communities that now have different cycles for their municipal elections. So I raise the issue that CSFTNO, based in the two communities, that there was an issue here, that I wanted to make sure that whatever changes were going to be made in the Education Act would not adversely affect CSFTNO. So can someone explain to me whether there was the same sort of consultation or consideration given to CSFTNO on development of this bill? Thanks, Madam Chair.

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister.

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R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Madam Chair. So there was definitely consideration given to CSFTNO and the effects of this bill would have on them. And it was our understanding that this bill would have no effect and, in fact, they expressed that they were in a different situation than the other school boards. They're in two communities, and they don't align their elections with either municipality. They have a different way of conducting elections. They don't require the same voters list and enumeration and things like that. But as it turns out, there are regulations that-- under the Education Act, that reference term lengths of other education bodies in education districts and that is really a remnant of when the French first language school board was created. And so in an indirect way, these changes will affect the CSFTNO. And, again, we know what they want, and it's our job to ensure that-- that that is ultimately achieved, so. Thank you, Madam Chair.

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister. Member.

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Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks, Madam Chair, and thanks to the Minister for that. So there is a problem, then, in that the regulations say that the length of term for CSFTNO is tied to the district education authorities, and now we've got one. We will have, if this bill passes, a length of term of office for the Hay River ones, for possibly Hay River commissionaires versus the Yellowknife commissionaires for CSFTNO. So how's this issue going to be fixed? And I'm curious to know why it wasn't discovered earlier. Thanks, Madam Chair.