This is page numbers 4833 - 4860 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 know.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Committee, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment begins on page 17. And we will defer the departmental totals and review the estimates by activity summary, beginning at page 19, with junior kindergarten to grade 12 school services with information on page 20.

Education, Culture and Employment, junior kindergarten to grade 12 school services, infrastructure investment, $5,623,000. Is there any questions? Member for Yellowknife North.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Madam Chair. So I recall last capital budget we passed these three portables for Colville Lake, and the intention there was that was going to act as their school while it was completed. But I see now there's been a change here where Colville Lake School has been changed from being built to a planning designation. Can I just get a bit of an update of what the current plan is or what's going on with the Colville Lake School? Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister of ECE.

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R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Madam Chair. So the Member mentioned two projects in this capital plan. Colville Lake School planning and Colville Lake School three portables. The three portables are in the process of being constructed. They will be on the winter road in the new year, and they will be set up and ready for school in the upcoming school year. The school itself is still in the planning phase. As the Members are aware, we have adjusted how we budget for capital and so we are only budgeting for the planning phase, which is what we actually expect to spend. We're not budgeting for, you know, builds that we're not going to do. So we've been working with the band in Colville Lake. They wanted to take the lead on this project so we have provided them with funding to do the work that the department would normally do in the lead up to the development of an infrastructure project. And so they are doing that work. Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. I recall, you know, I don't recall what is public or not, but at one point there was some back and forth with the community because they perhaps had much larger intentions of what this school would be, you know, including perhaps some community-based infrastructure in it. Yeah, I'm just hoping if I can get a bit more of an update on how that work is going with Colville Lake and whether, you know, this is going to be the kind of super-school that it was initially planned as or whether this is going to be just a school that is in compliance with our current kind of infrastructure guidelines. Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister.

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Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you. So what we've asked is for the band to put together a proposal for a school according to the capital standards, Education, Culture and Employment's capital standards on school projects. And then, as well, a plan for anything additional that they would like so that we have sort of a base model to go off of and then we can look at additional things that usually aren't in schools and figure out if there's ways to find funding to make that happen. Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.

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Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Madam Chair. And can the Minister just remind me where child care spaces have landed in this debate? I know we have new capital standards, and I believe there was some intention when communities wanted to put child care spaces directly in schools. Yeah, I guess more generally speaking, is that now our goal, or is that kind of dependent on the individual school? Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Minister of ECE.

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Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you. So the new capital standards, which were approved in 2020, include provisions for child care spaces in a school facility if the spaces are warranted. Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Are there any further questions, comments? Member for Hay River South.

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Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Madam Chair. With the number of schools there that -- you know, that's within the department and some of the work that I see happening, one of the concerns I always have is barrier-free access in our designs and whether -- you know, whether all schools, even if they're aged, you know, if they're, you know, being retrofitted to ensure that we have barrier-free access for all children and employees. Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Minister of ECE.

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Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you. And the way this planning for capital works is that the department gathers up all of the different wants from the different school boards as well as information about the state of all the different capital assets from the Department of Infrastructure, and then we make assessments as to what can be done with a budget. And we sometimes have enough for a new school or a retrofit as well as a few -- a couple small capital projects. And the things the Member's referencing - accessibility, ensuring older schools are accessible - those are my priority for when I look at the smaller capital projects that we can advance. And I would have to -- I think it's probably the department's as well. I think we might have been on the same page when I first got into this portfolio. But, yes, I do prioritize those when looking at what projects to advance. Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Member for Hay River South.

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Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, the other thing, you know, when I think of schools, you know, I think of, you know, a healthy learning environment; I think of, you know, healthy children and, you know, that improves learning capability, you know -- yeah, improves learning, I guess, for children and, you know, it allows them maybe to be role models and mentors for others what may, you know, be kind of on the border of, you know, not sure, you know, what life's all about. But, you know, so one of the things that, you know, I hear sometimes in some of the communities is that lack of, you know, whether it's gymnasiums or places where children can gather and sports and that type of thing. So when we're looking at, you know, major -- major projects like this, do we somehow look at ensuring that gymnasiums are included or would be included? Because it does impact health; it does impact learning. Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Minister of ECE.

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R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you. So under the previous capital standards, gyms were included once a school hits a certain number of students. If the school did not have that base number of -- or that number of students, then there would be no gym, and the gym that the school would get once they hit that number of students was small and it would gradually get bigger as the population got bigger. What we've done with the new capital standards is included gyms in all schools and increased the sizes according to the enrolment. So I know there are some schools with very, very small gyms, and we won't be seeing those anymore. Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Member for Hay River South.

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Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Rocky Simpson

Rocky Simpson Hay River South

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have no further questions.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Member for Kam Lake.

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Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you, Madam Chair. While we're talking about capital standards and accessibility, tomorrow night is the grand opening of a new school in Yellowknife, Itl'o' School, and they did a beautiful job on incorporating gender neutral washrooms in the school and so I'm wondering if that is a component of capital standards going forward. Thank you

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 4853

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister of ECE.