Thank you. Member for Deh Cho.

Mahsi for that. I'm just wondering which organizations you would work with in the communities to advance this. It sounds like, you know, a really well thought out program to really encourage speakers with languages. I'd want to know what you actually pay the mentor for their services but I'm just wondering if their -- you know, if you've had lots of turnovers in this and whether there was any complaints about any of the pay, because I don't know what they're getting paid right now. Mahsi.

Thank you. Minister of ECE.

Thank you. And so we work with the Indigenous governments. That's who our partners are on this. The mentors receive -- the starting compensation rate is $25 an hour, and the apprentices receive $20 an hour. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Deh Cho.

Mahsi for that. I'm just wondering, you know, if we can look at increasing that, because even for us as we get CAs and all government positions that I think I'm aware of, they start at about 30 bucks an hour. So I just wonder if there'd be consideration for -- in order to have a real good program, you know, and people want to be committed to it, right? So if we don't, you know, put the money there, you know, it won't be as successful. That's what I would think anyways. Mahsi.

Thank you. Did you have any further questions? No? Okay. And any further questions under culture, heritage and language? Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. So on September 17th, 2021, the new arts strategy was released, and it doesn't look like there's any -- there is no changes to any of the contributions on page 37. So when might we expect to see some changes in, you know, even culture, heritage and languages budget that reflects the new arts strategy? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister of ECE.

Thank you. So it could be the next budget. The program evaluation is happening, and you know, I'm of two minds of these strategies. Do I just do the work without telling anyone what we're doing, or do we release something that is very high level so that people know what we're doing but then I get criticized for not having dollars attached to it? And so I've opted to put something out there so that people know what we're doing and know where we're going. And so right now, the programs are being evaluated. There is a budgeting process that happens throughout year and so if there's an opportunity to perhaps increase some of those numbers, or perhaps change some of those numbers, you know, none of our arts funding programs were designed with an evaluation component. So we really don't know how they're doing. There's no way for us to look at them and say, yes, this money is well spent. So we want to do that work, ensure that what we're doing is appropriate and, if not, adjust as necessary. And if we find that, you know, an investment makes a huge difference and we'd be crazy not to increase that funding, then we can pursue those types of changes. But I understand the Member's frustration. But we are looking at the programs and determining if we need new money and how that money would be spent and where it would go. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, I know the Minister was on this side of the House in the last Assembly and saw lots of different strategies. Once in a while, you might actually see one that actually had some dollar figures attached to it but pretty rare. But, you know, here a significant amount of time, I know even committee time went into reviewing draft of the strategy, not that that was really reflected in the strategy but, you know, we put a lot of time and effort into this and then we just get the same thing in the next budget. Then the Minister talks about how, well, we're reviewing things within the department. Is that part of the government renewal initiative? Because I've seen zero results from that effort so far. Zero. Nothing. No inventories. Nothing. But I understood that Education, Culture and Employment was supposed to be one of the first departments. Still haven't seen anything. Is that what the Minister's talking about here? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister of ECE.

Thank you. And no, I'm not talking about the government renewal initiative. As the Member may recall, the art strategy included a number of actions in there. The first action, it's one of the foundational action, was to review the current programs that we have. And again, that work could have been done prior to a strategy being released, and we could have released the strategy with the reviews done, you know, perhaps this year or sometime next year but we decided to do it in that order. And so we have -- we know what we have. We know what our inventory of arts funding is, our programs are, and we're going to review those as part of the art strategy, not as part of a broader government renewal initiative. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, just my disappointment with not seeing any changes here about this -- after developing the art strategy.

Can the Minister tell me if there's any increases in funding for the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in here? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of ECE.

Thank you. And I will also comment that I've had discussion was the department about trying to align strategies with budgeting processes. So if we release a strategy in September, the budgeting, we're almost too late to develop new initiatives and then get that funding in there. So there are challenges with that as well, though. We are pretty thin in all positions in the GNWT. We're generally one person deep and so, you know, when we have a number of different reviews happening, it's hard to get them all done at one time so they all align with the budgeting process. But I am very much alive to the Member's concerns, and they are my concerns as well. So we are working on that.

But in terms of the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, I can say that there is a revenue study that's underway to determine how we can find more funds, how we can increase the revenue and perhaps better supported. But in terms of how the heritage centre is funded, I can ask the deputy minister for that information. Thank you.

Thank you. Deputy minister MacDonald.

Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.

Yeah, okay, thanks. Yeah, I look forward to this revenue study although I must say I'm a bit skeptical that charging admission to Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre is really going to generate a lot of revenue. But, you know, maybe I could be surprised.

Well, just as my colleagues from Hay River and Fort Smith have said, you know, we need to invest I think more in heritage, and the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre does actually serve as the Northwest Territories Archives. We have legal obligations to manage the records of the Government of the Northwest Territories in a way that's going to protect and preserve them for future generations. And I don't think the archives right now cuts that. And for anybody who has had a tour, and I've been over there many times and a couple times as a Regular MLA, you know, the facility is in not very good shape. And I think we're at risk of not meeting our basic legal obligations in terms of protecting the heritage of the Northwest Territories there.

So anyways, the Minister's heard me about all of this before and I just don't get a sense that anything's changing. So I'll leave it at that. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Are there any further questions under -- Member for Yellowknife North.