Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and community and the community of Fort McPherson as well at this time. Mahsi.

Members' statements. Returns to oral questions. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Acknowledgements. Oral questions.

Sorry.

No problem. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.

I needed a moment, Mr. Speaker, after that. I'd like to recognize my husband who is here with us today; he's travelled down. So my husband, Jozef Carnogursky. Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Acknowledgements. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in June 2021, I questioned the Minister of ECE about the state of JBT School in Fort Smith. Today I am going to carry on with that questioning. At the time, the Minister stated that the last time a technical assessment was done to JBT was in 2005, almost 20 years ago.

Can the Minister tell us if a technical assessment of JBT was done in the last two years or if one is planned to be done soon? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The last technical status evaluation was 2005. These evaluations are typically done when work is planned to be done on a building. However, there was a building condition assessment completed on JBT by the Department of Infrastructure in August of 2022. These assessments are not as in depth as the technical status evaluation, but they do provide an overall assessment of the building. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, in June 2021, the Minister said that the Department of Infrastructure has a database that produces a rating for schools, and JBT was rated 0.52. The Minister said that that was an "okay" rating.

Can the Minister tell us if JBT's rating has changed since then and to please explain the process for how ratings for schools are actually produced? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So that would be the facility condition index rating. And that has increased from .52, I believe the Member said, to .61, which is just a function of its age. This is determined by a database which is managed by the Department of Infrastructure and includes factors in outstanding maintenance required for individual buildings. So if the building needs a lot of work, it will have a higher number. Once that work is done, it could lower the number. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell us, based on current capital needs assessment figures, when does ECE anticipate that JBT School is expected to be replaced? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So earlier in her statement the Member mentioned that back in I believe it was 2002 it was thought that there would need to be a replacement sometime around 2015 or 2020, something like that. And clearly we haven't needed that yet. So it's hard for me to put numbers out there, dates out there, when obviously things can change. Right now, based on the information we have, we're looking at 2035. But that could come a lot sooner; it could take longer. You know, Fort Smith has Aurora College with a trades school, and I think that expertise in trades really has helped those buildings be maintained in excellent condition for many, many years. So I hear it all the time that the Department of Infrastructure does a good job maintaining schools, at least in the regional centres, and I believe that the longevity is a function of that maintenance. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Thebacha.

Mr. Speaker, of the 49 schools across the NWT, there have been several new school replacements built in multiple communities where their schools are actually younger in age than JBT in Fort Smith. For example, in Yellowknife, the former JH Sissons School was only 45 years old when it was demolished and replaced with a brand new school just a couple years ago. And I'm happy for them. And that school was 20 years younger than JBT.

Can the Minister explain what is the necessary criteria to replace a school when the community wants one as soon as possible? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So we rely on the Department of Infrastructure and their technical assessments of schools. As well, we have our schools' capital planning -- sorry, capital standards and criteria document to guide capital planning and space requirements. We look at the need for school infrastructure projects, including a new construction, renovations, and upgrading of facilities and equipment. Criteria are used to assess and determine needs while standards describe the amount of space considered adequate to meet those needs. So there's a couple different elements we need to look at the actual building, the physical building, as well as the rates of utilization, how many students are using the facilities. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, safety of children while taking student bussing transportation is important to all of us and more so, you know, when it comes to the smaller children who during the cold winter months, you know, maybe missed their bus stop and not quite sure where they are.

So will the Minister of ECE confirm who is responsible for developing student bussing policies? Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Education Act lays out the various responsibilities of the department as well as education, the DECs and DEAs. And so it would be the DEAs who are responsible for developing their own bussing policies however there's always supports available from the regional body or from ECE if it is needed. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, sometimes the policies, at least some I've looked at, they're very vague and, you know, they may just be a couple of lines.

So will the Minister confirm if a student bussing policy lays out responsibilities of the DEA, bussing contractors, students, and parents or caregivers, and the GNWT as well? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A bussing policy can touch on many of those things. It doesn't necessarily have to have all of those things. There are different ways that education bodies go about providing bussing. So sometimes there is a contractor, sometimes the bus is owned by the education body, so it really depends on the situation. But I'm sure there's best practices that we would like all the DEAs to follow. And, again, the department's always happy to provide any sort of assistance when DEAs want to develop these policies. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister confirm who is ultimately responsible for the safety of those persons using student bussing? Is it the department, the DEA, or the bussing contractor? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Safety is everybody's responsibility. And so the bussing -- depending on how things are structured, you know, the bussing contractor could be responsible for the safe operation of the bus, the technical status of the bus. Education bodies are responsible for developing the policies. But ultimately the department is responsible for ensuring that education bodies are developing policies in accordance with the legislation. So ultimately the GNWT is responsible. Whether or not the Act lays out a framework that makes that easy for us to be responsible and puts the authorities in the right places is a different conversation. But that is the situation. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.