Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Member, first off, for reflecting on the fact that this is the only jurisdiction that has a whole month dedicated to Indigenous Languages Month, and so I very much appreciate that. The theme this month is Say It In Our Language, and I also want to thank the Member for speaking her language in the House here with us on a regular basis.
In addition to Indigenous Languages Month that's celebrated every February, Mr. Speaker, ECE continues to partner with seven Indigenous governments to deliver the mentor apprenticeship program. In 2023-2024, we had a record 56 pairs participant in the program and I had the honour of speaking with them last week, which I really absolutely appreciated their feedback. In addition, the department offers ten annual $5,000 scholarship for Indigenous languages revitalization, and I think it's worth noting that there was so much interest in this scholarship for 2022-2023 year that a record number of 18 scholarships were actually awarded to residents interested in that scholarship. And so the department's very dedicated to language revitalization.
Mr. Speaker, in addition, the department is currently exploring future development of a two-year pilot program for Indigenous languages diploma program, which is another good news story for our territory. And ECE currently leads the implementation of the NWT Indigenous Languages Action Plan. This action plan has two overarching pieces to it. The first is languages revitalization and the second is access to public services from the government in Indigenous languages, which is another key component of language revitalization in the territory.
And then in addition to that, ECE negotiates and administers the Canada-NWT agreement for Indigenous languages on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.