Premier. Oral questions. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Finance. In the last Assembly, the Minister committed to create a new policy to prioritize hiring Indigenous people. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister provide the status of this new policy to support Indigenous hiring?

Thank you, Member for Inuvik Boot Lake. Minister for Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's been quite a number of different pieces that have rolled out in support of hiring of -- more hiring and stronger hiring of Indigenous people in the Northwest Territories. There's the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework is really the vanguard item that we have on that. The Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework has quite a number of action items in it for each department, and each department has its own individualized framework or plan, action plan, within that. They're all available online. I won't start to name them off now, but there's been an initial reporting on some of those action items. For example, having job descriptions reviewed, all job descriptions reviewed, to ensure that we're having job availability and accessibility that aligns to people's skill sets and that doesn't become exclusive or exclusionary in a way that doesn't actually achieve the targets of that job. So all of those are available online. All of the actions there are available online, and they're meant to address and break down some of the barriers that people have seen. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister mentioned the Indigenous Retention Recruitment Framework. Can the Minister say how this framework is being monitored and the success of the departments to implement the employment plans are being monitored as well? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Multiple questions means I can just talk all about the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework. So in this case, Mr. Speaker, I can be quite succinct because in some ways it's simple. Every department has submitted their own employment plan. Those were published in November of 2022. They then have a responsibility to meet both short-term, medium-term, and long-term objectives. In October of just this last year, the employment plans were all posted online, and it shows columns of what is expected for short, medium, and long term. So there's status updates that are going to be going out online to those employment plans. As I said, the last one was just a couple of months ago. The next key marker I would put on people's radar is with respect to hiring targets, so actually setting some targets and breaking those targets down by types of employment, so not just a blanket putting people into positions but actually ensuring that we're moving people through and up to higher positions of senior management. So that's the next marker I'd put on the radar. But that's a short-term goal, and that will be one of the next ones that needs to get published in the not too distant future. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And certainly good to hear that there are targets being set. I know the last Assembly was clear that departments were to set targets, and GNWT were to set targets. Can the Minister tell me what those targets are, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can, and what I would suggest I do, though, is perhaps we can -- I don't know if we'll be able to table it by tomorrow but at the earliest opportunity, Mr. Speaker, we could put that information before the House or at the very least perhaps circulate where people can find it. It's on the Department of Finance's website under the diversity and inclusion services, the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework. There's a very long document. And then there's a very long list, every single department, every single agency has their own plan. Every one of them is published. And within them, it shows all of their individualized actions as well as those targets. So it's a long list of information and I would, again, be happy to put that information before the House. I believe it was actually included in business plans and would be included in business plans going forward. So it may be that the next opportunity I have is during main estimates when business plans would be before the House again. Thank you.

Minister of Finance. Final supplementary. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister. Direct appointments, Mr. Speaker, are a tool that the GNWT can and does often use to place employees in the positions without running public competitions. Can the Minister provide the number of direct appointments in the GNWT over the last fiscal year and which of those were Indigenous? Thank you.

I certainly can provide it. I don't have it in front of me, Mr. Speaker. But I would note that in general, direct appointments, at least over the last four years that I can speak to, were in -- I believe 90 percent or so were of individuals who had either P1 or P2 status, which would be Indigenous individuals as well as long-term Northerners, but I'll ensure that we've broken that down to reflect specifically Indigenous Northwest Territories residents. It is a very high percentage of the direct appointments that are -- that go through. Thank you.

Finance. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So my questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Firstly, so as we're rolling out the new BC curriculum, how is on-the-land education being incorporated into this new curriculum? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the draft NWT adapted curriculum is streamlined, and it focuses on competency building more than content retention. So this actually ends up providing more opportunities for place-based learning, which in our northern communities translates into land-based learning. The adaption of the BC curriculum ensures that many explicit references to the BC curriculum to Indigenous ways of being and knowing are NWT-specific. So this curriculum adaption almost gives us more opportunities than working with the previous curriculum in order to ensure that there are land-based options in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So that's good news. So how is ECE supporting educators and child care workers to gain the training and skills and confidence for them to be able to deliver on-the-land education? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, ECE provides a variety of professional development and training opportunities for educators across the Northwest Territories. So specifically JK to 12 school educators receive training on the Indigenous languages and education handbook and in both Dene Kede and Inuuqatigiit that guide Indigenizing education in the Northwest Territories. ECE also allocates funding directly to education bodies for resource development and community support, which includes professional development for language and cultural education training, including land-based training. In addition to that, there is the educational leadership program which is a mandatory requirement for sitting school principals across the Northwest Territories. And a component of this is also on-the-land training facilitated by ECE staff, local knowledge-holders and language-keepers as well. And ECE also provides funding to support delivery of professional learning opportunities to early learning educators working in licensed programs throughout the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So that was a very long list of things. I think specifically on-the-land education was listed in there somewhere, but I'll have to look back through the transcripts. Does ECE have any funding available for schools or child care facilities to build basic infrastructure like wall tents or fire pits so that people have a place to go nearby to do on-the-land education? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Really succinct answer, thank you. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So that one I'd actually love to hear more about. If the Minister could just clarify what the title of this funding program is called or how we could direct people towards it, that would be appreciated. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I'm too long, I'm too short; I just don't know. I'm happy to provide information.

School education bodies receive funding directly. People can also apply for separate funding. There is also funding available through Aurora College when they participate. They get funding directly from ECE to participate when they're doing their training for the early learning and child care certificate and diploma program. And so there's a multitude of different kind of avenues that funding comes from. But I am happy to provide more detailed information to the Member for sure. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.