Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the mandate of this Assembly includes a focus on the economy, which is welcomed. But if you look closely, it actually refers to economic foundations, which is an important distinction. I believe that the most basic foundation of any healthy NWT economy is education.
Recently, we had economist Grant Clinton make a presentation to our economic development committee, along with the Chamber of Mines, and he noted that we tend to get excited about workforce training when a mine or a big project is about to open, but by then it's too late to reap the socio-economic benefits that we all want if we haven't already been properly investing in JK to 12 education.
We focus in our mandate on skills training, workforce development, and entrepreneurship, but I want us to step back. Are we successfully teaching our young people how to read and write? Are we teaching them how to figure out basic math problems? How many adults do we have who may be struggling to get work because they do not have enough reading and writing and math skills to be able to function independently in their lives?
To get some of these answers, I went looking on ECE's website under literacy where I found that our last literacy strategy framework was written before 2008 and has a great photo of a young, fresh-faced Jackson Lafferty who was education Minister at the time. It mentions a study from 2003, which found that 70 percent of Indigenous adults in the NWT cannot read or write well enough to fully participate in our society, as well as 30 percent of non-Indigenous adults. An even higher number are below functional literacy levels in math. So that's 76 percent of Indigenous adults in the NWT, and 38.5 percent of non-Indigenous adults. So that is not only a labour market issue, that's a human rights issue.
Being able to read and write and communicate in any language, well enough to fully participate in society, is a basic human right. Mr. Speaker, I ask for unanimous consent to conclude my statement. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
Mr. Speaker, there are many factors inside and outside the classroom that are causing this problem, but none are insurmountable if we tackle each one systematically. No one can focus on learning if they're hungry or if they do not feel safe at home. Many children have learning disabilities. Some have brains that work differently. But there are tools and best practices that we know have been shown to help in other parts of the world, so let's get serious about implementing them here. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
