Question has been called. All those in favour? Opposed? Motion passed.

---Carried

Reports of standing and special committees. Returns to oral questions. Acknowledgements. Member from the Sahtu.

Acknowledgement

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the community of Tulita is proud to celebrate seven graduates from the Chief Albert Wright School for 2024. They are:

• Damian McPherson,
• Gosahte Bird,
  
• Jaiden Wrigley,
  
• Tristan MacCauley-Ayah
  
• Jaden Lennie,
• Lacey Wrigley, and
• Rachel Horassi on their achievement.

Tulita celebrates their success, and we wish them very well in the coming years and their next steps on their education and career journey. Mahsi.

Thank you, Member from the Sahtu. Acknowledgements. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Maybe just a quick comment before I get into my question. I think Members are restraining some of their questions to help the process move along, so. Maybe not all of course. That said, Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment with respect to autism supports and programming.

Mr. Speaker, parents have to cover PD days, daycare, afterschool program times, and summer programs, and it's having impacts on families and the relationships of friends and supporters. And I'm going to ask the Minister of education what can she do to further some policy initiatives to support these types of parents who are dealing with children with autism that needs strengths and sometimes even one-on-one supports? Thank you.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the things that we have heard from education bodies across the Northwest Territories, and specifically people who are in the role of classroom support positions, is that they wanted to have a fuller toolbox to be able to help students. And so one of the programs that ECE worked with education bodies to put into place over the course of the last few years was training for classroom assistants through a partnership that was formed with Douglas College, which I look forward to speaking about more in the House this week, and we are just graduating our first cohort of classroom assistants through that program. And this is a very unique program in that the classroom assistants were able to do the training from their home community while still supporting students in the classroom. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's certainly welcome news; I wouldn't necessarily say it isn't. So back to my specific question is, is what policy changes can be done to help parents who have to take time off of work when there's PD days, there's no afterschool programs that support them, no daycares, and even including the full summer break when their young people need full-time care, part-time care, one-on-one care, etcetera, what can the department do to support policy initiatives that support these parents with autistic children? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is a funding pot that is referenced as SCIP that is available to licensed centre-based early learning and child care facilities. It promotes staff training to help with the development of inclusive programming, provides guidance, resources, and support to create appropriate spaces, and supports staff positions that can provide one-to-one support for children.

Mr. Speaker, I absolutely hear the Member, though, that what I am hearing from not only the Member but from residents of the territory is that they are looking for more supports, and what I would want to ensure is that, first of all, that we are addressing this in a way that is most effective for what parents are looking for, in a way that doesn't just throw money at it but also throws resources that are appropriate to what families are looking for. So I would love to hear some suggestions of exactly what it is the Member would like to see. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister mentions, first of all, the SCIP program. Yes, but it's very limited funding and, hence, when it only creates one or two openings there's still dozens on dozens of parents struggling to find support. And if you don't have a fantastic employer who's supportive of your challenges, you have to take days off. And if you have an employment position, such as a very unique one or professional, you can't take time off sometimes; that's just the nature of your work. So, Mr. Speaker, my question is is would the Minister be willing to meet with the group of parents and advocates for the autism community, which doesn't just represent Yellowknife but the territory at large; would she be willing to sit down with them and see if she could help them develop policy initiatives to support these people struggling with these day-to-day challenges?

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am absolutely more than happy to sit down with anybody. That is one of our key jobs as Ministers, is we spend a lot of time in meetings making sure that we understand what it is that residents of the Northwest Territories are looking for. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

I'm okay, Mr. Speaker.

Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Again?

Member from Great Slave. I was looking --

-- that's not even a lake mix up on this one.

Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Got that right this time. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, we are committed to doing that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you for that yes from the Minister. I also want to thank the Minister for her commitment that the form will be changed and reviewed, hopefully changed but definitely reviewed. But can I get confirmation from the Minister that a gender-based analysis will be done during the review of the form to consider intersectional factors that may increase barriers for transgender or other gender identities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm very much in favour on completing the gender-based analysis. At this time, the majority of the health forms have been completed, including an identification of steps needed to make the health forms more gender inclusive. And we are near the completion of this, and the new health information system, the department will finalize its review of the needed revisions to the health forms and the legislation that needs (audio).

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to take that as a strong maybe.

Mr. Speaker, the application form for an NWT health care card also only presents a gender binary. Can the Minister commit to, in conjunction with her Cabinet colleagues, disclosing which GNWT forms are bound by legislation or regulation to include sex or gender in a binary fashion so that they can also be changed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.