I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we're just pulling up that information right now. Potentially maybe we could come back to the Member on the exact number of total spaces in the territory that we are funding. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Range Lake.

Thank you. Yeah, if that comes up during this thing, just feel free to shout it out and I'll write it down. But I think that could potentially give us a sense of where we're at.

So another concern I've heard is from day home providers is that the ratios could be tweaked to allow for more spaces, especially in the transition between infants to, like, child where there's a different ratio at play. And if we created a different space -- or a different child to caregiver ratio, we could expand that a little bit and create less headaches for parents and improve the overall spaces without overburdening providers.

Ratios, as I understand it, are not a scientific formula. They are just decided by a province or territory based on -- I'm not sure what they're based on and neither are the providers, but they vary from province to province. And, you know, some are more generous, some are less. So is the Minister open to -- well, yeah, this is a good question. So where are our -- where do we get our ratio data from; what's the basis for our ratios? Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, to start off I'd like to answer the Member's previous question. So we currently fund 1,956 spaces in the Northwest Territories.

As far as the background on where those spaces come from, I would like to, please, pass to assistant deputy minister Barnett-Aikman.

Thank you. I'll go to the deputy minister.

Thank you. I'm going to go back to the Member from Range Lake.

Thank you for that response. Now to the ratios, the caregiver to child ratio, what's the basis for our formulas? Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I don't have the historical information on where those numbers originate from. That said, however, I am familiar with the regulations that the Member is speaking of and the concern, especially around school-aged children and after school care, and can commit to following up with the Member in further detail on that. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Range Lake.

Thank you. So is there any impediment to change those ratios from the department's perspective? Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the perspective of the system would be in order to ensure the safety of children in care. One of the things I know, just having spoken to people about this especially in the last term, was in regards to, you know, why can we have a certain number of kids in a classroom and then it shifts to after school care, and we have less kids that are allowed to be less in the adult to child ratio that we're allowed -- that we are allowing in after school care programs. And one of the things that is communicated to me is because during the day when you have school ongoing, you've got a lot more adults in the school. You've got a lot more presence and a lot more supervision, and so once you shift to after school, a lot of people end up leaving the school, not the same amount of people in the hallways, and ensuring especially, for example, bathroom safety, and so I'm definitely more than happy to follow up on that, but safety is the number one. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So of course, the safety of children is always paramount and should be the key consideration to any policy around their care. Will the Minister commit to reviewing the ratios with the daycare association and other daycare providers this fiscal year? Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the NWT Early Childhood Association has a very good working relationship with the department. I've had the opportunity to chat with them during multiple occasions and can definitely ensure that this is added to the conversation in an upcoming meeting for sure to make sure that we have kind of the full context of asks and then go from there. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go back to the Member from Range Lake.

Thank you. Well -- thank you, and thank you for that commitment. And I think the -- I'm pleased Minister's perspective is that that's where the relationship's at because when we started the term, that's not where it was at. I think there was still a lot of confusion in the daycare space with respect to the communications from the department. So I hope that good communication continues moving forward.

Does the Minister believe the funding is adequate to support our current system of subsidized daycare? Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.