Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So support to northern performers, I note that this funding, I'm assuming, is sunsetting. I think having a touring grant or something along those lines that let's northern artists reside in the north but it gives them support to travel elsewhere is an important aspect of arts funding that is often overlooked. Is that something that we can -- and I note that the line here says that it's going to be redirected towards new programs that will better support the creative sector. So is that in line? Are we going to find a way to support touring artists? Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we're just looking for it because it -- it didn't disappear. It was simply reprofiled under the art strategy funding and so it is still in here. We're just determining for the Member where specifically it did move to. But I can confirm for the Member that it's not sunset. Thank you.

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

Okay. Finally, an area that we really -- everyone needs to get better at, especially in the North, is creative industry around digital property and trademarking and copyrighting and all this kind of stuff. If we can get our artists to preserve their IP and then get it into the international supply chains that can produce stuff elsewhere, have global reach -- but we got to teach people those skills so they are empowered to take part in the digital economy, especially our Indigenous artisans. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Now I'm going to go to Great Slave. Member from Great Slave.

Thanks, Mr. Chair, and sorry to the Member from Range Lake. I didn't mean to steal his thunder.

Culture and Heritage, very near and dear to my heart. It's where I started out as a public servant. Could the Minister explain the reduction of about $200,000? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. So this line item -- or the difference, sorry, in this line item here is a decrease mainly due to reductions of $460,000. And this is partly offset by funding from the Canada Council of the Arts to support artists across the Northwest Territories. And if the Member just gives me two seconds -- sorry, guys.

So this reduction here is largely due to a reduction in heritage centres across the territory. And so originally, there was a budget there of half a million dollars in the previous Assembly. That budget line item was moved up to a million dollars. But what we found was that heritage centres in the territory were not accessing that line item and so in recognition of the fact that that -- those dollars were not being used and might be better used in the government elsewhere, that line item was, again, reduced. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Great Slave.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you to the Minister for that. I notice that, just skimming quickly through the business plan, the really -- and I know the Minister has spoken to the fact that, you know, you don't have to be in the business plan to be doing important work, and I think the Minister of Finance has already reiterated that to me as well. But heritage resources being included in emergency planning is one of the pieces under ECE. Can the Minister elaborate on that.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, under the climate change action plan, one of the deliverables that ECE has is to ensure that as the North changes due to climate change, whether that's coastal erosion or the melting of permafrost, that we are doing our part to ensure that we're preserving the artifacts that come out of that. It's important for me to note that these heritage centre funding were specific to infrastructure development dollars. They weren't for O and M or other types of project funding. They were specific to renovations on existing infrastructure buildings. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go back to the Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you, Minister, for that. I guess I'll talk to her when I get to capital.

Shifting gears, looking at what we have been discussing yesterday a little bit about the ADM position, I don't really want to revisit that discussion per se. I do kind of want to just talk in general about the secretariats, both of them. They are both -- well, I mean, the French language secretariat is seeing a slight increase but is down since 2022-2023, and the Indigenous language secretariat is also down not insignificantly.

Insofar as that dollar amount is lower and we're looking at possibly creating a new ADM, can the Minister speak a little bit to what her vision is of an organization that seeks to possibly restructure what these language secretariats look like under an ADM? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, what I can say is that I would like to ensure that we have a department that is doing its part to support the revitalization of Indigenous languages across the territory. I think that there is work to be done both external and internal to the government, and part of that is the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework that is put in play by the Minister of Finance as well and services to the public that is coming out of the GNWT. There's also work that is being done right now in regards to, that I've spoken to already today, like the MAP program that functions from the department. There's also immersion education in some of our schools and the desire to see immersion education grow and be offered in more schools across the territory. I know that when we travelled on the Education Act in the 19th Assembly, that was a huge focus and desire for communities right across the territory as well as Indigenous governments, that in our JK to 12 system we're seeing support of immersion education.

In addition to that, we also spoke today about the diploma program through Aurora College. And it is not lost on me that the incoming president of Aurora College used to also work within the Indigenous languages secretariat for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. So I'm very excited to see what direction the college takes as well. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go back to the Member from Great Slave.

Thanks. And I guess I wasn't really clear. So I'm thinking more along -- not necessarily along the programs and services of Indigenous and French languages supported by ECE but, rather, what does that support system look like going into the future with these two secretariats and possibly a new ADM? I know the new president of Aurora College was the ED, I believe, of the Indigenous language secretariat. I'm not sure if ECE has found a replacement for that position, if that is being contemplated or if we're going along with the secretariat structure. Just wanted some more clarity around that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

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

Thank you. I'll go back to the Member from Great Slave.