Thank you, Mr. Chair. I took that as a comment. I didn't hear a question from the Member.

Thank you. What I'll do now is that I think the food is ready. We'll take a 30-minute break, and we'll come back. And so we're continuing on in 43 -- on pages 41 to 43. If there's any further Members -- questions from the Members that haven't spoken yet, I'll give you that opportunity to speak then. Okay, we'll take a 30-minute break. Thank you.

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Thank you. We just concluded our supper break. Before we move on, yesterday I reminded Members that we're going to do ten minutes per item on per page activity, and I want to continue to do that. And so Members that haven't spoken, I have the list here. So right now on page 41 to 43, for Members that haven't spoken, is there any question? I'm going to go to the Member from Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My question or my concern is in regards to everybody knows that there's a big shortage of early childhood care in the smaller communities and even in the regional centres and even in Yellowknife. So we have a lot of young mothers or parents that want to go to school or go to work, but due to the lack of early childhood facilities they are reluctant to go and leave their families with -- leave their kids with babysitters or other caretakers.

My question is in -- just one question here is in regards to is there funding available for renovating homes or upgrading homes to fit the criteria of having your home as a facility to house children? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, it would depend on the extent of renovations and what was required, but there are funding arrangements that the department does have to help people set up their family-run day home out of their houses, and so it would be on a case-by-case basis as to what exactly a resident might be looking for to help with that. And so if there is somebody within the Member's communities that would be interested in that, I know that the ELCC coordinator would love the opportunity to be able to hear from that person and work directly with them. That way they could understand where the person is living and what they're looking for and educate them about the different funding programs that are available and how we can work together.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Mackenzie Delta.

Mr. Chair, I just had that one question. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to continue on now. If no further questions, please turn to page 40.

Education, Culture and Employment, early learning, operations expenditure summary, 2024-2025 Main Estimates, $25,396,000. Does the committee agree?

Thank you. Questions? I got Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you. Thank you to the Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. Does the committee agree?

Thank you. Moving on to education beginning on page 44 with information items on page 46 to 48. Are there any questions? Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I want to refer to business plan, page 11, just give the Minister and her staff a second to find that. In particular, the item that speaks to continuing implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action. So I note that that Call to Action, particularly action number 7, speaks to closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous education outcomes in the country. And that one is directed at the federal government. But, of course, there was an audit done by the auditor general recently of this system, came forward with a bunch of recommendations and resulting in the Improving Student Outcomes Action Plan. There's a couple of items in that action plan that are listed in the tracker on the department's website. JK to 4 literacy and numeracy strategy and developing greater integration of services for children and youth in the education system through expanding regional capacity.

I'm just wondering if the Minister can speak to those items first, and then I have a question about the goal in the business plan itself. So just first the two items that are on hold.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I would like the opportunity to pass to the assistant deputy minister Shannon Barnett-Aikman.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the assistant deputy minister.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I appreciate those answers. And now kind of to the business plan itself, looking at that business plan -- it was just the continuing implementation of Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action, it just highlighted for me to kind of have a look at those calls, and that number 7 stood out to me particularly considering the auditor general's report that the department is responding to. So I guess my question is on the business plan, I don't see any commitments or targets being sought to reduce the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth. I'm not seeing targets related to kind of increasing education outcomes for youth. There's certainly some targets related to early childhood education, but they're kind of about early childhood educators. So I'm just wondering if the department can speak a bit more to why we don't see targets in the business plan related to the outcomes that we're trying to seek for junior K to 12 students?

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I think it's important to note that not everything that the government does lands in the business plans. There's still action plans that are still day-to-day efforts that are done by public servants and by Northerners day in and day out that don't land themselves in the business plans per se. But educating children and making sure that we are preparing them for the rest of their lives is something that is constantly top of mind for northern educators, for parents, for community members, and something that we need to continue to do. So while these outcomes are not specifically in the business plan, it absolutely does not mean that it is something that falls off or is something that does not exist. Thank you.

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