Debates of Oct. 28th, 2025

Okay, thank you. I'll go back to the Member from the Sahtu.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Thanks to the Minister for that follow-up. I'll follow up with the Minister to see if we can get that process underway for that small capital addition to the school.

And I did hear the Minister make reference to requesting schools for improvements. Is that part of the spring afterschool part of the year on looking forward to the schools placing forward their summer needs, the repairs, and bringing that forward to develop this capital plan? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, information is requested from education bodies between now and January. So it's quite a bit in advance so that there's time for planning and budgeting of what that looks like and then comes forward, for example, to Cabinet in the summertime for us to be going through approval. So it's quite a detailed process. And our ask is that people express what it is that they're looking for. And as I indicated in my response to the Member for Range Lake, there's a significant amount of requests that come in every year, and this funding represents about 30 percent of the total requests that ECE receives. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks to the Minister for that clarification there. I feel comfortable that we do have an infrastructure maintenance checklist in place here, and this is a cycle, so I'm glad to hear that. If that is brought up in my community visits by concerned parents for example, I'll certainly relay that message on that the school is a part of an annual audit for repairs and maintenance and upgrades and so on. Mahsi.

Okay. So thank you. I'm taking that's just a comment, and I'm continuing on. I am going to go to the Member from Monfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Okay, looking at the education project listing for the schools, I don't see Whati school on here on this project. There are other schools in Tlicho region that are on there with some repair. But Whati school was built to accommodate elementary students in the early '80s. Now it's accommodating high school students. Because of that, classes are -- classroom space are limited. And I know that they need more classroom space for young family, once -- for young families that are moving back with the young kids. Because now it's even -- I think we need to focus on doing renovation and/or school extensions because with the mine closure, I have been hearing lots from community members that they want to move back because they cannot afford to live in Yellowknife and pay rent. It's not just in Yellowknife. It's from other places as well where the mine workers living in different -- in other province, they are inquiring about moving back too as well because they cannot afford the rent. So I know there's -- it's going to be an influx of our people coming -- you know, moving back. So I just want to ask the Minister if they are engaging or working with the community government or, you know, community chief or other organizations regarding school expansion or renovating or their needs on renovating the school or extensions. I know technical assessment needs to be done, so if there was anything like that done so I just want to ask the Minister if -- so what are they doing now to accommodate Whati, community of Whati regarding their school expansion. Thank you.

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

Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the information that I have in front of me here is that the current utilization rate for the Whati school is about 78 percent capacity is filled, and the school that we're currently focusing on in the Monfwi riding is Chief Jimmy Bruneau School which is currently above 90 percent utilization rate. And so we are currently working closely with Tlicho government on their plans for how they would like to see Chief Jimmy Bruneau School renovation done in the future and have worked with Tlicho government, not just locally here but also through advocating with the federal government as well. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go back to the Member for Monfwi.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. See CJBS, it's not a renovations. It's a new school we're asking for -- the community is asking for. So I just wanted to clarify that.

But there are Whati school -- it's not just that, but I'm not too sure if this is part of the capital project where busing, if there was any communications or, you know, with the community members because with the community growing, you know, people going back -- going home, the community is going to go through what we are going through in Behchoko with that subdivision. We're building a new subdivision in Behchoko. And Whati is going to go through that. Maybe Gameti is going to go through that. Wekweeti is going to go through that too as well, you know, so. So that's why, you know, it's -- busing is very important. And some of these projects is very important for some of the small communities in my riding, so same thing. Like, so what are we doing to accommodate community that's growing, especially to provide busing for young people, if that was part of the operation. But I think this is going to help improve our tenants, you know, in the small communities. So I just wanted to ask the Minister if they are working with the Indigenous government and/or with the school board in our region. Thank you.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, in regards to busing, that is something that is afforded through some funding that supports that with the school funding formula. And so that's found in our main estimates that we review every year in February and March. That said, to answer the Member's question, busing specifically for Tlicho communities has not been raised in our education leaders' meetings but certainly is something that is undertaken and pursued by education bodies themselves who decide how they're going to support that in each of their communities and what way to best address transportation of students with their student body and also with the infrastructure that they have in place in the specific community. So, for example, Yellowknife would be far different than how Whati might choose to address this and how they choose to serve students as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Okay, thank you. I'll go back to Member from Monfwi.

Thank you. Yeah, with the community expanding, we will -- they will definitely need some form of transportation for the students. So that's about it, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. First, I just wanted to ask, on page 21, when we look at the 2025-2026 Capital Estimates and then the revised estimates, it was -- the approved estimate was $2.3 million and then the revised estimates ended up being $37.2 million, and I wonder if the Minister can just explain how we got such a huge jump last year. I know there was overruns and extra costs in relation to the Mangilaluk School in Tuktoyaktuk. But does that account for all of that jump; can the Minister explain. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Okay, thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. All of that account is from Mangilaluk School in Tuktoyaktuk.

Okay, thank you. I'll go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.

Okay, thank you for that explanation.

I wanted to pick up on the threads that some of my colleagues have been talking about in terms of the need for assessments of schools because before we even know what the problems are or the extent of the problems, we have to be doing assessments. And I wonder if the Minister can explain -- I know we have a policy for how we conduct capital improvements, so like capital standards, but is there a policy on when or how often assessments are conducted in each of these schools just to figure out what is the state of repair of the buildings in the first place? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, while we work very closely with the Department of Infrastructure, the maintenance of assets are led by the Department of Infrastructure so that's work that is done under the Department of Infrastructure. What I can say is that there is an expectation of a five-year rolling assessment calendar. And maybe, Mr. Chair, through yourself, I would like to just check with my colleagues to see if they had any more specific information that they'd like to add at this time.