From the Sahtu. Minister for Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to start off by recognizing that there is absolutely an impact to communities across the Northwest Territories and specifically the staff of the community learning centres across the Northwest Territories. However, under the Aurora College Act, Mr. Speaker, the board of governors is responsible for operations decisions of the college. I know that Aurora College is working closely with Department of Finance to support staff through the process and that elements of the staff retention process and policy have been communicated to potentially affected staff, and work is underway to find potential placements for those staff. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I'm glad that job search is underway to assist the individuals.

My second question there, Mr. Speaker, is what is the Department of ECE's position on the current learning centres' facilities or the buildings; what are the future plans of those assets? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are some community learning centres which are leased within communities and some where the infrastructure's owned by the GNWT. So in instances where it is leased by the Government of the Northwest Territories for the purpose of a CLC, it will be -- the lease will be terminated. And in the instance where it is owned, we have been -- we have had outreach from Indigenous governments, communities, and organizations, and they've been in contact with both ECE and Aurora College, and they've let known what their interests are in some of those facilities. Now, of course, outreach has not happened for every single one of them. At the same time time, though, Mr. Speaker, ECE does remain responsible for providing residents with access to quality programs and supports that enhance education and employment opportunities in the Northwest Territories. And so right now we're continuing to work with Aurora College to find out how adult learners will continue to be supported through the planned closures of the community learning centres.

I think it's also worth noting that through the Department of Infrastructure, Mr. Speaker, there are currently GNWT processes of how to deal with assets that may be vacated and no longer used for their traditional use. So right now at this point, we've got some learning and exploring to do, and then we do have contacts from people who have ideas of how they'd like to use those facilities. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister for Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from the Sahtu.

Thank you to the Minister for that reply. I'm glad efforts are taken to make use of these facilities. I've been in a number of them, and they're ideal buildings for other uses.

So my last question: Will the Minister support a joint meeting between each Sahtu community leadership and the department so we can share the information updated and what the future plans are? Mahsi.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Absolutely to the Member's question, the answer is yes. I also have to say I've been really excited about some of the creative solutions that people are coming forward with for community learning centres. And I think that's part of our success story here, at the end of the day, is really looking creatively and at communities independently because everybody's needs are going to be different at the end of the day here. I also want to reflect, Mr. Speaker, on what the Member said as far as education being a lifelong journey, and I -- I'm certainly committed to joining the Member on that journey. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister for Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The ongoing concern of Quality Inn and patients having to be housed in this facility, it's been addressed by myself, my colleagues, the residents of the Northwest Territories, and the media. What is the Minister and her department doing to address this very important ongoing concern? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from the Mackenzie Delta. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker -- and thank you to the Member. You know, the issues with the boarding home, unfortunately, the increased travel that has happened, especially from the Beaufort Delta, I think in the last number it was almost 45, 50 percent increase in travel, which Keskorie who currently has the contract, their facility is unable to accommodate that. Even though they moved from that old facility to the new facility with more beds and more space, they still are unable to accommodate that. What they are doing, though, and they have been, is working with other hotels and they've been successful trying to get rooms in more other hotels as needed when the overcapacity is happening, but this is ongoing work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I've been addressing this concern for quite some time, and it seems the Minister or department does not have the concrete answer. Maybe the answer's somewhere else; maybe it's in the communities or its residents. Will the Minister commit to follow suit with our neighboring territory Nunavut and take her department and hear the concerns of the communities and its residents of the Northwest Territories. Maybe the answer's out there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member. And this issue is not new. If you think about the last government, I probably raised this on an ongoing scenario as well. And that's why, you know, we are not just doing a medical travel policy review. We are doing a medical travel -- a review of how we move patients and what is needed and taking into account all of the things that the Member has raised, many Members in this House have raised. This government and past governments, I think the one thing that we didn't expect was the issues that are arising around dental and that increase around that. There is ongoing negotiations right now with the department -- or with ISC on ensuring that we are being able to provide dental to those residents and coming up with ways to bring dental services back into the communities. However, this is ongoing and so the work is continuing. And like I said, in the short fix is that we do have Keskorie working with other hotels in Yellowknife trying to secure more than just the hotel that they have been able to secure. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll leave my third question out, and I'll go back to my second question I asked. The question is the Minister willing to take her department out to the communities and get feedback from the communities and its residents? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do commit to doing this as I also -- you know, with part of this medical travel piece, we are working -- you know, this is a conversation that comes up with -- at the Council of Leaders. It comes up in bilaterals with Indigenous governments. It comes up with constituents. So I have heard from many residents and these are all the things, as the Minister, that I'm taking in account while looking at the bigger -- the medical travel -- modernization of how we're moving patients in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Monfwi.

Masi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to know what steps the government are taking to increase the number of Indigenous youth working for the GNWT in their home communities? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's quite a number of things that -- different programs and services available. There's, of course, the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework which is an overarching way of looking at how the GNWT engages with potential employees, communities. There's also a number of programs, not the least of which is Indigenous Career Gateway Program. This is an opportunity that was not fully subscribed just a few years ago when I had started here and is now very fully subscribed which is a certainly positive circumstance. But it's entry level positions where we can actually go out and bring people into the public service or training positions where someone may not have the formal qualifications on paper, but we can set up a training program so that a person can actually join the public service, be trained in on the job over the course of two years, and then gain an indeterminate position. And further, Mr. Speaker, there's, of course, all of the student assistance programs which don't reside entirely within finance but, again, we are engaged with my colleague here and with the Department of ECE so that students who are part of SFA, which is open to ordinary residents of the Northwest Territories, have outreach from recruitment, from human resources, and similarly so they have recruitment to come back and join our summer student programs which, I believe, are going to be announced fairly soon, and that is a serious gateway that a lot of people come use to come into the public service. I'll leave it there for now, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you. Will the new Indigenous employment policy apply to internships and summer students employment program? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, just as the current affirmative action policy applies, so too will the Indigenous employment policy apply. And, Mr. Speaker, I can say anecdotically we do find that the bigger challenge is really bringing in students. We find often that students begin to go down the process and accept jobs more quickly than we can get to them. So it's more often than not that the students that are utilizing this are all getting scooped up which is, again, a good problem for us to have. We are looking, therefore, to have individuals who are members of the First Nations, Inuit, Metis people of the North having first priority and first access and, Mr. Speaker, again, we'll be continuing the outreach efforts that we undertake usually to students -- all students who are ordinary residents so that they are aware of these programs as soon as they come open again. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Finance. Final supplementary. Member for Monfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will an Indigenous young person from a small community like Gameti applying for GNWT jobs right out of high school have an advantage under this policy? Thank you.