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

Okay, thank you. That's the expectation. I'm glad we cleared that up for the record. And anyone watching, it will be broadcast. You're welcome to tune in. Yeah, millions of subscribers. Millions of subscribers.

So I guess fundamentally as well is the process for the Aurora College budgeting as well, even though they're at arm's length, does it work similar to other -- like, the health authority, for example, where the total contributions, so the $35 million we provide to Aurora College, that's on the books, but they then submit a budget, the Minister reviews it and approves it to make sure it conforms to the mandate. Is that a -- is it a similar process for Aurora College's budget as well currently? Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, it's not a situation where I'm going through their budget line by line with them. They have base funding that they get through this process here. If, for example, if they have a need for forced growth -- a great example of that that I believe is in this is their -- it, sorry, it is in this, is the forced growth for their lease payments and such. That's something that would come through the financial management board. It would go through our normal vetting processes with that. But line by line, they're not going through the budget with me, and I don't have eyes on what the exact breakdown of this would be in the arm's length relationship. Thank you.

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

Thank you. So, I mean, is this an arm's length academic institution or agency? Because, you know, they -- it would be one thing if you exceeded your grant and required more public -- a public grant to expand it or increase it or enter into temporary funding but what -- so when the Minister says goes to the FMB, is it, like are they providing a specific financial request? Like, hey, we need this amount of money to run this program, much like you would if you were providing a third party contribution to a municipal government, for example, or an Indigenous government, or is it the financial process the same as any other public agency or department? Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much. So they do submit an operating budget annually. They -- for example, if they need new funding above and beyond where they're at for new programming, like, for example, we've talked about, you know, the Indigenous languages diploma, new funding would have to go through the FMB process within the GNWT. And I'll stop there, Madam Chair. Thank you.

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

Thank you. I mean, certainly, there's a lot to talk about with Aurora College but, like, that's not -- it's not an arm's length academic institution as I understand it. It's one thing to fund the college to do a program like an Indigenous languages certificate but it still feels very much like it's always been run. And I think that's my fundamental concern. They still don't have a foundation put in place to do fundraising. We still don't have daylight on a North Slave campus plan, which is a campus that has plenty of students, in excess of staff, which is not the case with every campus Aurora College operates and -- you know, and a whole host of other issues. And I know -- I think the board is trying to hustle and get things under control, but it seems like they're doing it without letting everyone else in. This is an area of extreme interest. We'll have this discussion at standing committee. But I mean, we need to do better with Aurora College fundamentally. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Next I have Member -- okay, yeah, Minister, you can respond. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, to respond to the Member's question, it is still a public agency under the Financial Administration Act. And so they still, even at this point, can accept their own federal funding. They can accept their own funding even at this point right now today from other third party organizations as well.

It's also worth noting that certainly the college's legislatively is at a bit of an interim phase here. So there was the launch of the Aurora College's Act in the previous Assembly. And work that is still to be done in this Assembly are items like the funding formula for Aurora College and which would determine how they will be funded going forward as the Member kind of alluded to there. And there's also the Polytechnic University Act that needs to be done so that they really do fully transition to that arm's length in full scope of the word as the Member's referring to so that they are aren't tied, for example, to our Financial Administration Act. But I will say as well within the Aurora College's Act, there is still a noninterference with operational aspects of the college. And so even if I was afforded, you know, the ability to sit down and go through line by line, I couldn't say to them I don't like this line item, take it out, because they'd turn around and say to me well, you're overstepping, you're in our sandbox and you need to step back out, please, Minister. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Next, I have Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. This brings me to the question of concerns of policy and what type of oversight is provided. The circumstances I'll sort of framework is that I'll start with the beginning is does the department have any policy or influence on the school boards and authorities to be -- I guess I'm trying to say it -- nonpartisan in their political intervention in education? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

I'm wondering if the Minister could be -- pardon me, if the Member can be more specific or direct about what they would like to get to here. Thank you.

Member for YK Centre, can you be more specific in your question. Thank you.

So when I -- a student in a school is shamed for liking Trump -- and I'm not here to speak for the individual, of Trump, that is -- but where I worry that the parent has to deal with children who have just been shamed on that or the school, be it the school, the teachers, etcetera. As an example -- if you want an example, this is a real one -- what policies do we have on that that if teachers are providing their individual personal opinions and hence that's trickled down in shaming individual students?

Now, I want to be absolutely clear, Madam Chair, in no way would I be defending that orange guy. Don't misunderstand. I have no like for that man at all, but I respect he's been elected. The reality is is that my concern is what type of oversight is provided by the department, such as guidance or policy, that if people in a free and democratic society like one person or the other, that they shouldn't be shamed and humiliated in classes or feel the pressure of bullying in the schools because they choose something different than, say, we would choose. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, it is very helpful so thank you to the Member for being specific about what they're looking for. And so we do, in the Northwest Territories, have safe schools regulations. It is the responsibility of all schools across the territory to ensure that they are providing safe, equitable, and an inclusive schooling environment to their students. And, of course, safety takes many different shapes and forms for different students across the territory. And education bodies are required to hold staff accountable for how they behave in that regard, and ECE, of course, would support education bodies to meet the requirements of the safe schools regulations.

And so each school board is responsible for having a safe schools plan and ensuring that at the end of the day students are safe. And so that can take on the form, for example, of ensuring that they're providing training so that they're continuously building educator capacity to ensure at the end of the day the physical, mental, and psychological safety of our students. Thank you.

Members, I want to remind you that just please speak specifically to what we're dealing with in the House here. We have no say in what goes on outside in the United States. That stays there. We're speaking about what happens here. Thank you.

Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And by no means am I getting into the geopolitical experience or wave down there, and that wasn't the intention of the specific line. But my concern is about young people exercising their opinion and how what oversight or abilities does the department see or have to address these types of issues.

I am aware of another parent bringing forward an issue that the individual teachers bring up on the screen in the classroom, how to complain about civic politicians where they're -- the teachers are exercising their personal opinions and encouraging students to focus their complaints and, in other words, walking them through the complaint process, how to file. How does -- what policy or what process can ECE do to ensure that young minds aren't molded based on the individual perceptions or perspectives of those people guiding those fresh moldable minds? Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.