Thank you, Madam Chair. And just one final question. In both -- in the main estimates on page 59, both culture and heritage and Indigenous language secretariat, both have seen a reduction since the 2023-2024 actuals, and I was just wondering if we could get a explanation or substantiation of that. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister of culture.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, one of the biggest differences between the main estimates for 2025-2026 and 2024-2025 is the movement and transfer of the arts funding to industry, tourism and investment. So that transferred not only almost $1.5 million to ITI, but in addition, it also transferred the money available through the Canada Council of the Arts MOU to ITI as well, and that was in the -- that was one point -- roughly $1.5 million plus $275,000. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair. And, yeah, the 2024-2025 Main Estimates for the Indigenous language secretariat are slightly lower than this year's main estimates, so that's a positive, I believe, but in the historical 2023-2024 actuals, it's quite a significant drop. Could the Minister explain that, please. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, the -- sorry, I'm just going to pull it up here. Thank you.

So what we saw in the 2024-2025 Main Estimates and the big reason for the decrease is tied directly to fiscal sustainability reductions. So we had a reduction in travel for the official languages board specifically. In addition to that, we saw reduction in the contributions to Indigenous communications societies as well as a reduction on travel for a regional linguistic position. And then we also saw a reduction in the funding afforded for translator training. And then in addition to that, we have multiple mentor apprenticeship program coordinator positions within the department, and so we reduced by one of those. And then we also were holding on to significant amount of funding there for the Indigenous language adult immersion diploma that was to be delivered at Aurora College. And so that work is not yet complete at Aurora College, but we were hanging on to it year after year in anticipation of that work being done. And so the commitment was made to once the program is developed, then I would come forward to my Cabinet colleagues and work to have that funding hopefully reinstated and go through the regular planning process at the financial management board for that funding. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair. So one thing in that list of items from fiscal restraint that caught my ear just now was a reduction in translator training. Could the Minister please explain why that was a choice that was made? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, in regards to that line item -- and forgive me, I'm just working to pull that up here. And that was in my -- that's -- sorry, and I apologize because it was in a previous year's budget, so I don't have it readily available in front of me. And, sorry, it -- so for that specific program, it was historically undersubscribed, so we were able to kind of trim off the top without trimming in to what was traditionally used by people accessing that program. Thank you.

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

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. It's disappointing that it was trimmed rather than advertised but more of a comment than a question, and I'll cede my time. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Next, I have the Member for Monfwi.

Thank you. For the Indigenous language, to promote, that's good. I see here Indigenous language broadcasting. And it's -- it did went down from 2023-2024. Because I know that there's -- I mean, that's another way to encourage and support Indigenous language, to promote Indigenous language. Can the Minister explain why Indigenous language broadcasting went -- if there's a decrease in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, that was part of our fiscal sustainability reductions. And so what we were able to do is -- and that was last year's reductions that were already done in the previous main estimates. But what we were able to do was look at programs that were historically undersubscribed and trim off the top of them. But we continue to make investments into, for example, our mentorship apprenticeship program that saw 37 pairs this year. We continue to make investments, for example, in our education instructor -- languages instructor program that is in schools in multiple regions in the territory right now. We continue to fund, for example, our Indigenous languages scholarship program that has seen increases year over year of students taking part in it. So we are still making significant investments but have found ways to trim from some programs in order to ensure that we're investing in other programs that are oversubscribed across the GNWT. Thank you.

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

Thank you. You did mention interpreter/translator or, you know -- we've been asking -- I've been asking too -- not just me, but there's a lot of people that have asked. Interpreter/translator program, it was offered through Aurora College at one time. It was a pilot project. And I know it was popular at that time. And I'm sure a lot of our interpreter/translator that are in here probably went through that program as well, you know. Interpreting is -- I mean, it is an important -- you know, it is important for -- to promote and save the Indigenous language even in a lot of our -- our communities, when they have meetings, they do it in both language. They have interpreters/translators available but they are aging. So I know that the schools are promoting it, but we do need the interpreters/translators, like the one that we have here in the building, you know, that are interpreting. Simultaneous interpretation, it's not easy, you know, going from English to the Indigenous language or vice versa. So I just wanted to know if there's any plan -- I don't see it in the business plan but maybe possibly to do interpreter/translator program pilot project. We have the facility. Either it's you can do it in the regions, or there's other places that we can have that program. This is going to be one way of preserving our language. And we note that many of our young people in our small communities, they're not practising as much, and there's not too many speakers, you know, in a lot of places as well -- in a lot of places. So I just wanted to know if there's a plan to do some kind of a pilot project interpreter/translator program in the near future. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I'm so happy that the Member from Monfwi brought this up. This is certainly very top of mind. I know that a lot of us in this House have had an opportunity to have really incredible relationships with a lot of the interpreters in this House. And, you know, they do far more than interpret for us. They definitely also take care of our hearts on a daily basis. And so I know that a lot of us get some pretty good hugs coming into this room and a good reset from a lot of the people who, you know, surround us and do such a good job of reminding us why we're here on a daily basis. And so I really appreciate the Member bringing that up.

In addition to -- and sorry, let me take a step back. So those relationships and the succession planning that needs to happen for the interpreters in this building is something that is incredibly important to both the Speaker and I, and so we have been sitting down and having lunches every session when we're here in the House with myself and the Speaker and both of our staff, so clerk's office staff and then also education, culture and employment staff, because we want to work with the interpreters in this building to find out, first of all, what are their suggestions because, really, they are such -- they're not just language champions. They're language experts. And so we have so much to learn from them in order to learn how we can put together a program that really fuels language in this building. But it's not just about what happens in this building as well. It's about what happens outside this building and really creating language communities right across the territory.

And so last week, I also had the opportunity to sit down with our official languages board and made a commitment to them that, absolutely, I want for all of us at the end of our time together -- because they're on terms as well. But we're all here because we want to see good work done and so it takes us working together in order to make sure that we are doing meaningful work and at the end of the day have something to show for it.

And so all that to say there, absolutely as far as succession planning, there are good conversations happening in terms of a deliverable, like a course at Aurora College. We now have Dr. Angela James as the president of Aurora College. She comes from the Indigenous languages secretariat. So me saying that she definitely has a very personal interest in the success of language in the territory, I don't think I'm speaking out of turn. And so where we're at right now is in order -- so Aurora College does have an intent to have -- take up a space within language development in the Northwest Territories, and I have made the commitment that when they have that program ready, to bring it forward to the financial management board for the funding that we removed from this budget. But I couldn't keep hanging on to funding that we weren't using for the purposes that we committed to this House for using, so I in good -- in -- you know, in respect of the processes that we have here in the House, let go of that funding so we could put it to something that was actually appropriated by this House. But absolutely, I continue to have meetings with Aurora College. Just had one yesterday. Indigenous languages did come up as well. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Monfwi.

Well, yeah -- well, that's a good information to know. And it's not just only with the Indigenous -- with Aurora College, but this could be done in partnership with the Indigenous government or organizations because the schools are doing their part, but we need more. And it's kind of disappointing that, you know -- that we had to get rid of that program. But it would be nice if we can build on other programs to promote the Indigenous language. It doesn't have to be in the regional centre but each region can do their own. But I think this is where the partnership is important with the Indigenous government or organizations to preserve our language.

So, yeah, and it's kind of disappointing where that broadcasting is reduced too as well because that was another -- there's a lot of Indigenous elders, they listen, and some of our young people listen to those programs as well. And it's -- it is important. So I just -- it's more of a comment.

But I would like to see some kind of a program in -- maybe within the next fiscal budget, partner -- create a partnership with the Indigenous government to see how we can bring some of those programs back to revive our language. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister, would you like to respond? Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.