Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, if I understand correctly, the Member is asking for updates on how students access post-secondary from their -- sorry, from high school within their communities. And so one of the things that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has is career education advisers, and those career education advisers fill a very important role within our community schools right across the territory. And so they actually work with youth on a one-on-one basis to understand what their career goals are and what it is that they would like to do and ensure that students understand what courses they should be taking for graduation, what pathways there are, so these relationships are also some of the relationships that students are taking in order to access programs like SNAP. And it's also our career education advisers that are forming relationships within the communities in the Northwest Territories to make sure that students interested in SNAP program, so that's the school's north apprenticeship program, have employers that they can form relationships with to really get some of their apprenticeship or student apprenticeship hours with. And it's incredibly important for students to know what courses they need to take, what grades they're expected to have based on what their career goals are, and so I can't stress enough how important our career education advisers are to students across the territory. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Mackenzie Delta.

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

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I cannot stress enough how important ensuring access to education is in our territory. You know, every aspect of our lives is directly related to access to education. And access to education, I can say, is incredibly important to me. We're working certainly very hard within the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to address the need to improve the education outcomes of students right across the territory. And I would be happy as well to sit down with the Member and show some of the actions that have taken place over the last, I believe, three years, and not all three years ago, but over time, over the last three years. And, really, what jump started a lot of it was the report from the Auditor General of Canada that really came up to the Northwest Territories and said you guys need to, you know -- you got some work to do. And so certainly, we embraced that report and got to work right away. And so some of that had to do with training classroom assistants. Some of it was access to training for teachers who are doing multigrade classrooms. Some of it was assessments across classrooms. There is also in the same breath changes being made to the early learning and child care sector within the Northwest Territories and also within the training expectation of people working within that sector because we know that that is what ensures that students are ready when they get to school and they're being -- they're having access to supports before they get there if they are, for example, nonverbal and needing supports in that.

The other thing that's incredibly important as part of this work that is taking place over the course of this term is changes to the Education Act. And I cannot stress enough how important that is because that is a piece of legislation that is going to be done in collaboration with Indigenous governments. And when we talk about the importance of understanding the Northwest Territories, having social legislation that is drafted in partnership, drafted in collaboration, is incredibly important, especially when we want to ensure that everyone in the territory sees themselves in the legislation that's guiding something as important as education. So that is incredibly important work that's being done.

But I hear the Member, and the Member is looking for solutions today, and I think that working together and ensuring that some of the programs that I've spoke of earlier, so whether it's the SNAP program or it is the wage subsidy or working with -- within the community, for example, with modular learning, for example, like Fort Smith and the success they've seen through their Phoenix program. They have had 18 graduates in that program in a community the size of Fort Smith last year. And I cannot speak highly enough of the program and being able to accept that we need to meet students where they're at and support them to grow from there and support them to successfully complete their education from there. So there are solutions that -- and frameworks and solutions that the department of education puts together, and it really does take all levels of government and organizations working together to see the success of students across the territory. And I'll stop there, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Member for Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I try to listen but it's just being repetitive and, you know, going in circles. But the starts to education she stated that there has been some work done in regards to education the last three years, but I haven't seen any changes in the last ten years. And one of my concerns is socially promoting our children. I know there's some students -- I mean some parents who have concerns, and they -- they're more -- they're willingly -- they keep their children behind or worst comes to worst, they send them to another jurisdiction like the Yukon where they can get a better education or maybe one of the bigger regional centres. But our smaller communities are just not benefitting from this education system. I just -- hopefully this department can maybe take their staff on the road and, you know, get some feedback from the communities because this is really hurting the communities and the individuals. So thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. And, Madam Chair, as always I appreciate the words of the Member, and they're words that I definitely take to heart. There is certainly -- while there's work being done, there's certainly more work to do, and there are complex needs across the territory and certainly working with my colleague over at the Department of Health and Social Services to address some of those needs, especially when it comes to therapeutic care and ensuring accessibility of education in the North. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair. I thank the Minister there for mentioning bridging the programs to the people. And I think that's recognizing a gap and here's a bridge to challenge that gap. And my -- I see all these unique programs, and I look at what's your Beaufort Delta or Deh Cho or Sahtu regional trades strategy. We can no longer deny that we really need trades. But how we're going to get there, let's think about going above and beyond the budget. Looking at the budget, it's an operational one. Yes, we have these career individuals, but if we're really not doing enough on the promotional side recognizing our weaknesses in trades and the high demand in trades, we're not going to be any further ahead if we deny this budget a regional strategy. So we not only have an operational budget, but we do have a marketing strategy to address the trades gap. And successive planning is in there. You know, we may not have an industry in the Sahtu like we used to 10, 15 years ago, but the Skills 4 Success forecast recognizes the demand for retirement planning and the succession that goes along with the 375 workers we have there.

Now, in addition to that, we have other opportunities to encourage our young people that are probably going to end up saying, well, I don't really want to move; I'd rather stay home. Okay, well, let's see how we can fix that.

So this budget's going to be approved. Is the department developing a strategy for each region so that we can address the market demands with the programs that we have here? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I believe we have about 320 some apprentices in the Northwest Territories right now, 49 percent of which are Indigenous, and so I'm very happy but, of course, I'm like the Member and certainly want to see more success in that area. And I agree with the Member that marketing strategy and promotion is crucial to that. That is one of the top things that I heard from students when I was talking to them about the SNAP program, both ones that are in it and ones that are not in it, was they want to be able to see more advertising, more information, more ways of getting involved and making sure that their friends have access to that information. So I certainly see that as a critical part of this work forward and one that needs to be done so that I can achieve my business plan commitments which are to increase apprentices and increase SNAP students across the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Members, the next section is income security, so we're not there yet. You can ask the question -- I'll go back to Member for the Sahtu.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll just stop there and reserve additional questions there. But I'm happy with the responses that I've received so far from the Minister on preparations after budget season. Mahsi.

Thank you. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, no, we are certainly in income security, and then next up is labour development standards. I'm happy to answer any questions.

Okay, now no further questions. We'll go to page -- turn to page 50. Education, Culture and Employment, income security, operations expenditure summary, 2025-2026 Main Estimates, $67,806,000. Does the committee agree -- sorry, it's $67,608,000. Does the committee agree?

Thank you. Moving on to labour development and standards on page 53 with information items on page 57. Are there any questions? Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Can you please clarify if this is where I can ask questions about the NWT nomination program? Thank you.

Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Yes.

Thank you. Member for Great Slave.