Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So in regards to the question just asked by the Member and around community-based training programs, one of the things that we've been working to do is more on-the-job training formats and so working with employers through our suite of workforce development programs where training can be afforded through funding directly to an employer. And so that means that an employer can be supporting to either send a staff member for that training, work within the community to bring training opportunities to the individual. And so -- and what that means is that the person is working for an employment opportunity that already exists. And so that's been where our focus has been.

In addition to that, Mr. Chair, it was certainly working within the Northwest Territories to grow accreditation. So this past year, ECE has accredited one new institution and 11 new programs to be able to offer to NWT residents. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. I am going to -- just got to swap out for a minute here. But before I do that, I want to just move on because yesterday we had -- on this section here, we had about eight Members speak, so I am just going to continue on. So I am going to ask Members to go to page 43.

Education, Culture and Employment, education, $262,220,000. Does committee agree?

Okay, thank you. I am going to ask my colleague from the Sahtu to step in for about five minutes. So I will come right back.

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Thank you, colleagues. Moving on to income security, beginning on page 47 with information items on pages 49 and 50. Are there any questions?

To the Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Let me just get signed back into my computer here.

I wanted to ask about student financial assistance in relation to a few things. One is the number of students receiving SFA funding for health-related post-secondary and graduate studies increased a little bit from 2023 to 2024-2025 by about ten students. What steps has the department taken to further increase the number of Indigenous and local residents pursuing health and social services careers through SFA? That's my first question.

Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, by working with our career and education advisors, we certainly make sure that students know what jobs are available to them, what jobs are in need in the Northwest Territories. Also, certainly, especially when it comes to health care, that's something that Northerners hear a lot about. But we, from a student financial assistance perspective, support all of the post-secondary desires of students as far as them choosing ultimately what they want to do and making sure that they're connected or supported to understand how GNWT programs can support them in that endeavour. Thank you.

Minister. To the Member.

Frame Lake. Thanks, Mr. Chair. All the chairs get the lakes mixed up. It's easy to do.

The -- what I wanted to start to get at with the Minister here is just whether we could be considering changing the way SFA programming is done to better align with some of the goals we have. For example, we are working on health recruitment. We want to be growing the number of homegrown doctors, nurses. And so has the Minister considered, or I guess Cabinet considered, whether we could use programs in SFA to do that. So, for example a couple of years ago, it was -- the program was rolled back. I can't remember the name of the program off the top of my head, but it was the program that gave additional grants to anybody who came into the territory for their student loans. And we rolled that program back. It was considered too expensive. But I am wondering should we be bringing programs like that specifically for health professionals? So as a recruitment tool, as something to help boost people coming into the territory to help say to people hey, if you're coming here as a nurse, we'll help pay for your school if you're willing to come here and work. Have we thought about using SFA in that kind of way.

To the Member. To the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, certainly that is something that has been tried in the past and ultimately has been found that if, you know, certain jobs want to be incentivized by a certain department, that the department offer, for example, different scholarships which has been done throughout the government. But from a student financial assistance perspective, we have a number of jobs in the Northwest Territories that are in demand. Trades, for example. You know, environmental technicians as we move toward more major projects. And so really, you know, in the example of education, culture and employment, we have an early childhood educator scholarship that we offer. And so, really, the way that we've gone about it is by focusing on that from a department perspective rather than at the root, which is the student financial assistance funding mechanism. Because at the end of the day, from that perspective we want to ensure that we're supporting the goals of the student of where they want to work and how they want to add to our communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. To the Member, Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And for the sake of time, I am not going to belabour the point too hard, but I do think that it could be a powerful recruitment tool. I think people who are coming to the territory really appreciated that the territorial government was willing to cover some of the costs of their education. And I just think when we're thinking about key professions that we desperately need more of in the NWT, I think that could be a solid recruitment tool. So I will save that point for a Member's statement.

But I wanted to turn to another point, and that is improving Indigenous outcomes. It's something that I ask about every year when we're in COW with the Minister of education. And, again, talking about the SFA program, is this something that the Minister has thought about in terms of -- I know that we have different criteria for SFA for Indigenous students. So where I want to get at is I had a constituent who I came to the Minister with a while back who is trying to enrol in a bridging program to get themselves into university, and SFA doesn't currently cover that. And it seemed like a gap to me in the sense that we are trying to encourage Indigenous students to get into post-secondary and yet we're not supporting them in doing the kind of programming that would help literally bridge them into post-secondary school.

So I am wondering if the Minister has ever considered changing the rules of SFA specifically for Indigenous students to help cover bridging programs, that would help them get into post-secondary school, to help us change those education outcomes which are so different for Indigenous students versus non-Indigenous in the territory. Thank you.

Thank you to the Member. To the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So Mr. Chair, with the changes to student financial assistance that were introduced, we have seen an increase in Indigenous students pursuing post-secondary. We currently have about 50 percent of student financial assistance students in the Northwest Territories are Indigenous students. And the big change that was made there was making sure that Indigenous students have access to an unlimited amount of semesters and that includes, for example, the tuition and the books that come through the basic grant. And in addition to that, Mr. Chair, we, through our education funding, also have magnet facilities that are growing in popularity in communities in both Yellowknife and communities outside of Yellowknife. And magnet facilities are a way for students to make sure that they can access the coursework that they might need to pursue courses within a post-secondary program. So if it's, you know, for example improving a grade in English or math or chemistry, that they have access to that programming with a dedicated teacher. And so that is one way that we have pursued making courses available that students might need for a certain post-secondary program.

In addition to that, we have the northern distance learning which also provides access to specialized courses that students might need for post-secondary. And we have a pretty strong completion rate for those courses. I believe it's almost 70 percent across the territory. So we're seeing that students are seeing a lot of success by accessing these higher level courses through northern distance learning as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Back to the Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I do appreciate the Minister's answers here and will look more into those programs and perhaps seek a bit more information from her about them. But back to the point, I am -- you know, considering that we've already taken the step of giving our Indigenous students unlimited semesters, I mean, would it really make so much of a difference to change policy to allow those students to access some of their SFA funding for bridging programming just knowing that we are -- yeah, I think I already made the case. I think the case can be made again. I can save that for a Member's statement. But just knowing that we are trying to level the playing field here -- the playing field is not currently level -- would the Minister consider looking into changing policy to allow them to access funding for bridging programs knowing that it is getting them -- pushing them in the direction of getting into university programming? And if that's all that's standing in the way, I don't want us to be a barrier. Thank you.

Thank you to the Member. To the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, that would require some legislative change for sure, to look into something like that. Within that, Mr. Chair, we would want to ensure that at the end of the day that students were pursuing a certification or diploma or degree program, and we would also need to weigh that against other financial priorities given that there is access to improving grades and accessing these courses within the Northwest Territories. And so it would require additional funding for students to be able to access these type of programs outside the Northwest Territories. And so within, you know, fiscal constraints, we would need to decide if we wanted to also broaden that to access outside the territory when it already is somewhat accessible in the territory through magnet facilities or other options. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. The time's up for the Member from Frame Lake. Would you like to go back on the list? Good? Okay, we'll add him to the list.

Okay, moving on to the Member from the Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. With the anticipated -- looking at productive choices being brought into the income support assistance program, are there any anticipated budget changes that will be -- that you foresee in the near future? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the Member. To the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, through conversations and -- through conversations with Members, it has become quite apparent that there is a desire to see some form of productive choices returned to the income security programming. So that is currently something that we are pursuing and working on collaboratively with Members. Thank you.