Alfred Moses

Yes, we will be developing reports, and we will share that with committee. I am sure the residents of the North would like to get information on that. With our early childhood, in terms of monitoring, we do have an Early Development Instrument that reflects how children are going into the K to 12 system. What we have developed now is an MDI, Middle Development Instrument, which is pretty neat in the sense that all these students that went through the EDI are now just going into this year and will now develop on the end, looked at on the MDI. We will see what improvements have been made and how...

As mentioned, earlier within some of the other discussions around how we fund French and Aboriginal languages, obviously we do utilize all the federal funding and sometimes we do top it up with some of our funding as well, GNWT funding.

As I mentioned, Mr. Speaker, we're just waiting for the request, see what the cost will be, and we'll wait until the staff at Moose Kerr School brings it to the department, and we'll take it from there.

Yes. As I stated, when we go through position reductions, it is always a difficult exercise, and any reductions we did make, we made sure that the program services were not going to be impacted, and that other staff can also participate in the workload. Generally, the process was that senior managers were asked to look at their operations and proposed options coming forward. There needed to be some balance between position reductions and other operating expenses like travel and other O and M and any other program changes. ECE is particularly challenged, because obviously, we don't want to...

That funding is sunsetting and it was funding that we did give to WSEC in the contribution.

Yes, there are four positions. The admin secretary, research assistant, the archivist, and then the library clerk. They were all reductions. Positions were also filled.

The first pot of money was, as I mentioned, for programs in the Aboriginal and French language services. The second program is just for K to 12 school programs specifically for French. More detail on what kind of programs there are, maybe I'll ask my deputy minister to get into more details. But those are dollars that go to the schools and they work on what kind of programs and services that they feel is appropriate to be done. But any more detail, I can ask my deputy minister.

With the inclusive schooling in the past, money was given to the schools, and they took that money and used it how they wanted to. We are giving a directive now to all the education authorities to ensure that funding is going to be used for students with special needs. We are actually developing an accountability framework around that as well, ensuring that the dollars we give as a department are actually being utilized and used for what it was meant to be used for. Even though there is not a big increase in inclusive schooling, the way we are going to be funding it, we are going to be getting...

Yes, we're always looking at ways that we can improve the systems and supports that we give to our stakeholders and our partners. The one thing that I did mention in the Minister's statement is that we're looking at multi-year funding agreements right now just on a year-to-year basis. We're looking at ways that can make it easier for operators to stay open and still be able to do their operations and have them a little more stable and sustainable as well in terms of not having to always come back and reapply for that funding.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The question was brought up from the Member, and we have the department looking into it. We're also waiting for the Beaufort Delta Education Council to receive a request from the school. I encourage the Member and the staff at Moose Kerr School in Aklavik to talk with the education council as well as the education authority to see about getting that process moved. We obviously want to support the cultural activities in the small communities, all communities, in the Northwest Territories, and I encourage the Member to speak with the staff to bring that request forward...