Alfred Moses

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member's statement that the Member brought forward on residential school training. As residential schools have impacted people in every community in the Northwest Territories, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission brought these issues forward to all Canadians, as well as to people of the Northwest Territories. Mandatory training has been brought forward in a variety of ways. We have developed, in partnership with Nunavut, a residential school curriculum through our Northern Studies program. We have also introduced mandatory training to all...

At the current time, we don't have a concentrated effort where some of the lowest employment rates are. We do have some opportunities coming up with the possibility of some big infrastructure projects that this government might approve, and based on where those projects might be, we can focus on those areas, as well as support all regions in getting employment rates higher.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member knows, this is my second term of the Legislative Assembly, and on a yearly basis we do review those unemployment rates. As I was answering questions earlier in the House, we are taking actions to address some of these unemployment rates throughout the Northwest Territories, in small communities, regional centres, and here in Yellowknife as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are various ways that the department is working with our stakeholders to adjust the issue that the Member brought up. First of all, through Aurora College, we do offer trades technical training at Thebacha Campus. We also work with the Mobile Trades Training Unit in Aurora College up in Inuvik. As with Skills 4 Success Initiative that I mentioned in previous answers to questions earlier this week, through implementation programs, programs are being aligned with identified labour market needs. With that said, we also want to make sure that communities and regional...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Along with my colleagues, I'd like to recognize Mandee McDonald and Erin Freeland Ballantyne, who do some very good work with Dechinta University. Welcome to the House.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before I begin, I'd just like to thank all the parents and families who have written letters to the department in regards to concerns with the French first language education programs and enrolment of students. The ministerial directive has been in place since 2008, and I have communicated with the Commission scolaire that I have directed the department to do a review and look to see if any changes should be considered. Hopefully those will be done before the next school year begins. Thank you.

As I mentioned earlier, in 2015 we had consultants go into the community, meet with community members, and give them the options in terms of how to start up a licensed daycare, the funding that is available to the community. Unfortunately, community members after the consultations decided not to go ahead with the daycare. However, as the Member asked, there is start-up funding as well as program contributions should the community want to move ahead with the project that could total in the amount of, through our programs within the Department of Education, Culture, and Employment, about $89,000...

I mentioned for the Skills 4 Success 10-year Strategic Framework, we are going to be developing some concrete actions. We are going to be consulting with our stakeholders across the Northwest Territories, and that includes Aboriginal governments, industry, business, and education, as well as other training programs. We will get out there and we will be consulting with our stakeholders to develop an action plan that is for Northerners and for Northern businesses.

Most recently, the department had developed a comprehensive labour and market information report and it got consultation from people across the Northwest Territories, so that's what we looked at where we needed to address those issues. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, the department does consider that Ecole Boreale is viable in the long-term as a French language school. As mentioned, we do want to serve the francophone population in the community of Hay River. Earlier I talked about the review of the ministerial directive, which hopefully should address a lot of these issues. I do thank both Members from Hay River for bringing these concerns forward to the office and to the department.