Alfred Moses

Currently, I do not have those costs for modular in front of me. As I mentioned, we were waiting to see what the space analysis says and what recommendations are coming out of that report, and are prepared to make decisions when we see that report and look at those recommendations. We just ask that YCS, YK1, be patient and continue to work with us to find a solution. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, and that's why we've had these discussions. That's why we went and did the review in the schools to make sure that the school space was actually being used for what they were intended to be used for. Yellowknife does have a history of space sharing agreements. For instance, once St. Joseph's students had to be accommodated as a result of a fire at their school; YK1, YCS did enter into a space sharing agreement. It has happened before.

Recently, YK1 and Commission Scolaire shared space with the Ecole William McDonald School while that school is undergoing construction for their addition, so...

As I mentioned, on April 1, 2017, we did get a significant increase in that funding, and prior years the funding that we did have in place wasn't fully utilized. With this increased funding I thought it would be a great opportunity to reach out to more communities to offer that type of training, skill development, as well as increase employment in our other communities that have seen an economic downturn as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As you know, on April 1, 2017, there were significant enhancements to that program, with an influx of an extra $3 million. We made some changes to the program; part of that was actually looking at communities that weren't eligible before, and I'll say it again, these communities that were ineligible to apply for funding were Behchoko, Hay River, Inuvik, Fort Simpson, Fort Smith, and Norman Wells.

As Members of this House do know, we have seen a downturn in the economy, and I think this is an opportunity to work with other communities that weren't eligible for this fund previously to offer those...

Yes, I am well aware of that. We also have to understand that this program itself is applicationbased, so we work with our partners to ensure that they can put in an application and get that funding through the application process.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned, one of the mandates of this government is to increase employment rates, close the skill gaps throughout the Northwest Territories, and obviously $3 million in employment in small communities would be significant. We would see a lot of businesses that would train locals, as well as a focus on skill development, and create employment. As you go back through the history, the Small Community Employment Program with the funding that we had in previous years was not fully utilized. With the increase influx that we have gotten, I think we will continue to...

Currently, our utilization rates are a little different from the ones the Member presented. We are still waiting for official enrolment rates at the schools, and we are still working with both district education bodies to try to address this space sharing, the space issues that are arising in Yellowknife schools, so we are continuing to work with them to find a solution.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think we could have a good discussion about utilization rates here in Yellowknife, where the utilization rates vary from school to school across the community. When we look at our utilization rates, we do assess them by community, and unfortunately here in Yellowknife we do see some schools that have some high utilization rates.

I can let the Member know that there was a review conducted at the schools in May and June with the staff from my department as well as the respective education districts. They walked through the schools, looked at spaces and what the spaces...

Yes, I do. As I mentioned, the economy has taken a downturn; we do have more unemployed people in some of the communities, and I want to make sure that we focus on giving them every opportunity to get employment as well as develop their training and their skills.

When the new dollars came out, we made some changes within the program, itself, so that we can help all communities. As Members know, the economy has taken a downturn. In some of our regional centres, we have fewer jobs, fewer opportunities, and we want to help every community to be able to create some kind of economy, as well as create jobs in some of these communities. That is our goal. That is our focus. We are going to continue to do that.