Bob McLeod

As we committed to, this will be part of the review. I have offered each of the MLAs some of our senior management to meet individually with each of the MLAs so that we can hear more details about the concerns. We will be working with the DECs in every region and we have said that for those communities that want to opt out right away, we will accommodate them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to this motion. I just have a few comments to make. I guess some of the points that were made against priority hiring, that’s a policy of this government where government has significant changes. We change organizations on a regular basis. To hear that some Members will stand up loudly against priority hiring concerns me.

We have priority hiring to protect the employees of the government. If we don’t have priority hiring, it means that if we change our organization, it means that we will have to lay these people off, and that’s a...

We are always watching out for the best interests of our children. We take these concerns, complaints, very seriously and we will be looking into them on an immediate basis. It would be helpful if the Member could share some of his very specific concerns with us. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe that as part of their review we will be meeting with the Aboriginal Head Start people to determine how best to move forward. At the request of the Members, we will be approaching each of the communities. My expectation is that those 10 communities that have Aboriginal Head Start, even though they are federal programs and federal money that is slated to expire in 2016, that for those communities that have Head Start and don’t want a junior kindergarten, we will accommodate them. Thank you.

The funding for the 23 Junior Kindergarten programs for communities will be absorbed by all education authorities through the re-profiling of existing funding, as I indicated in the letter to the standing committee. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I said, we would have to revisit it depending on how many of the 23 communities determine that they will not be continuing with Junior Kindergarten. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to advise this House that the government has listened to the feedback we have received to date from Members about Junior Kindergarten.

In an effort to respond to what Members have told us, while at the same time not wanting to disrupt parents and schools that are in the midst of delivering Junior Kindergarten, we have made the following decision.

Without changing the current funding approach to Junior Kindergarten, it will be completely voluntary for any of the 23 communities now offering Junior Kindergarten to continue with the program this year. If they choose, they...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated in the letter, I said the funding model would remain the same for years one and two, which is 2015-16 and 2016-17. The reason for that is we have 23 communities that have implemented Junior Kindergarten. As the Members have requested that we review that immediately and so we have to determine how many of those will no longer participate in the Junior Kindergarten program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I explained to committee and as the Member will be very pleased to know, all of the members of the Intergovernmental Council are very committed to transparency and all of the intergovernmental leaders have agreed to make meeting outcomes available, and leaders also recognize the need to be open and transparent and available and open to the press, their constituents and their fellow leaders within their governments. As I offered, there are ways around this observer thing. All of the governments have agreed to limit their participation to three members at the council. As I suggested in the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I did bring forward a request from the MLAs to the Intergovernmental Council. I think it’s important to recognize that the Intergovernmental Council is intended to foster improved cooperation and collaboration on land and resource management issues, and each government will continue to represent its own interests and the independent jurisdictions of each government are untouched. So, ultimately, the accountabilities of each government must remain. So on this Intergovernmental Council there’s the Government of the Northwest Territories and at least seven Aboriginal...