Caroline Cochrane

In all honesty, as soon as the City of Yellowknife's University Feasibility and Benefits Study was produced, I wanted it right away. I wanted to see what it said so that I could be defended if I needed to. I was really, actually, quite happy to read it. It backed up a lot of what we had found in the review. Not only did it back it up, it actually expanded on some of the areas in justifying why we need to move into a polytechnic university. Yes, I have looked at the feasibility study. I know that the City of Yellowknife took that initiative. I am not telling other communities what to do, but it...

Mr. Speaker, programs focused on both teacher and student wellness are foundational to education renewal. Mental wellness is essential for everyone involved in teaching and learning, and we have acted to address this need.

In response to the critical need for mental health supports for schools and in communities, the Departments of Education, Culture and Employment and Health and Social Services are partnering with education bodies and health and social services authorities to provide counselling services for children and youth within schools and in the community. We are using a four-year...

I will make a commitment to look into that, as well. I do want to state, though, that sometimes, if there are questions that are really specific, it does help if the Ministers kind of get a heads-up. You don't have to even give me the actual questions, but, if you can, tell me the topic because that does give me an indication of what I should be looking for. The NWT child benefit is one that I am not as versed in because that is a partnership with the federal government and therefore it's a set rate, but I will commit to looking into it. I have more authority over my income support programs...

I would like to think that all thresholds can be changed and negotiated. I know that it's a partnership with the federal government, so I will have to check out on how that works, if we define the threshold or if the federal government defines the threshold. However, as stated yesterday, we are in a complete review of our income support. I believe, when we are doing that process, then it makes sense to look at our NWT child benefit, as well, so I will look into that as soon as this session is finished.

I do know that I will look into that, as well. I can't say if the Child Tax Benefit is defined by regions, but I know that most of our programs are defined by regions. Income support, we just did a review of the regions, and, like I said, we are doing a complete review of that program as soon as this session is finished. Any income that we can provide better to parents, my understanding or my interpretation is that anything we can do to support parents is the best thing we can do and is the best thing we should be doing. My commitment is that I will be looking at all services that we provide...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have just taken over the portfolio for Education, Culture and Employment in April. I do not know how the income threshold was developed for the child benefit. I will have to get back to the Member with an answer on how that income threshold was developed and defined.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is actually found on page 36, and it is part of the culture and heritage monies. What happened was the funding for two devolution archivists was sunsetted, and so, after that happened, we actually asked for the money back. They gave us indeterminate funding for that, so it is an in and out. We have it as a debit for that column one and then, actually, a credit at the same time, so it doesn't really show. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It is not in the mains, because it is in the individual education bodies' budgets. It is usually external funding. A lot of the schools actually get external funding, such as Jordan's Principle. However, within this area, we do provide support to them in things such as filling out the applications and reviewing the applications. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Every district or education body actually has to have an operational plan. It's not an operational plan that we do as Department of Education, Culture and Employment. Each educational body does their operational plan. We don’t currently have money within our budget to actually do a regional review of the Sahtu. In fairness, if I did one, I'd have to do all of the regions because that's how I operate. I can speak to the education council, and if the council is willing, then I don't see any reason why they wouldn't meet with their leadership. If the council sees that as...

As stated, I didn't get any of those questions beforehand, so no, I do not have the enrolment of the French schools on hand at this moment. We do have 49 schools in the Northwest Territories. It is impossible for me to try to memorize those all and bring them up with advanced notice. Therefore, I cannot say where we stay close to the 85 percent.