Caroline Cochrane

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Educator Certification and Learning Platform, previously, it was very timely and cumbersome actually making sure that people had the proper certification, keeping track of their current learning, et cetera.

This system is about making sure that we are accountable, that we have the infrastructure, the technology, in place so that we can, in a timely manner, make sure that teachers who apply for jobs have the proper certification to provide the services to our students and that their training that is taken throughout is updated on a regular basis. It centralizes it. It...

I want to start by saying that translation services is not as easy as just speaking a second language. It is actually a profession. It is actually formal training to be able to do that. It is an expensive profession, as well, but a very necessary one within the territories.

The training that we are looking for more with our employees to whom we are offering the French languages is more on the active offer. It is being able to notice when somebody needs translation services, be able to say that, hopefully, in their language, and be able to transfer them over. It is more condensed training that...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We don't have a specific deadline at this point, because we are just reviewing the report. Within this projected budget that we are just presenting now, the capital, we are looking at the planning study.

We do need to get that parent feedback. We need to have it defined, this is where we are putting it, recognizing that not everybody is going to be happy, but the public needs to know, because the results of that will implement the planning that needs to go forward, the drafting, et cetera. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have been assured by my department that, actually, our training is meeting the needs of employees, but I also take heed, and I think that we need to challenge that because the audit is saying that we need to do better with our training.

I am committed to actually looking at the employees that are taking that training and actually doing a survey of them and asking them personally, "Is that training enough? What would you like to see implemented?"

I will take that on, and depending on what the employees say, we will adjust our training. Like I said earlier, we want to provide the best service...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. At this point, we are still in the process of doing the geotechnical report. I believe we have gotten it, but I haven't reviewed it yet. It is in our technical division at this point to look at it.

Once we decide on it, we will be meeting with the school board, YK1. We will be meeting with them first and working with them, and because it is a school that had a bit of contention, we probably will have a public meeting to relay the results to the parents of that school. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I've said it, and I'll say it again, that we are committed to making this a reality. We will do whatever we can to support the daycare. I'm not even sure what they're called, but the daycare center in Norman Wells. So, if that means working with Infrastructure, if that means helping them to fill out the applications, if that means walking into offices, we will do what we need to do to make this a reality.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I really want to start with saying that I'm really excited about Norman Wells' daycare. One of our mandates is to get daycares in every community, as many as possible. There is lots of research. I could go on and on about the amount of research that says early intervention is the best intervention for children to ensure that they are successful in life. So Norman Wells is one that we've been watching closely. We're working closely with that community. I know that they have submitted their application. There are a little bit of processes: they need to get a fire and a...

I do have to say I really appreciate the questions today because the MLA has actually pointed out a lot of the vision things, a lot of our strengths, a lot of the areas that we need to work with. The reason that I'm really promoting to move into a polytechnic university is because that research money is leaving the Northwest Territories. We have hundreds of universities coming across the world up to Inuvik to study our issues, and we're not tapping into that money because we're still a college.

So moving into a polytechnic university will allow us to not only access that money, but it keeps the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I would like to clarify that at no time was it my intention to move programs out of Fort Smith. My vision is to actually expand and strengthen programs in all campuses. It is not about one community or another.

I do want to also talk about the idea of ENR and what the Member had talked about. Yes, that is part of our visioning exercise that we need to do, is going throughout the territory and looking at the strengths that we have to offer and getting that from all of the communities, all of the people, so that when people identify one of the strengths, ENR...

As a commitment, I know that there are processes, but, if it makes the MLA feel better, then I can commit to, by the end of this week, we will phone Norman Wells' daycare society and actually help them to give them an answer and tell them what they need to go through. It is a process. They need to apply for the health and safety, they need to apply to the fire marshal to get those inspections. It's not as easy as just one department taking this over, but we are willing to work with them as much as possible to make this a reality.