Jackson Lafferty

Yesterday I met with the two board chairs of Yellowknife, YK 1 and the Catholic School Board. Both chairs aired their concerns and issues and brought some ideas to me to work with. Resulting from the meeting, obviously, is that we have two different numbers. We have our departmental, based on enrolment projected numbers, and they have their numbers. What has been produced in, of course, the media is kind of misleading. This is the information that we need to gather. We need to sit down. Both parties committed, and as we speak, the Catholic School Board, I believe, is meeting with my senior...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Tlicho language is one of the prime examples, along with Fort Providence and the immersion programs and other communities who have initiated their own immersion programs as well. That’s part of our overall goals and objections in introducing junior kindergarten. They can work very closely with the learning communities, as well, when it comes to culture and language preservation. I agree with the Member that we would like to see all 33 communities deliver similar to what Tlicho have initiated. I support that. We need to work towards that. I believe the three-year phased...

The district education councils we’ve been engaged with have a considerable amount of authority in the present stages to make those decisions on education issues and programming in the communities and regions. The Education Act does not define them as autonomous. In fact, we have one education system and it’s paid entirely by the GNWT, with the exception of Yellowknife where approximately 18 percent for YK1 and 15 percent for YCS total revenue for municipal taxes. I would just like to highlight as Minister of Education, the buck stops here with me. I’m in charge and I’m acting in the best...

Mr. Speaker, I move, second by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Bill 25, An Act to Amend the Education Act, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill amends the Education Act to provide the subject to regulation persons who are employed as superintendents are employed in the public service and makes corollary amendments to the Public Service Act to address the employment status of superintendents. This bill also clarifies the status of certain incumbent superintendents who would otherwise be affected by this amendment. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

I have said on numerous occasions in this House that the department has been engaged with superintendents of all the school boards since last summer, and August 21, 2013, was our first, initial meeting we had last year, September 18th, November 27th and also January 22nd with the superintendents of all the school boards. So they’ve been fully engaged in our discussions and we will continue to have that dialogue with all the superintendents as we move forward for the next three years of our phased-in approach. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled “Aurora College Annual Report, 2012-2013.” Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi. Let me be clear. We’re not wiping out the other programs. We’re enhancing the other programs that are in the communities and this is optional junior kindergarten programming for those individuals that cannot afford junior kindergarten in the communities. Ten communities without licenced child care programming, but we are going to be rolling out the program in 29 communities, the small, isolated communities that are without these licenced programming.

We are enhancing, yes there is preschool, there’s also Head Start programming. As I’ve stated in this House, we have an early childhood...

With the evaluation assessment of junior kindergarten not only in our jurisdictions but other jurisdictions as well, we have been compiling all the information from the communities, 33 communities. It is necessary to have junior kindergarten, especially in those communities that don’t have licenced early childhood programming. The Member is referring to communities that may not have licenced child care programming. So this is of value to them. This is a benefit to them to have optional programming. Then there’s the Head Start program in the eight various communities we work with as well. Mahsi...

Mahsi. We have to work with our federal counterparts, because what the Member is referring to is the Aboriginal Head Start program. That is funded through the federal government. We don’t evaluate that, the federal government does. They report to the federal government. We work with them. We work with the communities, we work with all 33 communities and junior kindergarten is optional programming for the communities.

The Aboriginal Head Start program is in the communities. We support them as well. We provide funding to various child care programming in the communities. Some of the communities...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We do recognize the Aboriginal Head Start program.