Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. The School Community Counsellor Program in the past has been very successful through Aurora College. We are starting our annual programs and service proposal discussions with the college. Those are discussions that we need to have and working closely with the college president with my department. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Trout Lake school, obviously there’s a space issue, as the Member is alluding to, but we do have the student population that’s going up and down. In 2009-10 there were 15 students attending the school. But at the current stage we have 33 students. So we have to have that in mind as well as we move forward.

There is a small capital project that’s been identified in the 2010-11 Capital Plan as an immediate measure to deal with the issue with the space. But we can certainly develop a long-term plan for the school expansion down the road. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. That $272,000 is in line with Human Resource and Social Development of Canada funding to support the Early Learning and Child Care Program. Mahsi.

That infant provision is part of the ongoing discussions that we’re having, whether it be the expansion of the area. But within the early childhood spaces, we do have infants in our spaces. Within the five regions, as I indicated, the 1,800 spaces available, they also have a child care area and nursery school, after-school program and family day home. So they do take in infants as well. So we’ll continue to work with that with those organizations that we sponsor.

Mr. Chairman, this is an area of focus, as well, with our department, investing more into the early childhood development area. Yes, this particular area will be ongoing funding. Next year we will be faced with that again. It is important to note that it is a worthwhile business, so we will continue to fund that. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, first of all, I would like to touch on the Early Childhood Small Community Initiative that’s been allocated, approximately $600,000. This is to increase a half-time position in the Sahtu and Deh Cho regions and also in Fort Smith and Inuvik from one position to 1.5. That’s an additional $250,000. An increase in the early childhood programs that we talked about in the small, remote communities. So we’ve identified funding for that as well. The funding in addition to the $600,000 for the Early Childhood Small Community Initiative is Early Childhood Program...

When we talk about the early childhood spaces, we do have some throughout the Northwest Territories. We have roughly... I have a number here of 1,800 as a number. But it does fluctuate, the population on these spaces that we have. But I can certainly provide that detailed information for the Member that we have on hand on the early childhood development programming and the needs of these individuals in the communities. That can be available to the Members.

Mr. Chair, one of the mechanisms would be, of course, we need to closely monitor the funding that’s been allocated and making sure that it is fully expended. There has been some improvement over the last several years with the schools. They have expended their funds to the best of their ability. Unfortunately, there are some funds that lapse. But those are areas that we’ve identified where we can improve. My deputy will be meeting with the staff to deal with the matter at hand because this is of importance to us. It’s a very serious issue. Mr. Chair, we will continue to monitor as part of our...

Yes, Mr. Chair.

We are very proud of our training program that we have initiated. It’s very successful, focusing on the northern hires. We can have a breakdown to aboriginal perspective. I guess we’re focusing on the northern perspective, the northern people that we hire that go through the transition period to development stages. Yes, I can share that with the Member.