Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi. When the Member first introduced what’s required at the community level, that’s been identified, like heavy equipment operators. There are rock crushers, blasters, project management and various other trade positions as well. We are currently dealing with the college on the best way to deliver that at the regional level, even at the college campuses.

Those are just some of the areas that we are currently discussing, and based on that, we will be developing an action plan to deal with the implementation of the first year, second year, third year phased approach. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, that is exactly what’s happening. I’m just one part of government that addresses this with my federal counterparts. My colleagues around the table here also stress the importance of the high cost of living. When it comes to remoteness in our jurisdiction, we’re very remote with a high cost of living in our communities. At times federal Ministers and federal representatives are not fully aware of our situation. So it’s always a learning curve when there are changes in the federal government, but it’s a challenge that we always put at the table and we will continue to do so. Mahsi...

With our programming there are upwards of 1,600 caseloads within the Northwest Territories and on average 3,300 people access income assistance. We’re mindful of those individuals with dependents, especially if there are twins, even young twins. Those are some of the areas we closely monitor with client service officers. We need to have those individuals access our income support programming because it’s there for them. We do continue to explore those areas and having a program identified as part of education awareness on to the communities as well.

Mr. Speaker, I want to assure you that I have been listening carefully to Members during the recent debate around Junior Kindergarten. I also want to assure you that the Government of the Northwest Territories remains committed to the principle that focused, targeted support during their first years of life will help our children reach their full potential and become healthy, educated, successful adults. Our government has introduced Junior Kindergarten, a program designed to achieve just this result, Mr. Speaker, and has already rolled it out successfully to 23 communities.

I believe that the...

It all depends on the individual. If they are younger than 19, then we have to work with the Department of Health and Social Services. But there are various programs within our income support area, whether it be early childhood or other departmental programs such as emergency measures when it comes to MACA or the Department of Health and Social Services or my Department of Education, Culture and Employment. It is an interagency responsibility and also working very closely with the community organizations that deal with those matters at the community level as well. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We are fully aware of the high cost of living in the communities and the income support does reflect on that as well. ECE is working to enhance benefits for clothing, food and other incidental expenses to ensure that clients receive adequate benefits to meet their needs and that we are current with the high cost of living in the communities. We are currently spending upwards of $16 million in income support alone, and there is also a seniors heating subsidy of $1.8 million, and the list goes on. Those are the subsidies that we provide to the communities, and we also keep in...

Mahsi. Throughout our engagement with the communities, a list of dates have been identified, such as developing a response team that’s made up of regional representatives, early childhood development consultants, ECE superintendents and also the departmental headquarters, as well, when it comes to dealing with the small communities.

At the beginning of the 2014-15 school year, all JK students were given information as well. Since we’ve been discussing the rollout of Junior Kindergarten in 23 communities, since September 26th to 27th, we hosted a forum, a symposium and had the educators come...

I believe I did share that with the Assembly here. I’ll share that information again on the number of those individuals that were trained last spring and this past fall. That is continuous training with new staff that are coming on board, because we have to be prepared to deliver the qualified programming. It’s a curriculum base. It’s a play-based curriculum base, so we need to have those staff that are qualified to deliver that. There has been training that took place, so I will provide that list to the Member.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Part of the survey will be to find out what the 23 communities, if there is any major issues that we may have missed out on from the parents, from the community organizations, even as far as the regional centres and also Yellowknife, just to share their perspectives. We may have missed out on various key initiatives that they may bring to our attention. I want to hear from parents as well. Those are just some of the discussions that we had over the weekend, how can we best reach out to those communities, and that’s what we’re doing. Mahsi.

When it comes to the delivery of Junior Kindergarten into the regions, the 23 communities, we’ve worked with them since day one, even as far back as October when I first met with board chairs first introducing Junior Kindergarten. This is an area where we, again, have to evaluate our programming for the 23 communities and what have we learned from them. It’s only three months into the delivery of Junior Kindergarten. It’s not, like, a year into the programming, but now we have to re-evaluate. So that’s where our situation stands. Again, it’s our DECs that we have to work with. Mahsi, Mr...