Jackson Lafferty

The Member for Inuvik congratulated 36 graduates, and that’s just one area that we should be proud of and we’ll continue to push that forward. An investment in JK is an investment in the K to 12 overall school system. That’s what we’re doing. Out of the $150 million that we distribute to the school boards, we’re using that funding to educate those individuals so that they can graduate and continue on to post-secondary.

Our research shows us that investment in early childhood of a child’s life has the greatest impact on their lifelong learning and part of their journey as children and grown-ups...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Let me start off by saying thank you to the Members for speaking up for JK. It is a very important subject of this Assembly. I am truly looking forward to the next business plans because I’m hearing that there will be an influx of funding for ECE. So I’m looking forward to that.

[English translation not provided.]

Mr. Speaker, in summarizing, as I stated in Tlicho, in a perfect world where resources are limited and there are no competing priorities, I would have asked for an additional $7.4 million to introduce a program as important as Junior Kindergarten and important to...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My department met with the school boards and called every school board to identify what their financial situation will be with each and every school board. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] I would like to tell the House about things that are coming up in our region in the Tlicho Nation. We have received a letter from the Northwest Territories Human Rights Commission. We have received a letter from them, the Tlicho, and on the letter, Whati, Gameti, they have now opened an office for them and they will be representing disabled people and elders. They will also be able to support all the disabled people by providing the facilities for disabilities. So that will be happening in the Tlicho region.

I am the MLA, so I would like to recognize the work...

I’m glad the Member raised that profile. The department expects that YCS will not only look carefully at the cost of JK, $1.2 million, but also how they can restructure their overall programming in order to absorb the $436,000 that the Member referred to earlier, Member Bromley. This should not be an unreasonable undertaking given that their overall budget has consistently been around $18 million from this government to the school board. This is an area that can be absorbed.

The $436,000 represents approximately 2 percent of the overall budget. That’s where it’s at, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I don’t know how I can justify this, but the junior kindergarten that we’re rolling out into 23 communities and then going on to regional centres next year and the following year will be to Yellowknife. I’ve indicated in the House that my department will be working very closely with the daycare operators, day home operators and we will continue to subsidize them. We have done that.

Again, junior kindergarten is optional for the parents. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi. The ratio will vary from school board to school board. Some would have around 14.5, I believe, and some would have 15, 15.5, 16 and a couple of the school boards will be just beyond 16. But I did commit in this House that I will be subsidizing those individuals who work beyond 16 to 1. So as the fact sheet indicates, we’re at 13.8 at this point and then according to our legislation it’s 16 to 1. So that’s where we’re getting back to our legislation level. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. When the Member first raised that issue with me about day home owners, there was a misunderstanding where apparently my department told them they needed to be ready for these circumstances. I met with my department. I questioned them and they came back and are providing the support that’s out there. Through my department, we have a variety of programming. We will continue to support those day home operators as we did in the past for how many years now? We will continue to do that, Mr. Speaker. We want them to be successful. We don’t want them to be out of business. Mahsi.

We did a pilot project in the three communities and there will be an evaluation on that.

Mr. Speaker, in fact, my department has sat down with the Head Start programming and there have been quite a few interactions. There has been correspondence, obviously going back and forth from my department to that organization, and I can provide that information to the Member, that clearly highlights all the days that they’ve met and the discussions that my department has had. Not only the Aboriginal Head Start programming, those individuals that we’ve met with engaged Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative and early childhood development.

We have engaged with the communities throughout...