Michael Nadli

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to acknowledge Susan Fleck. Susan, yesterday, was the recipient of the Premier’s Award for collaboration. Susan was part of the Wildlife Act Working Group. Susan Fleck is a part-time executive director with the Dehcho Land Use Planning Committee in Fort Providence.

Susan was the director of wildlife from December 2005 until September 2011, when she lived in Yellowknife.

Susan was very much involved with the ENR personnel working group that faced an immense challenge in dealing with the 2012 bison anthrax outbreak in the summer of 2012.

She traded 25...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, your Standing Committee on Government Operations is pleased to provide its Report on the Review of the 2012-2013 Annual Report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of the Northwest Territories and commends it to the House.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a comprehensive response to this report within 120 days.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the Government of the Northwest Territories complete the work necessary to bring municipalities under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy legislation; and further, that the government table its review report and discussion paper in the 2014 fall sitting, identifying next steps and resources necessary to complete this legislative initiative within the life of the 17th Assembly.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I, too, rise in support of the motion. I thank the mover and the seconder for coming up with this motion. This motion is basically about money and they ask that the government identify and seek new funding for this major initiative. At the same time, it has to be professionally designed and based on early childhood development, not so much hinging on kindergarten. It should start with communities that don’t have Aboriginal Head Start that are in existence already.

The other part of this whole motion, too, goes back to the very fundamental concerns that I have raised in this...

According to Ms. Reanna Erasmus, a few years ago she began working with the Head Start program. The plan was to have programs like Aboriginal Head Start in the communities, and then something changed. In the last eight months or so, the department stopped consulting with Head Start people and all of a sudden there was a junior kindergarten.

To the Minister: Why hasn’t the department sat down to determine how Head Start can inform the development of junior kindergarten in those communities? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. About 17 years ago the Aboriginal Head Start program in Fort Providence was established, like other existing Aboriginal Head Start programs in the North. At that time it was the communities and the schools that worked together and basically developed a proposal to Health Canada and made a submission. That’s how the Aboriginal Head Start programs were started. It was basically a community initiative at that time.

I wanted to ask the Minister, can the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment explain...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 93(4) and move Committee Report 9-17(5) into Committee of the Whole for consideration today. Mahsi.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have been paying attention to the debate about junior kindergarten. At this point several things are clear, but the debate is like a puzzle with a few missing pieces. It’s clear that junior kindergarten is just one component of the Early Childhood Development Action Plan. It’s being delivered without new funding by addressing the pupil-teacher ratio. It will be free and optional, providing alternatives for parents who need daycare. This is especially valuable in small communities where no daycare options exist. I get all of that, Mr. Speaker.

What I’m concerned about...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide an updated detailed progress report to this Assembly on work done towards a comprehensive review of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act; and further, that updates to the act be introduced during the life of the 17th Legislative Assembly.