Wendy Bisaro

In the absence of that information, I’m not sure if this question will also be able to be answered. It’s my understanding that the program delivered by Aurora College doesn’t meet national standards for sure. I don’t know if it meets the standards in any other Canadian jurisdiction besides the NWT. If somebody is educated and receives an early childhood diploma or certificate, whatever it is that we produce through Aurora College, how portable is that certificate or that diploma when they go to another jurisdiction, Alberta or Ontario or Quebec for instance? How does our program stack up...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The office of the Auditor General of Canada released another excellent report yesterday. It’s their usual quality of work and I thank them for it. The first line of the Auditor General’s press release pretty much says it all: “The Department of Justice has not met its key responsibilities for the rehabilitation, safety and security of inmates within the correctional system.”

As the office of the Auditor General consistently does, their auditors look at NWT policies, procedures and mandates for correctional services and facilities, along with generally accepted nationally...

Thanks, Mr. Chair, and thanks to the Minister and the DM for that information. I want to reiterate that I think, from my understanding of what’s going on with education authorities at the moment, the percentage funding is not the way to go. I appreciate the Minister’s commitment that there’s not going to be a reduction in inclusive schooling funding, but I think there needs to be a serious look at changing the method that we fund in order to make sure that magnet schools and magnet communities, such as Yellowknife and Hay River, and Inuvik as well, that they get the funding needed to provide...

Thanks, Mr. Chair, and thanks to Mr. Heide for that. Can I get an estimate of time? Are we talking days or weeks or months? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We would like to consider Tabled Document 188-17(5), Department of Education.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We’d like to deal with Bill 46 and, following that, Tabled Document 188-17(5), Northwest Territories Main Estimates 2015-2016, the Department of Education.

Thanks to the Minister. So, I’d like to know from the Minister, then, I presume monitoring and evaluation and accountability will produce a report. I think he mentioned a report at the end of his answer there. So, these reports presumably would go to the department. I’d like to know if the reports will also go to committee and to the public so that the Members and the public will know how their taxpayer money is being used. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I would like to follow up on his statement from today about Aboriginal language programs and progress. The Minister mentioned it his statement that the GNWT invests $15 million each year to support and promote Aboriginal languages. One of those is to build the capacity of Aboriginal governments to implement their five-year regional language plans. I support that change. It is a change in the approach from the department. It’s an investment in language and it’s one that’s needed, so I...

Thanks, Mr. Chair, and thanks to Mr. Heide. I guess I just have a comment. I would hope that at the time you share it with board chairs, if it’s going to be public, you would also share it with committee.

My other question has to do with funding, with the inclusive schooling review. The education authorities are currently funded as a percentage of their budget. Many of the authorities feel that that’s not the best way to provide funding and not the best way for them to provide the services that are required to students with special needs. The other method that has been proposed is to fund per...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is a big section of the department so I have a number of questions here. I just want to reiterate the comments made by Mr. Dolynny just recently about the Adult Learning and Basic Education program review. This has been something that has been in the works for a very long time. I think we have yet to see an end to this review process. It’s an area where it’s very difficult for us as a committee to evaluate whether or not the money that we’re spending on ALBE is well spent. There are learning centres in most of our communities. There are also programs at Aurora...