Wendy Bisaro

Thanks to the Minister. I would think with 4,500 or 5,000 employees, whatever we have, times 12 days times an average salary per day, it’s going to be a pretty huge number. I would urge the Minister to look at that number and consider that maybe we ought to be considering the cost of absenteeism and working to bring that down somehow.

There is a report that I have encountered which says that up to 25 percent of mental disability costs directly incurred by an employer are preventable. I talked a lot in my statement about mental health and the need for us to make it easier for people to talk...

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...

Thank you, Madam Chair. It’s an overused word today but I think it’s very valid and it is historic. It reminds me of when we talked about devolution. This is a one of a kind. This group of the people from Deline are on the leading edge and they’re leading the other communities in the NWT that want to follow their lead. It is an historic situation. It is an historic day and it’s also very exciting. This is something which has not ever occurred before in our territory. I don’t know that it’s ever occurred in Canada before.

With that, I know it’s been a very long process, some 19 years of work...

Thanks, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I guess I would say, it would be nice if committee didn’t always have to request a document, but if a document is being publicly posted, it would be nice if the Minister advised committee that it was there so we could go and look at it.

I know that this is the beginning of these regional language plans with Aboriginal governments so it’s fairly new, but I’d like to know from the Minister, apart from these monitoring, evaluation and accountability reports or plans or whatever it’s called, a framework, how is the Minister going to assess success of the...

Maybe I got lost in the numbers there, but I don’t think I heard the Minister tell me how much of the $15 million is going to the Aboriginal governments for their regional language plans.

This is public money. It’s coming from taxpayers. It’s coming from the GNWT. So I feel that the Legislative Assembly has to be accountable for this money that is going to Aboriginal governments and that we need to be accountable for all the money that we distribute.

So, I’d like to know from the Minister, is there a system in place between the GNWT, his department and Aboriginal governments to account for both...

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.