Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, I heard the Member's comment in his Member's statement. And currently, there is no intent to update the literacy strategy in the Northwest Territories that expired in 2018. We do have, however, have our 2030 early learning and childcare strategy as well as our early learning framework which emphasizes literacy within both of those documents. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just had a meeting with a very passionate 10-year-old student advocate, Ms. Sadie Begg, who is in the gallery today, from Ecole St. Joseph School. I just wanted to thank her for her time and her passion.

Yes.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, within our shift to an NWT-adapted BC curriculum, the broader curriculum does have an assessment framework, an early literacy assessment tool, that teachers can use that's built into it. So assessments will be happening and will be -- the tools will be afforded to teachers to do some of those assessments in classrooms to be able to catch some of these challenges and concerns earlier on. It's important to note this is not a diagnostic assessment, and it's also important to note that there are the well child clinics that parents do have...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, while Education, Culture and Employment does not mandate specific programs of any type in NWT schools. Because of our decentralized system, we certainly do work to coordinate with our education bodies as we can. So education bodies are responsible to confirm and implement programs that support the delivery of curriculum within the schools, and sometimes this might include referrals to the diagnostic assessments that do happen through the school funding framework, Mr. Speaker. There's also the flexibility to accommodate local decision-making...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at the end of the day the transformation really is about offering programs that Northerners want to see and that we as a territory need for people to have access to. So those are things like continuing with nursing, reinstating the education program, and beyond that especially within the trades. And so absolutely we're committed to the education of northern students. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to report that the Northwest Territories has negotiated the full reinstatement of its nominee program.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the mandate agreement that was issued in collaboration with the Aurora College board of governors earlier this year, there is a timeline associated with it, in the back of it, that shows all of our milestones that we intend to reach, and we are on task to reaching them together. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is asking me to create something that already exists. These meetings are already happening. These collaborations are already happening. I'm already working with industry to learn from them and also to collaborate and carry our voices forward together. As Cabinet, we work very closely with Council of Leaders, and those conversations about industry are then carried forward to the federal government and to other key stakeholders together as a team. So these conversations are already happening. This work is already happening. So I'm saying great idea...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment is working very closely with the Department of Infrastructure on this. This is certainly out of ECE's wheelhouse but safety is always, you know, a top of mind item for the Government of the Northwest Territories, and I can certainly follow up with the Minister of Infrastructure. Thank you.