Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this was something that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment did used to do at one point; however, with the NWT Human Rights Act, issuing payments through a voucher system is seen to be contrary to sections 5 and sections 11 of the NWT Human Rights Act. And so I am open to other suggestions from my colleagues, but I want to ensure that whatever we do is in line with the law and with the Human Rights Act. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, I think it will be an interesting week next week because we already have some kind of competing mindsets. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

So, Mr. Speaker, the productive choices are still a requirement within the income assistance program. And back in 2020 when changes were starting to happen within the income assistance review, productive choices were switched to what's called a wellness selfcare productive choice, which means that there's no requirement of reporting. And the reason for this is when the department went out and did the...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in addition to the contribution agreement that funded the design work, the geotechnical work has been completed and this included drilling five bore holes in the site that was selected by the community. In this process, there was a collection of soil samples that was done, and this was done in order to determine the type of foundation that would be required. This also included ground temperature monitoring installing ground temperature monitoring installation or instrumentation, sorry. Say that five times. Testing was also done on the soil...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member from the Sahtu for bringing up this project. The Standing Committee on Social Development in the last term had the opportunity to sit down with the Behdzi Ahda' First Nation in order to learn about this project and hear from them, and so it's very nice to be able to be on this side and continue on with this project. So absolutely, yes, the department has been working with Behdzi Ahda' First Nation for the design of the new school in Colville Lake. And right now, ECE is working with a baseline that was determined by the school...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for acknowledging that not all communities are the same and not all expectations across the territory are the same. As far as pathfinding within the Government of the Northwest Territories, education, culture and employment has client navigators that help income assistance clients access the program and work through the program as well. These client navigators are found in most communities across the territory. And they're not only responsible for looking in just simply income assistance. These are people who know about programs in...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. This definitely would be quite a huge undertaking, and I'm excited to learn of Nunavut's undertaking of it and the study that they're currently doing. I know that the department has reached out to Nunavut to gain insights into the outcomes of their feasibility study so that we can learn from our sister territory as to what they're learning. But right now here in the territory, we've been doing, as the Member indicated, revisions to our income assistance program, and those revisions really well, they came with an...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And you're very effective at your job. Thank you to the Member.

Mr. Speaker, in addition to creating pathways, there's also promoting program mentorship and support funding related to entrepreneurship. And so I've said before in the previous Assembly that, really, a healthy economy is reflective of our entrepreneurs and our private industry, and so making sure that we are supporting people who want to take advantage of entrepreneurship is very important to me and something that I'd like to see go forward.

Mr. Speaker, in addition to new products, there's also...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the review was done in the 19th Assembly, and it was anticipated that the changes would actually come into play for residents of the Northwest Territories before the start of the 20th Assembly, but this project has been held up and delayed due to system requirements on our IT side, and so it is anticipated that these changes will be seen by residents coming in the summer of this year. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, I listened to the Member's statement today, and I absolutely agree with the Member that all of our residents have great potential and that it is our job as their family, friends, and neighbours to ensure that they have the support to reach that potential if they want it and if they need it. Within the department of education, there are career counsellors, there are employability assessments and resume and cover letter development help if people want it. There's interview skill development, career action planning. There's job search help as...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can say that the previous Minister of Education, Culture and Employment was very open to looking at new ways to see this project go forward and really wanted to work with the community to see it to its fruition. The community initially presented several alternative options for this project, including a public/private partnership, build/lease, third party funding contributions, and also potentially negotiated contracts. At the time, the department indicated that they needed more information in order to consider moving away from kind of the...