Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the support assistant initiative funding is strictly to be used for classroom assistants, also known as education assistants or support assistants for classrooms. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for the clarification from the Member. And so what we'd be looking for there is really demand. So there's a number of different trades that are available across the country, a number of different trades programming that is available to students in the Northwest Territories, and if we had the demand from students and from people wanting to seek that kind of particular -- oh my goodness, I've lost the word that I'm looking for, Mr. Speaker, I'm sorry. Certification. Thank you. If we had the demand for it, then we would be able to pursue that...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Operating Plans for Northwest Territories Education Bodies for the 2025-2026 School Year Ending June 30th, 2026, Volumes 1 and 2. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I would need to go follow up with the board of governors of Aurora College and their trades program specifically. I can tell you that their trades instructors are all people generally who have worked in the field, who have a tremendous amount of experience, and the apprentices then also go and work directly with employers across this territory as well. Given that it's a small territory, I would assume if there is something up that we would definitely hear about it, and I can say that I certainly like to keep my lines of communication open with our...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, government-wide, we have adopted a macroeconomic policy that we use in all the work that we do, not only across government but also in the Financial Management Board. That said, Mr. Speaker, we also do have -- you want me to keep going? Okay.

Mr. Speaker, we also do have our budget address, which our Minister of Finance delivers every year, that also includes an economic outlook, and I would be more than happy to work with the Member to make sure that we're capturing some of this and some of the other reporting mechanisms that the Member is...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we had a great conversation earlier this week, the Member and I, on how we incorporate some of that data. So we do incorporate data into the work that we do. We incorporate it into strategies like our film strategy, our fish strategy, into our art strategies. So that's work that we continue to do in all of our planning, in all of our programs that we do at the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, and work that we will continue to do.

Mr. Speaker, I'm more than happy to continue having conversations about how we can incorporate more of...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, even with the support initiative funding, we're still asking all education bodies to still put in their applications to Jordan's Principle and Inuit Child First Initiative. So even with those applications and that funding arrangement that we do have and have applied funding for, there still is a responsibility to make sure that we're still submitting applications to the federal government, and the same encouragement would apply for the question of the Member in regards specifically to funding for the speech-language pathologist.

In addition, Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are some students whose applications are late, some students whose applications are on time, and staff within the department do their best to process all applications as quickly as possible. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the aggressive deliverables that we are putting together in order to get this done and to get it done in collaboration with our partners and making sure that it's done with integrity and respectfully puts our deliverables into 2027. And so I need to ensure that we're going back to our partners and that we all agree on the schedule and all agree to the terms. And I know that I'm asking a lot of everybody, but I share the Member's passion, and I share the Member's ambition to get this work done and to make sure that we are reporting certainty to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's not an expectation that this would happen because it's not something that we account and fund for. I'm always happy to go back to the department and find out what kind of an economic cost this would have to our student financial assistance. That said, Mr. Speaker, it is not expected that student financial assistance covers the entire cost of post-secondary for our students. Thank you.