Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this was also a concern of mine. I was able to clarify with the federal government that they acknowledge that it will be a challenge to fill all the spots in the remainder of the calendar year. And while they have indicated to us there is no opportunity for carryover of spots into 2026, our inability to process some applications on the back end is not going to have an impact on the allotment that we get for our program in 2026. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, luckily through conversations, both at the political level and officials' level, we had a tiny bit of pre-warning that some increases would be coming. We didn't know exactly what those numbers would be, but that little bit of time allowed us to work diligently behind the scenes to ensure that we were getting ready, ensuring systems were in place, ensuring staffing was in place. Staff will need to work overtime in order to get these applications processed and have committed to doing their darndest after a very busy year in order to help us process...

Mr. Speaker, during the last sitting, I committed to keeping this Legislative Assembly informed about the steps our government is taking to support adult learning and community-based education in response to Aurora College's decision to close community learning centres earlier this year.

[Translation] I am pleased to share that the government has entered into a new agreement with NWT Literacy Council. This partnership expands access to Employment Readiness Training in communities across the territory with a focus on supporting youth and adults to build the skills they need to pursue meaningful...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a lot of the funding -- well, a portion of the funding goes to classroom assistants, and those classroom assistants could be supporting one student, they could be supporting multiple students. Funding also goes for speech-language pathologists. It goes to occupational therapy. The funding is also used for things like pontoon boats or skidoos in order to do on the land activities as well. And so one could say that this would have an impact directly or indirectly to every student across Canada. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, the Member is right, there was a news release that went out yesterday from Yellowknife Catholic schools expressing future risk. Mr. Speaker, we are waiting to hear from the federal government as to what changes they're making to the current program, and we expect to hear more on budget day. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, within our system, the department of education largely connects with the teachers themselves and the educators and makes sure that they're providing them with the support that they need. This can be either through meetings that I have with chairs and superintendents, along with officials from the department in our ed leaders’ meetings that happen multiple times a year. This happens also when I sit down with the NWTTA multiple times a year. But there's also professional development that happens from the department to the teachers, and a lot of that...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, while absolutely we respect section 23 rights of Canadians and uphold those rights as a territory, we've also heard frequently in this House this week about the need to make sure that we're also balancing the needs of all kids in all schools across this territory. So one of my responsibilities is to ensure that that need is balanced across the territory and that we are able to maintain and invest in the assets that we do have. Thank you.

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.