Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that is what is ultimately the most important here.

Mr. Speaker, in relation to the entire legislation, ECE is working in consultation with Indigenous governments, and that work and the speed of that work will really be determined through the protocols with Intergovernmental Council. Specifically for this individual case here, you have the absolute commitment of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and myself to work as quickly as possible through the decision points that do remain but also with the associated consultation that needs...

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Yes.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, can I pass to the deputy minister to speak in detail on this one. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, increases to minimum wage are certainly incredibly important. They allow us to stay competitive as a jurisdiction across Canada, and so I think, you know, not only comparing ourselves as far as the formula and to previous years within ourselves but making sure that we're also comparing ourselves to other jurisdictions across Canada is incredibly important. I think what the Member might be leading me towards is conversations on a living wage versus minimum wage, and certainly there is a discrepancy between the two of those, but I do absolutely...

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, when I'm talking about the programs, I'm talking about all of our labour market programs as a whole have not been all fully subscribed. To compare the numbers of where each of them have been at, I would need to get back to the Member as far as their subscription rates. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, there's still a responsibility to ensure that adult education is accessible in communities across the Northwest Territories. And so that's what I'm referring to, is at the end of the day we have a contribution agreement with Aurora College that speaks to adult learning and basic education. And if the pieces of that contribution agreement and MOU are not being satisfied to their full extent, then obviously we need to figure out how the funding responds to that. And then if there is a gap left over, how that would be addressed by the Department...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the Member first and foremost for raising this very important intersection of legislation and how it impacts the lives of Northerners. And I think that's really very important that we always take a look at, we always keep in mind, and making sure that our legislation is responsive is incredibly important.

Mr. Speaker, under the Archaeological Sites Act, Justice has provided a legal opinion that this legislation does include ancestral remains of Northerners. Mr. Speaker, I think it's incredibly important to note here that this is a piece of...

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I believe we have about 320-some apprentices in the Northwest Territories right now, 49 percent of which are Indigenous, and so I'm very happy but, of course, I'm like the Member and certainly want to see more success in that area. And I agree with the Member that marketing strategy and promotion is crucial to that. That is one of the top things that I heard from students when I was talking to them about the SNAP program, both ones that are in it and ones that are not in it, was they want to be able to see more advertising, more information, more...

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, when it comes to Skills Canada, we still do put money in for Skills NWT. I believe we put in $70,000. And that is matched through funding as well from the federal government. There's also Skills 4 Success that we had funding for through the federal government. That funding has since sunset. And then we also have labour market dollars that we get through the federal government. As I previously mentioned here this evening, $625 million of that funding was sunset across the country. That is, of course, met with not a lot of support from...

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, certainly the program's not designed to cover 100 percent of the expenses of seniors and elders across the Northwest Territories. It was designed to cover up to an average of 80 percent of those fuel costs. And so that's why the client navigators will work with seniors to determine what their income is, what money they do have coming in, and can work with them on a budget that would work within their income threshold amount. One of the things that I think is really important here as well, and certainly the Member for the Sahtu asked about it...