Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you very much. So they do submit an operating budget annually. They -- for example, if they need new funding above and beyond where they're at for new programming, like, for example, we've talked about, you know, the Indigenous languages diploma, new funding would have to go through the FMB process within the GNWT. And I'll stop there, Madam Chair. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document: Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Committee Report 13-20(1), Report on the Review of the 2023-2024 Annual Report of the Northwest Territories Official Languages Commissioner. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It was not a commitment made on the floor of the House. It was a commitment made to the people who put their applications in because they had applied before the deadline last year and so wanted to honour the fact that they had done that. And I think at the end of the day, it's important to reflect on the fact that no matter how this program rolls out, there are always going to be people that are disappointed and incredibly emotional about this. There are people who are in situations where they're looking for certainty as far as family reunification. There are people who...

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, the -- sorry, I'm just going to pull it up here. Thank you.

So what we saw in the 2024-2025 Main Estimates and the big reason for the decrease is tied directly to fiscal sustainability reductions. So we had a reduction in travel for the official languages board specifically. In addition to that, we saw reduction in the contributions to Indigenous communications societies as well as a reduction on travel for a regional linguistic position. And then we also saw a reduction in the funding afforded for translator training. And then in addition to...

Thank you, Madam Chair. It's $2.2 million.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, as in regards to the federal government specifically, my advocacy and actions have been through letters and through phone calls. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'm always happy to do as much as we possibly can in public, and I would hope that committee would be willing to do this meeting in public. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, in the context of Northern Studies 30, that course was a made-in-the-NWT course. It was developed in relationship and partnership with Indigenous governments. In regards to the other courses and the adaptation of them from a BC curriculum to an NWT curriculum, so that would be the final ones that I listed off there, you know, environmental science or earth sciences and the science for citizens, those courses there, it has a team of teachers from education bodies across the territory that work on adapting it. And so I've had the opportunity to walk...

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, our conversations with the federal government have largely been at increasing numbers across the board. Certainly, as other jurisdictions, we have not seen success in that one. One of the things that we are going to do this year, once we do our allocations for 2025 in preparation for 2026, we are going to work with stakeholders to develop a plan of if our nominee program looks the same as it does this year with 150 allocations, then we want to ensure that we're being as strategic as possible, and so one of the pieces of work we need to do is...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes.