Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, within the Deh Cho region, ITI spends about $1.3 million, and that's divided up between community futures to the tune of about just over $200,000, through the community transfer initiative to the tune of about $150,000, SEED contributions at roughly $734,000, economic diversification using the northern food development program at almost $57,000, the Canadian agriculture program as well as other various contributions account for almost $165,000 as well. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can confirm to the Member that this is a holding topic at meetings with the education bodies, with the chairs, across the territory and is frequently discussed. Mr. Speaker, I can also confirm for the Member that this is something that is very important to me because we can it doesn't matter how much money we invest in education, if students around attending school then we cannot improve our education outcomes as a territory. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, attendance has long been a concern for education bodies across the territory and have put in different mechanisms to try to address attendance over the years, but as the Member stated in her statement today, there is definitely a huge concern for attendance across the territory in today's world as well. And so this is really a situation and a challenge that is going to have to be addressed not only by teachers, principals, education bodies, but by communities as a whole and by a territory as a whole. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, art is powerful, and art is beautiful, but it is far more than a thing of beauty. Art is a personal, local, and global connector. It connects people to themselves, to one another, and to people living across the world. Further, it connects us to culture, land, and elders and it is critical to our wellbeing and to our shared and individual histories. Art is a conduit of healing. Art is foundational to how we educate our children, preserve traditions, feed community wellness, and build a strong and independent territory.

The arts sector plays a valuable role in the NWT, not only for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I commit to working with education bodies to understand how I can support their needs to improve attendance across the territory. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, different education bodies have used different tactics because they see their challenges as being unique in communities across the territory. Many of our well, all of our schools have food programs to try and incentivize youth to come to school for that reason. Some education bodies send busses around the communities to pick students up from their home and bring them to the school. And, of course, teachers have come up with unique ways to try and incentivize attendance in schools and that could be anything from choosing subjects that are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was 22 years old when I learned I would soon welcome my first child. I was excited, anxious, eager for the journey to come, but was also terrified because I couldn't keep a plant alive and would soon be trusted to raise a human. And so on the 6th day of the 6th month of the 6th year at 6 minutes to 9:00, I met Action Jackson. I was in awe of him. He was fiercely independent, terrifyingly fearless, relentlessly curious, and oh so sweet. This past weekend, that baby graduated high school.

As we stood for a family photo, him in his cap and gown, he stretched...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I could definitely provide a difference of definitions of the two. But the reason that I am saying that there is an intention rather than a direction is because I am reminded it is a collaborative process. I want to ensure that both of our voices are in it because we are both agreeing to something in it. But from myself, I do have an expectation that transformation is part of that mandate letter and is part of the marching kind of direction of the Aurora College as well. I think that this I agree with Members, this is a very important project. It...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I think it's important to note that not everything that the government does lands in the business plans. There's still action plans that are still daytoday efforts that are done by public servants and by Northerners day in and day out that don't land themselves in the business plans per se. But educating children and making sure that we are preparing them for the rest of their lives is something that is constantly top of mind for northern educators, for parents, for community members, and something that we need to continue to do. So while these...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I appreciate the Member's excitement and ensuring that we're continuing to work on this. I think that it'll be a exciting term for creating systems for people wanting to come to Canada and make the Northwest Territories home.

We have a staff member within Education, Culture and Employment at this time. Moving forward, we will be transitioning a second staff member from ITI over to Education, Culture and Employment. And so being able to really double that team, I think, will do a lot of good for ECE in being able to support people within this space. And...