Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, right off the hop, I can say that William McDonald School did just complete an assessment so that we have an idea of where that school is at, that before it was expected that Yellowknife schools -- Yellowknife school boards did their own assessments of their own infrastructure and it was agreed to, in recent years, that we would work together because certainly it's important that both the GNWT and the school boards together understand where the school infrastructure is at and what is required. I think this is an excellent opportunity, and I want...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, in conversations with multiple entities, it was raised to the Government of the Northwest Territories, including myself, that really what we needed was a combined way that we talk about the Northwest Territories and that we talk about our aspirational goals and where we're headed as far as economic development and as far as developing ourselves and investing in ourselves as a territory. And what we needed was a common elevator pitch that we could take beyond the borders of the Northwest Territories. And what, ultimately, this document would do...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the document I have in front of me shows that the school was built in 1988, but I would be more than happy to provide the Member with a history of projects that have been done on the school as well as when the school was originally built so that the Member has a complete picture for the school in Dettah, for Kaw Tay Whee School.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, I want to be very clear that with the expectation that school boards use their surplus to pay for the support assistants initiative, that we were very clear with school boards that we would honour any previous commitments that they had. So if a surplus was intended to be used for investment in a capital project and they, you know, were in the process of getting quotes for that, for example, a roof and were pursuing that, that we would certainly honour that commitment and also have given school boards the opportunity to resubmit their operating...

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, in regards to the school in Dettah, in the capital estimates that were put forward last year, there was a major kitchen overhaul that was approved in the 2025-2026 capital plan. Is it that work that the Member is referring to? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is absolutely right, our Indigenous development corporations do work very closely with diamond mines and do hold some of the primary contracts of our diamond mines, including Tlicho Investment Corporation, Det’on Cho, and it -- sorry, North Slave Metis Alliance as well as Lutselk'e's Development Corporation as well. And I do sit down and speak regularly with the heads of these development corporations about what work they're currently doing on site, what work they're projected to do on site, and also what other branches of economic...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have approximately 1,400 NWT residents that are directly employed by our diamond mines in the Northwest Territories. In addition to that, we also have staff who work for private contractors that are subcontractors up on site. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm very happy to sit down with the Member. I'm very happy to meet over Teams, but travelling with a large contingency of people is not something that education, culture and employment has funds for. We try to do as much as we can virtually so that we can ensure that funding for programs go into communities, go into schools, and go to the residents of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can assure the Member as well as the public that I take this very seriously. As a government and as a Cabinet, there's been changes that have been made government wide from this lessons learned but also specifically for water testing of our schools.

Specific for water testing of our schools, we worked with the Office of the Chief Public Health Officer to establish a testing protocol territory wide for all schools in the Northwest Territories.

In addition to how we move forward as a government, we have also implemented project charters so that we...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, as we know, there was 42 out of 44 schools that were tested originally. The original test that came back for NJ McPherson school was right on the cusp, and so the GNWT retested that school and it was found to be significantly lower than required MAC level. And then out of an abundance of caution, following the testing protocol that was established, it was identified that the GNWT would retest NJ McPherson School based on the original test result that was received. Thank you.