Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, we do have a regional office that does travel into communities and work specifically with the ED -- sorry, the economic development officers that are also funded by ITI that work within the community, and that is afforded through the community transfer initiatives. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this point I don't have specifics to share, but I mean, certainly there's been interest in everything from filling the space in its entirety or filling parts of the space. There's also been interest in using some of the facilities for something different that might speak to some of the needs in communities. So this has certainly started a lot of buzz and conversation about what the future of not only adult learning in communities looks like but also future uses of these facilities, which I think is really interesting, because I think it's...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I guess there's two things at play here. The first is that Aurora College will have a responsibility for communicating their plan, but ultimately as Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, I think there is a responsibility to ensure that all residents of the Northwest Territories understand what the go-forward plan is and what parts of that plan will be administered by Aurora College and what parts might fall to either Education, Culture and Employment or another entity within the Northwest Territories. And so I think there is a...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. So in regards to the community learning centres, where we're at right now is working with Aurora College to gain clarity on what part of that space they continue to filling within communities and which part of that space they intend to pull back from so that we know as the Department of Education, Culture and Employment where we need to kind of react and be able to work with communities on ensuring access to adult education in small communities across the territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member. And I think it's fair to recognize that there have certainly -- I don't think it's a secret to anybody in this room, there's certainly been some growing pains as far as implementing our $10 dollar a day average childcare across the territory.

Our existing wage grid regulations have not fully come into force. So right now, ECE is working with operators to determine what that looks like, so with our centre-based operators. And that also means that not everyone has gone through the process of doing their certification and so not...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think that we have a real focus from this Assembly on supporting healthy families, and I think that literacy is a huge component of family units and family structures. And so what I would say to that is that has everything to do with, you know, how we are growing babies on the inside and continuing to support children once they're on the outside and how we're supporting teens and adults and communities. I think literacy and the health of our family units and the health of our communities absolutely relates to literacy. And so I think that has to...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is something that we've definitely heard from CDETNO, Chamber of Mines of the Northwest Territories, as well as -- or, sorry, Chamber of Commerce of the NWT and Chamber of Commerce of Yellowknife as well. But I want to be able to deliver the entire program and package to people so they're not getting information piecemeal. They're able to sit down, look at what the entire program will look like on relaunch, and be able to digest that information all at one time. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad that the Member asked the clarifying question because that's not what I said. So I want to be very clear that what that looks like going forward, I cannot say. I cannot say how those opportunities are going to be afforded to communities. I know that, for example, one of our community learning centres is currently being used as classroom space for some high school students in a community that very much needs it and very much needs that that part -- for that community learning centre to continue as that type of space. I can say that some Indigenous...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that is absolutely part of the calculation. I have heard from an equal number of residents, probably to the Member, who have said this needs to be part of it. But to be honest, I've also heard from an equal number of people who have said that's not fair. So we're seeing both sides of it. We're considering everything, and I'm certainly considering that piece of it. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, whatever program we decide to put in place for the Northwest Territories, we have to have it approved by IRCC. And so at the end of the day, I can't commit either way because I do have to have our tactic going forward and our way that we plan to roll this out approved first by the federal government. Thank you.