Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has a suite of workforce development tools, working with existing employers to help do things like retrain, support through wage subsidies, and also ensure that we're helping businesses kind of shift their existing practice. In addition to that, industry, tourism and investment also has funding programs for people who want to start up businesses or who want to expand the existing practices and knowledge base through networking and skill development as well through the SEED program. Thank you...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is not dollars within the education, culture and employment budget that have been dedicated to this purpose. There is, however, the SEED programming which does and has seen applications come through, for example, in order to hire and work with consultants on the evolution of businesses, and certainly a SEED application might be a space where some of those dollars can be discovered to really help plan for the next chapter and next phase of this program. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So Mr. Speaker, we are working both here in the NWT to make sure that people can remain employed here in the Northwest Territories. And so that's everything from participating in career fairs that bring together multiple employers that are looking, including the GNWT, that are looking to hire some of these workers that have been displaced. Some of them are looking to retire, so making sure that they have the support to understand, you know, what their rights look like from an employment standards perspective. And then some are looking to start up businesses and so...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for the question. It's definitely top of mind for many that are supporting these workers, that are neighbours of these workers, that are employers of these workers, because it's certainly mine workers directly but then also those that are employed with contractors and subcontractors as well that will be impacted. These are conversations that are happening not only with myself but also with the Minister of Health and Social Services and staff at department level and also with the mines themselves. So the mines do have mental health...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to start off by saying that Norman Wells residents can rest assured that the delivery of junior kindergarten to grade 12 education in Norman Wells will remain, will be uninterrupted, and that access to high school programming will remain in the community. So that is not at jeopardy.

In regards to Jordan's Principle, we continue to advocate, not just myself as education Minister but also as a Cabinet, given the impact does absolutely have an all-of-government impact and all-of-Northwest Territories resident impact. In addition to that, I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in 2016 actor Denzel Washington was asked why playwright August Wilson insisted that only a Black filmmaker should direct the screen adaptation of his Tony Award-winning play Fences. Denzel answered, It's not color, it's culture. Steven Spielberg did Schindler's List. Martin Scorsese did Goodfellas, right? Steven Spielberg directed Goodfellas. Martin Scorsese probably could have done a good job with Schindler's List. But there are cultural differences.

He continued, I know, you know, we all know what it is when a hot comb hits your head on a Sunday morning...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can certainly commit to discussing this with the chair of Aurora College board of governors. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, certainly the Member has raised this in the House and in this building before, and it's certainly a huge loss to the community. I definitely always think that there are creative ways that we can look at futures of buildings and programs and see how they can evolve and that often requires a broad conversation with lots of people at the table so that we can make sure that we're being creative in future uses as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So Mr. Speaker, certainly as far as connecting businesses themselves to different workforce development funding tools, so accessing those wage subsidies that I spoke with earlier to the Member of the Sahtu, and accessing those training dollars that are available to employers that want to be able to retrain their staff. There are employers in the territory that are working to do on-the-job training for workers that are shifting from one work environment to another. And then the good news is, though, is a lot of people coming out of the mines have skill sets that they're...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is absolutely right. Conversations like this take absolutely more than three questions and also making sure that the residents that we are trying to speak to are at the table is incredibly important, and I would be more than happy to travel to the Member's constituency and specifically Norman Wells. Thank you.