Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So my questions now are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. On a similar theme, so the students we spoke with yesterday noted that in the new BC curriculum, there's no specific course about climate change and its impacts on northern environments or northern people. It's left to individual teachers to find their own resources or partner with non-profits like Ecology North to incorporate that into the curriculum. So that means some NWT students might get to learn about it and some won't. Has the department of education looked at creating a made-in-the North course or curriculum about climate change similar to what we've done with the northern studies curriculum? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, it's an important distinction that while we are adapting the BC -- or sorry, while we are migrating to the BC curriculum, we are doing adaptations to that curriculum to reflect the Northwest Territories, so it's an NWT adapted BC curriculum. Within that curriculum, there are a number of climate education that intentionally reflect the Northwest Territories that are being implemented. And so first off, Mr. Speaker, there's the new Northern Studies 30 course that -- it was developed here in the Northwest Territories in partnership with Indigenous government, and that directly addresses climate change. It addresses it through a unique and culturally relevant lens that examines not only climate change but also, of course, impact to the land, fostering deeper understanding not only here in the Northwest Territories but also globally. In addition to that, Mr. Speaker, some of the new courses that will be offered in the NWT will be Earth Sciences 11, Environmental Sciences 11, Science For Citizens 11, and Environmental Science 12. And those will all have a focus on climate change as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So can the Minister clarify whether the content around climate change in those courses has been developed by the department and then distributed to schools or to what extent it's left up to teachers to sort of fill in the blanks or make it relevant to the local context? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
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 through the halls over at education, culture and employment while they're in the building as they're doing that work and just happen to walk by at the right time. And so they are spending a significant amount of time on it. But there certainly would be opportunity for teachers then to take that work and make it their own and make it relevant to the interests of students in the particular community that they're in, and I think that's one of the special things about this curriculum too, is the ability for it to be flexible. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm wondering if the department has tried to engage or partner with non-profits, such as Ecology North, to try to incorporate more northern resources into curriculums, you know, for all the different grades. I know Ecology North doesn't have the resources to create a whole curriculum, but they might be able to add or support and work with communities. Has the department tried to work creatively with non-profits in that way? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, the department certainly is a group of very enthusiastic and creative people. A lot of them used to actually be in the classroom and wanted to move to the department to hold different roles within education in the territory. So certainly creative, certainly looking for other ways. Whether or not they have partnered specifically with Ecology North, I couldn't say. I can say that as a student in the Northwest Territories, had the opportunity to have Ecology North be within our school system in certain ways and other NGOs across the territory.
What I can say, Mr. Speaker, is that there are a lot of partnerships within all of our communities that I would encourage any teacher to take advantage of because I think it also breeds community involvement which is really important. But I hear the Member, and I'm always happy to have conversations about how we work together. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
