Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as part of the contract, it is the company's responsibility to ship the units to Colville Lake. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister for that information. My next question and final one, will the Minister supply my office with the new 2026 winter road transportation schedule. Thank you.
Minister of Education -- I don't know if that's the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment question. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, she's prepared to answer the question. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I know it's one that certainly straddles two departments but as infrastructure does -- or sorry, as education, culture and employment does not actually build our capital projects in the territory, I do work very closely with my colleagues on this House and would be more than happy to work with the Minister of Infrastructure on developing some information for the Member for the Sahtu. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement I mentioned three pieces of legislation that are in the queue. This legislation is paramount to our war on drugs and the criminal activity that comes with drugs. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Justice. Can he give this House an update and what the status is of these three very important pieces of legislation - safer communities and neighbourhoods legislation, civil forfeiture legislation, and the trespass legislation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as was so well stated in the Member's statement, I think that, you know, as we look at the challenges that we're facing in every community regarding drugs and crime, it's certainly top of mind, I know for all of the Members of this House, and certainly one of my priorities since I've become Minister of Justice. So the plan for these three specific pieces of legislation is to have legislative proposals developed during the summer of 2025 and pending approval by Cabinet to advance those legislative proposals.
A couple of -- I'll speak maybe to the SCAN legislation and the Civil Forfeiture Act, which are a lot more complex than the trespass legislation and will require extensive engagement with the public and stakeholders as we move those two forward. So the plan with those is to -- based on approval of obviously of the legislative proposals is to advance those and to have a bill brought to the floor in the winter sitting of 2026.
With regard to the Trespass Act, as I stated yesterday that's a little less complex piece of legislation, and we're currently working on the legislative proposal and, again, pending approval of the legislative proposal we'll bring that forward for a somewhat limited public engagement on that and with the target of bringing a bill to the floor in the fall sitting. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know the Minister has also said to this House and committed to reviewing the Residential Tenancies Act to give that some strength as well to help us with this drug crisis. Can the Minister give an update on where they are with the Residential Tenancies Act review. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. Certainly another very critical piece of legislation that will support the work of the different, you know, agencies that are trying to combat the drugs and the crime across the NWT and certainly as important to the territory to help us in that endeavour as the other three pieces.
So currently the department is doing a review of the Residential Tenancies Act, and that review will continue through the summer of 2025. And the information that's gathered from that review will be used to develop the legislative proposal for the Act and determine what future public engagement will also be required as we move that forward. So we have essentially four really important pieces of legislation and, you know, so moving those first three pieces forward has been the priority direction that we've given to the department right now, and we will continue to pursue the Residential Tenancies Act review and ensure that we're meeting with the stakeholders and the residents of the Northwest Territories, you know, taking into consideration the information from the rental officer, the information from this House and media, as well as our stakeholders that are involved in the conversation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Justice. Final supplementary. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know I can speak for AOC when I say we're ready for these LPs. You know, we're ready to get working on this. I appreciate that it's been brought up a little, that's going to be introduced in the winter sitting. My question, I guess, would be I know there's public engagement that has to be done on that. Can that public engagement on those three important pieces of legislation be done through the summer months to move this up even further, Mr. Speaker? We'd welcome these LPs as soon as they come forward, so the quicker we can get this work done, the better. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for the question. I think, you know, all Members of this House on both sides, Cabinet and Regular Members, are anxious to move these forward, and I think that was expressed yesterday and, you know, the advancement of the Trespass Act and shortening that timeline from our original plan to have all three pieces of legislation together and brought forward in the summer of 2026, so now we're looking at the fall of 2025 for the Trespass Act. We're looking at the winter sitting for the other two pieces of legislation. And the Trespass Act, I think is certainly an easier consultation with the public and the stakeholders. The other two are much more complex and, really, you know, to get those advanced to a state where we could bring a bill forward in the fall would be -- I don't think that's possible with the complexities that were faced there and the amount of engagement that would be required because of the fact that they are -- the SCAN legislation, particularly, is a little bit more contentious, and we'll need to ensure that we are engaging everyone on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Justice. Oral questions. Member from Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to reviewing the current student financial assistance policy to allow students to receive funding for academic upgrading at institutions outside of Aurora College, either online or outside of the territory, so that our students with -- our students with financial assistance needs have a greater choice and access to quality education?
Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, some of this work has recently just happened where Aurora College is transitioning a lot of their programs online in recognition that a lot of students do want to stay in their home community when they are pursuing some education so that they have those home supports as well and understanding that not every city or every place is where students want to go.
In addition to the college access program and the occupations and college access program at Aurora College and their online offerings, there's also the University of Alberta's transition year program that is also included and funded by student financial assistance. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister say what's step is the department taking to address the lack of financial support for part-time studies, especially for students on income support or those working full-time in small communities who want to pursue programs, like personal support worker training? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in it regards to part-time studies, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment does fund students up to $880 per course with a maximum of $8,800 per year with the idea that beyond that, they're probably actually potentially looking at more of full-time studies, depending on what they're taking.
In the end of the previous Assembly, there were steps taken to increase our student financial assistance, and especially student financial assistance for Indigenous students in the territory, and also changed the number of semesters that they were eligible for to an unlimited number of semesters. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, given the closure of community learning centres and the limited upgrading options available, how does the department plan to ensure that Indigenous students from small communities can meet post-secondary admission requirements without being forced to leave home or return to institutions they are not comfortable attending? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so some of this has to do with the change that's recently occurred within Aurora College where students would be able to be supported to take learning in a digitally and online environment but supported with wraparound services through Aurora College.
In addition, Mr. Speaker, later on this week, I have the honour of having conversations with my colleagues on the other side of the House in regards to some upcoming suggested approaches to adult learning and basic education for the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Education. So within the past day, parents of students at Ecole William McDonald Middle School and Range Lake North School received news that drinking water in those schools is dangerously high in lead. At William McDonald School, the levels were almost twice the maximum acceptable concentration according to Health Canada's guidelines. And we know that exposure to high levels of lead over time can cause adverse health effects and given that the city's water supply is regularly tested and deemed safe, the problem must be with some part of the plumbing or distribution systems at the schools.
So, Mr. Speaker, to the Minister, how many schools in the NWT have had their drinking water tested this year? In other words, how many were determined to have safe drinking water versus how many of the water quality tests have come back as unsafe to drink? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, all of our schools' water systems were tested, and two of the schools came back as needing confirmation testing and so, proactively, the departments of education, health and social services, and the school board, worked together to make sure that that water is not used right now for drinking or for cooking purposes. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Okay, so that's good to know that the only two schools with problems are William Mac and Range Lake North. However, I'm wondering has the drinking water at Ecole William McDonald School and Range Lake North School been tested on a regular basis and determined to be safe up until now, or is this the first time that the drinking water at those schools has been tested? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, drinking water is routinely tested in communities throughout the territory. This project was done as a pilot to test drinking water from the school sources, and so this is the first time this work has been done.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Speaker. So it sounds like we don't know for how long the concern has been there.
The final question is if the plumbing and distribution systems in these two schools are the source of these high lead levels, does the Minister know how quickly they can be fixed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the course of the next week, confirmation testing will be done in both of the schools and until we determine what those results are and then also from there do some exploration as to what the source of the issue is, I would have -- it would be impossible for me to say kind of what the next steps are for remediating that and fixing that until I know what the issue is and if there is, in fact, a longstanding challenge there that needs to be fixed. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And my questions are also for the Minister of ECE. I don't want to preclude conversations she will have in Ottawa, but when can constituents expect more information of a redesigned -- equitably designed NTNP program intake for 2026 applications? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment will be working with all stakeholders, redesigning that program over the summer and the fall of this year, and working with businesses, working with advocates, working with Canadian newcomers who want to be part of the program and are part of the program. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will this program, as it's being redesigned, make reasonable allowances so as not to create an extension gap where people are put in limbo needing to extend their work permit and not be able to seek their PR? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. In the re-release of the program this year, one thing that quickly became apparent was that there was concern over people whose work permits would be expiring in January and February of 2026. That quickly became apparent. And so while there is never an intention to design a program that has a gap, certainly I do know that going into next year that we have more people interested in the program than we currently have spaces for. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't know if I heard an answer there so I'll put it in a different way. Is there contemplation in the redesign that will give affordances to the fact that your application, if you do not -- if you're not successful on the NTNP application, you have to then extend your work permit. This is creating a cycle of gap and anxiety for people. Will that begin to become addressed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this certainly is part of what I'm travelling to Ottawa to advocate for but while the Government of Canada holds exclusive responsibility for things like work permits, I would not be able to guarantee that without an agreement with the federal government. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a big part of our health and social services has been falling short with Indigenous governments and in our small communities because Indigenous governments are not closely involved with healthcare administration. The leaders from my communities are calling for a creation of intergovernmental working group to ensure Indigenous governments have a seat at the table. Would the Minister agree to a proposal like this in her deliberation? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you for the question. We do involve Indigenous representatives throughout different parts of our health system to guide us in the work that we do. As I mentioned in my statement, under the cultural safety and awareness anti-racism unit, the work that they're doing is guided by representatives from all Indigenous governments that are pointed to the Indigenous advisory body where they meet and they go over policy and get their feedback to ensure that these policies and things are reviewed under a cultural safety lens, anti-racism lens, for Indigenous people.
We also have the regional wellness councils. In the last round of appointments, I made sure as the Minister who picks the appointments, that I reached out to -- even into MLAs and Indigenous governments if they did not have a representative on those boards to say -- put names forward because I wanted those boards to be representative in all of the regions to be representative of the differences in their communities, so ensuring that there was different people from the communities. So -- yeah, and for the Member's riding, I know we have two seats in the Yellowknife region riding that come from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. But I encourage more people to put their name forward for those. Those are the ones that -- they work directly with the chairs and the chairs work directly with -- like, with myself and the PA. We recently created a chair Minister meeting that will be having the first one with the regional wellness council chairs, myself, PA, and the CEO, on June 12th. That will bring forward the regions' issues to a table where we can have those conversations. And there is one more that we recently did at the Council of Leaders. So all Indigenous governments and then government, we sit at the Council of Leaders as equals.
Health issues continue to come up. We need to find ways to resolve these issues. So everybody around the table has appointed executive members to sit at that table to take direction from each of their group, to speak on behalf of the issues in their community. I can -- you know, and I can share this information with the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
