Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, October 30th, 2025, I will present Bill 35, Miscellaneous Statutes Law Amendment Act 2026, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I will now call the Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of the committee? I'm going to go to the Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, committee wishes to consider Tabled Document 385-20(1), 2026-2027 Capital Estimates, Education, Culture and Employment, Finance, and Department of Justice. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. We'll take a short recess and come back and resume in 15 minutes. Thank you.
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Order. Members, as we continue with our review of the capital estimates today, I will remind everybody to ensure you are on the correct page and are staying on topic. This will help ensure our review is both efficient and thorough. Thank you.
Committee, we have agreed to consider Tabled Document 385-20(1), 2026-2027 Capital Estimates, Department of Education, Culture and Employment. Does the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment wish to bring witnesses into the chamber.
Yes, please, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the chambers.
Okay, thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister. If you could introduce the witnesses, please. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. On my left, I have Jamie Fulford, deputy minister of Education, Culture and Employment. And on my right, Terri-Lynn Locke-Setter, assistant deputy minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. The committee has agreed to forego general comments. Does the committee agree to proceed to the details contained in the table documents? Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Committee, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment begins on page 18. We will defer the department totals and review the estimates by activity summary beginning on page 19 with language and culture and information items on page 20. Are there any questions? I'm going to go to the Member -- just one second. Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, on page 20, it speaks about the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre accessibility upgrades. Could the Minister please provide a substantiation of this project? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this project will have multiple improvements for accessibility to Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre. And the project is 100 percent funded through Investing in Canada infrastructure fund. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just broadly, could the Minister please describe what accessibility improvements and upgrades and renovations will occur? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can I please pass to assistant deputy minister Locke-Setter. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go to the deputy minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a few more specifics is this year -- specifics for this year is design work. And then next year the specifics is improving the grade of the ramp inside. It's including the addition of an elevator. It's a pretty major project. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I'm going to go back to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I'm so sorry, I couldn't quite hear the assistant deputy minister; I'm not sure if their mic is working. But I did crane my hearing, and I think they said that they are going to include an elevator in that project, which is a great interest to me as someone who used to work in that building, and I'm really glad that that is under consideration. And I'll just leave it at that as a comment. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Next on my list I got is the Member from Yellowknife North. Are there any other general comments from Members? Okay. Seeing none.
The Department of Education, Culture and Employment, language and culture, infrastructure investments, $4,500,000. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, Members. Next, we have on education on page 21, on page 22 and 24. Are there any questions? I'm going to go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I note the first thing I wanted to take note of was an absence, Mr. Speaker -- or Mr. Chair, sorry.
Both school boards in Yellowknife have indicated that they have needs for urgent repairs. I don't see those in this budget. Can the Minister describe how she's been engaging with these school boards on the issues that they're facing with infrastructure and how does she propose that they would be addressed? Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, with both Yellowknife school boards, that being YK1 and YCS, ECE is currently working with Infrastructure as well as the school boards. And maybe if I can separate those out into YK1 and YCS.
So with YK1, ECE is working with the school board and the Department of Infrastructure to work on specifically one of the roofs. They're finalizing an MOU between the GNWT and the school board to coordinate funding and project management of the work. So that is underway. And then in addition to that, ECE is working with the other school board, so that's Yellowknife Catholic Schools, to facilitate any necessary repair work as needed. So while they're not included in this budgeting process here, there are other mechanisms that we can use to address that and continue to work closely with the school boards. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go back to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would just ask if the Minister could be a bit more specific about the other mechanisms. Are we talking about potentially bringing a supp, or how is -- I just -- for me, what matters is is that the issues are being addressed and that we're gonna find money to address them. But if the Minister can be specific, that would be appreciated. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I'll go back to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So to answer the Member's question -- or his original question, yes, the issue is being addressed. There are other mechanisms in some of the school boards. There are reserves that the school boards have in order to address infrastructure specifically. There is also other mechanisms like deferred maintenance funding that is available through the GNWT. And then in some schools, they do have dollars already allotted from their surplus to be able to fund things like this. And as we indicated in question period and also in other conversations, we are honouring projects that are already on the go from the surpluses of school boards. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go back to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll turn to a slightly different but related issue. I just want to note that the current capital estimates do not include references to any renovations and retrofits that may be required in schools where elevated levels of lead were found in the drinking water. I won't list the schools; the Minister's aware of them. Is the department budgeting for these planning studies and their associated capital costs? I know that there's going to be renovations needed. I know there's some mitigations that have already been put in place. Just asking as we haven't seen it in the budget itself. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I'll go back to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the way that we are handling this so far is through operations and maintenance funding through the Government of the Northwest Territories. So that's mitigation through flushing protocols, through the addition of point-of-use filters in our schools as well. And so any kind of need aside from that, if there was a greater need, would have to come forward in a supplementary appropriation.
And through yourself, Mr. Chair, I would love to open it up to the deputy minister given that I know how important this is and how relevant this is right now. So I would like to give the deputy minister the opportunity to add more detailed information if possible.
Okay, Thank you. I'll go to the deputy minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think at this stage we just don't know enough to know what is required for remediation. So a part of the process will be to determine after the mitigations have been taken if there's a further need for capital funding for things like changing out pipes. But we're not there yet. And as the Minister referenced, when we do get there there could be a need to request funding. In the meantime, the department is funding the ed bodies for the work that they are doing. Ed body, singular. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go back to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I appreciate those answers from the department. Certainly, it is encouraging to hear that they are on top of it and look forward to seeing any budget ask come forward if need be.
Mr. Chair, I want to turn to another subject. I note that the GNWT's own polytechnic university facilities master plan, which was published in 2022, identifies a number of capital needs for Aurora College across all its campuses; however, there does not appear to be any budget allocated for any of Aurora College capital needs in this capital budget. I have a few questions about this.
My first one is what are the timelines, priority levels, and expected funding for other critical areas of need across Aurora College campuses? Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the way the relationship works with Aurora College is I work closely with the chair, and the deputy minister works closely with the president, and together the president and the chair bring forward requests through our capital planning processes and they bring that forward to myself, and then I bring them forward to the financial management board for consideration. And so we continue to work on the priorities of Aurora College, but until such time as they are ready to bring forward any kind of capital infrastructure asks, I cannot bring that forward without their corroboration and collaboration in those efforts. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go back to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Does the Minister see the lack of capital requests coming forward as signaling a shift away from our territorial campuses and in-person educational delivery for Aurora College? I guess I'm mostly just asking why are we not seeing asks come forward considering a couple of years ago we had a master plan that laid out a number of needs, pretty significant ones. So what's happening or what isn't happening, I guess. The Question can go either way.
Thank you. I think I'll go to the Minister.
