Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to ask questions of the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
So far too many students are entering in NWT schools with challenges preventing them from learning basic reading, writing, and numeracy skills. We heard from an education authority that one Yellowknife elementary school is dealing with 67 students who have arrived at school not even able to speak. So given the necessity of therapeutic support workers in schools such as speech-language pathologists, does the $14 million that the GNWT has set aside this year to fill gaps left by the changes to Jordan's Principle funding, can schools use some of that $14 million for therapeutic specialists, or is it exclusively for educational assistants? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the support assistant initiative funding is strictly to be used for classroom assistants, also known as education assistants or support assistants for classrooms. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So that is discouraging to hear. Can the Minister clarify, if there are individual children requiring these supports, can individuals still apply for Jordan's Principle funding to fund, say, speech-language pathology services, or is that no longer available to any NWT students? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, even with the support initiative funding, we're still asking all education bodies to still put in their applications to Jordan's Principle and Inuit Child First Initiative. So even with those applications and that funding arrangement that we do have and have applied funding for, there still is a responsibility to make sure that we're still submitting applications to the federal government, and the same encouragement would apply for the question of the Member in regards specifically to funding for the speech-language pathologist.
In addition, Mr. Speaker, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment continues to support education bodies with support letters for that work as well and for those applications. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So given that any applications that are still being made usually require substantiation for each child and often letters of support or assessments by a specialist, is the department able to assist either education bodies or individual families with even just getting those assessments done or getting access to the therapeutic specialist, just to be able to make those applications in the first place? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, the support of a healthcare worker on those assessments is a change that was proposed by the federal government. We continue to go about doing our applications with education bodies in the same way and making sure that at the Department of Education, Culture and Employment that we're providing the support letters that our education bodies need to be able to facilitate that application process. So that support that we've always provided is still maintained and still provided. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Frame Lake.
