Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Monfwi.
So it's being offered by the Aurora College. And so because it is a pilot project, that's why I am asking if it's going to be offered within the next -- in the fall time, will they be accepting new applications?
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Yes, Mr. Chair, there was a time in the end of the last calendar year where -- for the applications that were coming forward in January, that Aurora College needed to just put a pause on it in order to get some computer stuff fixed up, but there was never an intent to not offer the programming at all. So both Aurora College offers the programming in English and Collège Nordique offers it in French. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Monfwi.
Providing pathway to employment for NWT residents, I just wanted to ask the Minister because I know I mentioned Dechinta University because they've been around longer than some of the -- I mean, Aurora College have been here longer but longer than the polytechnic, the new one, and then -- I don't want to miss the opportunity here. You know, the Indigenous language interpreters and the ALCIP program that you mentioned, the aboriginal language instructor program, those are useful programs. Because I know that many of the students that graduated from that program over five years ago, they're teaching in our school, teaching the -- they are teaching in cultural schools. So it's working really well. And I would like to see more of those, you know, like the Indigenous language -- the ALCIP and interpreter/translator program, early learning and child care, personal support worker program. But some of the young people do not want to leave their communities. So I just wanted to ask -- and I know that my leaders have been asking before, they would like to see some kind of First Nation vocational college in our communities, in one of the Tlicho communities. So I just wanted to ask the Minister, it doesn't say here in the business plan. But, you know, like, providing pathway to employment for NWT residents, I think this is a good opportunity to approach the Indigenous, how can we keep -- you know, like, get more of our people educated and to be employed and to be in our community. So I just wanted to ask the Minister if they ever approach or work with or mention in their bilateral meeting or with their meeting with the grand chief, the Tlicho chief, on creating a training centre to provide post-secondary program. We do have other programs. We have drivers learning training. And then, you know, a company from Yellowknife, they come in to provide that program. But we haven't had any college program being offered in my community for quite some time. So I just wanted to ask, I would like to see -- and I know this is what they've been saying for a long time, over ten years, and I heard it from many people in my region that they would like to see some kind of a training facility, you know. Like, the ideal one would be if we get a new school -- when we get a new school, Chief Jimmy Bruneau School will be the ideal and/or -- and other facilities within the communities, it was mentioned. So I just wanted to ask the Minister if the Minister -- to promote this employment for NWT residents part of your -- the labour market program, have they -- was there any -- in their dialogue, did they ever -- you know, if this was mentioned about the training program or training facility. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, you know, ensuring that we're thinking, you know, not just about JK to 12 but other potential opportunities, especially when it comes to multi uses of facilities as the Member is talking about. Behchoko new school, I think is a great opportunity. You know, gone are the days where we use, you know, a piece of infrastructure for one thing. I think we always have to be thinking about how we can expand, creative uses of dollars, and get more bang for our buck across the territory.
That said, right now in -- in the Northwest Territories, we are rolling out employability training with the Literacy Council, which is a kind of access like that, that first step where people are getting employability training where it's for the -- two-thirds of the course time are in a classroom setting and then one-third of the course time is actually on-the-job training. And so it's that kind of first foot in the door, first step in the door. And traditionally when these courses have been offered, I believe it was about 65 percent of participants were successful in gaining full-time employment after the course was delivered. So that's as a first step.
Second, there's the engagement that is happening across the Northwest Territories on adult learning opportunities and what communities and -- and especially small communities want to see as some of these opportunities. And so what the Member is talking about will also be captured in that work there.
And then third worth mentioning is that through the Post-Secondary Education Act, accreditation of new facilities was made possible through -- through that piece of legislation, and we've seen the accreditation of a new institution, and I believe 11 new courses have been accredited over the course of the last year because of that legislation. So that's work that we will continue to do. And when approached, we do our best both from a political level and also an official's level in the department to make sure that we're supporting these institutions to be successful in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I am going to go to the Member from Monfwi.
Okay, thank you. Yeah, with the mine closing, that's where, you know -- like I've said before, when the mine close, it's going to impact my community, my regions, more because we have a lot of our young people, a lot of our people working at the mine. So now is an opportunity. It's a good opportunity. It's a good time to start engaging, you know, like, having, post-secondary, post-secondary institution in Tlicho regions. Because not everybody would want to leave, you know, the comfort of their home community where they don't want to leave their -- their family, their culture, their language. And especially when we're in housing crisis, you know, people don't want to leave. So now is the time. I think now's the time because before -- yes, because of the mine, the truck drivers, truck driving program and other programs were more popular. But now with the mine closing, some of the professionals are going to change. But we do need more trades programs. So that's why I am -- I am just asking about that, you know, about creating a training centre in Tlicho region to accommodate those who do not want to leave their communities. It's -- yeah, I don't think -- Yellowknife is too expensive. Well, the small community is expensive already as it is but it's going to be more expensive, especially if you're going to be renting private -- you know, for two bedroom apartment unit private, it's $2,700. It's increasing on April 1st. So there's no way they can afford that if they have other bills. And SFA is not enough, you know, for single students and the -- for a family with one child, it's not enough. Especially with four kids, that's not enough too, so. And I know that Yellowknife does not have a lot of student housing. So I think -- I don't want to -- I just -- I would like to see the Minister engaging with -- or, you know, talking to the Indigenous government about possibly creating a training centre in the small communities in the regions. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, I absolutely hear the Member, and I spend a lot of time talking to Tlicho Investment Corporation specifically about workforce development opportunities. And one of the things that they're looking very closely at is actually using their workforce to do on-the-job training so that people are not expected to quit their jobs, go to school, but how can they incorporate a lot of these trainings and certifications right into the employment that they're doing today. So they still -- they maintain their job but as they're doing their job, they either get time to work on their certification if it's more, you know, book-based at that time, or they're able to be -- be doing the needs of their certification through their day-to-day job. And so making sure that we're supporting this mechanism as kind of a creative out-of-the-classroom, out of a bricks-and-mortar facility, where people still get the training that they need, still end up with the certification, because that's so important that people end up with that accreditation at the end of the day, that's one of the things that we're working at pursuing directly with Tlicho Investment Corporation, recognizing the magnitude of NWT residents that they employ that are also working at the mines. Thank you.
Okay. Before I move on, is there any further questions? Okay, thank you. No further questions, please turn to page 38.
Education, culture and employment, early learning, $31,270,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Moving on to Education, beginning on page 42 with information items on page 44 to 46. Are there any questions?
We'll go to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to highlight that in the emergency management section of ECE's business plan they note that they completed three scheduled reviews of safe school plans, and I am just curious if the Minister can outline how the department will support education bodies to further strengthen emergency response and lockdown procedures and increase active participation in community-level emergency planning. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I will go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, we review the safe schools plans on a three-year revolving basis, and if -- with our education bodies. And if there are any adjustments that need to be made within that time frame, we certainly support education bodies to achieve those. So that is something that is happening on the regular. Education bodies also practice their protocols multiple times a year. And, certainly, as I said, ECE is always there to support education bodies on what they need in either application or practice or process on the back end. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And further to the Minister's comments, then, how does ECE ensure that mental health supports are integrated into these exercises that are happening regularly so that you -- students, especially young students, understand what is happening and feel supported before and after these drills? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, one of the things that we communicate to education bodies when they're doing some of these drills is to ensure that notice is given at home that this might be happening, especially in light of recent events in British Columbia, ensuring that families are aware that these drills are happening, why they happen, why they're important. I did have a conversation over the weekend with the education Minister from British Columbia, and she did stress that making sure that we all are practicing our safe protocols and we all know what is the process that we're expected to take literally saves lives and is critically important. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the Minister's compassion and proactive stance on this one.
Switching gears a little bit, and to follow up on some of what was discussed in QP, it appears that there is a $546,000 allocation to support Aurora College in the delivery of practical nurse education. And so can the Minister elaborate on how this funding will support this program and what ways she sees it enhancing the northern workforce. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, this funding line item used to be found over in health and social services' main estimates, and because it is a direct link to delivering education and delivering post-secondary education through the health sustainability unit, it was identified as something that should be funded over here in education's budget. And so we have moved that line item. But it's not an enhancement. It is simply movement of a line item that was previously found in health and social services. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wish it was an enhancement but oh well.
I will let other Members speak to some maybe high -- high interest issues. But I do have one final question in my time allotment, which is there is a $2.4 million adjustment to the school funding framework contribution requirements such that incremental funding will temporarily replace Jordan's Principle funding. What does this adjustment include? Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you so much. So the school funding formula enhancements in here relate to materials and supplies. So there's forced growth under there. It's also assistive technologies for inclusive schooling. In addition to that, there is maintenance funding for YK1 and YCS schools here in Yellowknife as well, Mr. Chair. And there's also collective agreement funding through the NWTTTA. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And is that -- I think that adjustment might have been for the 2025-2026 year; I apologize if I have the numbers incorrect. But without federal realignment to the realities of the NWT with Jordan's Principle, what kind of shortfalls are we looking at for inclusive schooling, Mr. Chair? Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, in the previous school year, there was $58.6 million that flowed from the federal government to education bodies, but that would not be reflected in our budgets because those agreements and arrangements and contributions were directly from the federal government to education bodies, not to the Government of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you. So our contribution is fully just the piece that she spoke to earlier, be it supplies, that sort of thing. Thank you. I am getting a nod, so I will stop there. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I do have a number of questions on this. We'll see how many I can get through.
One, I wanted to turn first to business plans, looking at a success story -- now I've lost it. So the SNAP program, the targets -- there we go.
Okay. On page 14 of the business plan, it looks like we've managed to increase the number of students over the past three school years participating in the SNAP program from 21 to 36 and the latest is 57. But we also have a goal around increasing the number of regions where there are actually SNAP students participating. And so while we've been increasing the number, it looks like they've all been concentrated in the North Slave and South Slave. I wonder if the Minister can comment on why she thinks we've been able to see success in increasing the number of SNAP students in some regions, and then what work is underway to try to allow more students to participate in the other regions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, well, thank you to the Member for highlighting that success. It's a number that definitely makes me excited. We started with about half of that when we started this Assembly, and we were, I believe, in -- had SNAP students in two regions. Now we've got twice as many SNAP students, and they're found in six areas or six communities in the Northwest Territories. And certainly the goal is to see SNAP students in every community in the Northwest Territories.
SNAP is heavily reliant on relationships. And so in order for us to have SNAP students, you need a student who wants to do it and then you need somebody who's willing to take on a SNAP student who's either a Red Seal or a journeyperson, an employer, in a community. And so, fundamentally, to the program is -- or fundamental to the program is establishing those relationships and making sure that those relationships are continued to being maintained between the education body, the student, the employer, the department. And so it really is based on relationships. And so that's why you hear me in the House saying if anybody knows of an employer in any community in the territory that wants to participate, please let me know because I definitely want to be able to take that name back to the department and follow up and make sure that we are working together to create those relationships. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanted to touch upon education authority contributions. So there is an increase there, a modest increase, although -- so I am looking on page 44 of the budget -- from last year's main estimates, $179 million and a bit, but then in the revised estimates it went up to almost $196 million, and now we're back somewhere in the middle to $186.5 million.
So can the Minister explain what accounts for both the additions over last year's main estimates but also why the revised estimates required significant, you know, boost in funding over what we approved last year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the federal government rolled back their Jordan's Principle funding, and so what you see in the revised is our $14 million for our support assistants initiative. And other than that, our funding is based predominantly -- it's school funding formula that is largely based on number of students enrolled. And I think we would need an entire kind of crash course in student funding formula if we were to explain it, and nobody would want me being the one delivering that. But essentially the difference is the Jordan's Principle -- sorry, the support assistant initiative funding in the middle there and then when you see the increase, we've got some forced growth increases to the school funding formula as well that I outlined and would be happy to repeat that is in this budget here. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So in terms of the additional funding that was approved in supplementary budgets or supplementary appropriations for -- to make up for loss in Jordan's Principle funding, does ECE currently even have an estimate of what would be required for this coming year if we were to try to fill the gap for, say, one more year for the loss of Jordan's Principle funding? My understanding was that for the past year, some school boards sort of were losing funding, others were able to sort of be tied over through multi-year agreements so that might be coming to an end here so we might have an even greater need in the upcoming year in terms of trying to fill gaps left by Jordan's Principle. Has ECE even attempted to come up with an estimate of what would be required if the burden did fall on the GNWT to fill those gaps? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I am going to go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the conversations around Jordan's Principle over the course of the last year have not stopped at all. Right now, those conversations are happening with education bodies because, as I said, the funding went directly to education bodies. So making sure that we have the numbers and kind of the more granular details of how the funding was used is very important. So, for example, in some instances it was used for a support assistants. In other instances, in other education bodies, it was actually used for a teaching position. And so there's finer detailed nuances, including, you know, in some cases, it was Jordan's Principle; in other cases it was Inuit Child First funding. And so there's not really one kind of clear path but, you know, really, ultimately, at the end of the day what I can say is that Jordan's Principle has grown in this territory, the use of it, year over year. Every year that I have been employed as an MLA, the funding of Jordan's Principle to this territory has doubled. I believe when I started, it was about $14 million. The next year, it was 28 and then all of a sudden it was 56. So it has continued to escalate and go up. And so I would venture to say that if, you know, based on last year's numbers that we could potentially end up with asks that are greater than where we were last year if we look at the trajectory of Jordan's Principle funding. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I am going to go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. Can the Minister explain whether any of the contributions in these line items to education authorities have been for changing drinking water fixtures due to high lead levels, or where is that money coming from to support schools as they try to find both, like, replacement water sources but then ultimately to fix the fixtures to reduce the lead levels. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
