Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, none of the funding required in order to mitigate lead in drinking water is found within this budget. That would come forward in the form of a supplementary appropriation. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. And I wanted to turn to the school-based mental health and wellness programs. I know it's one of the goals in the business plan. So now I am looking at page 20 of the business plan. And I know we're measuring the number of students that are accessing these mental health and wellness services in the schools. Are there any new initiatives to try to enhance these mental health and wellness programs in schools for this coming year? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, yes -- the short answer is yes. So there is an increase in this budget for school-based mental health and wellness funding initiatives. And I have to give credit where credit is due. It was at one of our education leader forum meetings that a principal from a small community ended up sitting at the table. And I consistently always check in with all of our education partners on this program every time we get together. And the small community principal put up their hand and said this is one way that the policy and reality are not working out very well for this program, and we were able to take that information away, successfully go forward to FMB with a proposal, and you now see that in this budget which equates to an additional $1.67 million for school-based mental health and wellness funding. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. Is there any further questions? Okay, before I go to the Member from Frame Lake, I am going to ask to take a five-minute or ten-minute break, and then I will come back to the Member from Frame Lake.
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Okay. Yeah, before we continue on here, before I go to Frame Lake, I just want to just remind Members that when we speak just be careful because the mic is very sensitive, so any paper, pens, or anything like that, translators, it's hard on the ears. So, anyway, I am just going to continue on. I am going to go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. And I will try to keep my shuffling and scuttling to a minimum. I wanted to ask some business plan related questions that I think are related to this section. Just note that the mandate outlines identification of surplus lands and potentially turning those over for increasing our access to housing item in -- sorry, Mr. Chair -- priority for the Assembly. Can the Minister share additional information on how that identification process is going and how or who they'd be transferred to in order to support housing. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, we're finishing up this work to the end of this fiscal year. First, we are considering the needs of different education bodies and the needs of their education needs in each of their communities, and then from there, we're evaluating whether or not it would be suitable housing for the purpose -- sorry, suitable land for the purpose of housing. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Okay, thank you. So -- sorry, did the Minister give a timeline in her answer there, just when we can expect that they'll complete that process?
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you. So that work will be completed by the end of this fiscal year.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And just continuing on the housing thread, what have been the outcomes of ECE's work with Housing NWT, Aurora College, and the NWTTA on housing needs, including educator and student housing assessments? Can the Minister give us any updates on that?
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, we continue to share information both between the NWTTA education bodies with Housing NWT, with Indigenous governments as well, to make sure that we're sharing information so that the needs are known. We've been able to work successfully with Housing NWT on when needed acquiring teacher housing or changing policies to make sure that we are doing our part to retain teachers. And we've also had the -- we've also seen in our capital budgets, dollars come forward in order to do improvements on teacher housing that is still within ECE stock as well. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. What actions has ECE taken this year to support Aurora College in identifying partners in advancing student housing development, including work related to the expression of interest process? Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, my work and the department's work with this has largely been to support the college when it identifies priorities and when it identifies that it needs support, so whether that's knowing, you know, what federal minister to talk to, different federal programs that are available, and then also knowing, you know, different entities within town that might be interested in doing -- forming partnerships for this purpose. And so at this point, the relationship and conversations have been based in support, not based in ECE doing anything on part of Aurora College because they simply are not at that point. But certainly when people have come to me, I have passed that message along and I've also essentially participated any way, shape, or form that I can.
And in addition to that, other post-secondary institutions have also inquired about potential options for housing and potential partners, and so I've been able to provide contact information to connect people so that like-minded and organizations with similar goals are able to work together. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I note that Aurora College's funding has reduced by a small amount this year. Can the Minister help us understand what that cut is about?
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Sorry, I am just going to go to the next -- can I get -- so I see that there is a difference of about 7 -- $600,000. Oh, and that's in relation to the closure of the community learning centres, Mr. Chair, and our memorandum of understanding that we had for the delivery of adult learning and basic education. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. So that money was taken from the college, which seems fair if they're not delivering that anymore, but where did the funding go to?
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you very much. So we would have had a grant that we would have contributed to the literacy council in that form, and it's not going to be a perfect split because you're also going to have forced growth increases from Aurora College for their leases as well that are involved in this. So just so the Member knows, you're not looking for, you know, a straight line item to line item difference here because there's also increases to Aurora College included in that for the forced growth of their rental units for Stanton Suites as well as Northern United Place. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The other post-secondary contributions line item, I note that is for funding for College Nordique and Dechinta. I am just trying to understand -- I mean, has the Minister considered any increases to this line item per the discussion we were having earlier about the important role that Dechinta could play? I note the amount of funding that they're operating with between the two organizations is very small compared to Aurora College as my colleague previously pointed out. So I am wondering about this item. Thanks.
Okay, thank you. I am going to go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, there is additional funding for other post-secondary institutions that is found within this budget. It's just not found within this line item because it comes from different funding agreements that I believe is found under the labour section. But I would need to confirm that. But I can confirm for the Member that there is, within this budget, additional dollars as well for other post-secondary contributions.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, has the Aurora College given any indication to the Minister that they are adequately funded to complete the transition to a polytechnic? I think -- I can't emphasize enough the importance of making sure that we are taking every -- how do I put this off the top of my head here. That with the different indicators that have been coming about what's happening with our economy over the next few years, we certainly don't want to be reducing our diversification opportunities. So I am just wondering if the Minister has been working with Aurora College on the transition, considering it's one of the many items that could potentially build job creation in the NWT considering the news that's been coming about our economy. I am not putting that in a real Member's statement form here right now, but -- it's late in the day, but I do want to just emphasize the importance of it. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister, if you want to respond.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, certainly we continue to work with Aurora College. Any, you know, funding requests that Aurora College brings forward to me that is ready to go to the financial management board, I bring those forward to the financial management board. Certainly, the operational decisions of Aurora College fall under the authority of the board of governors. But certainly having conversations with the chair around different opportunities that present themselves in front of us and, you know, how we can make sure that we are aligning ourselves to be prepared for those is certainly a conversation we have frequently. And I also meet not only with the chair but also quarterly with the entire board itself so that we can have discussions around the priorities of the Aurora College mandate agreement as well to make sure that we're all on the same page. And I think it's helpful when there's so many -- it's in constant evolution at the moment. And so it's really important that we stay well connected. Thank you.
Okay. I will go back to Frame Lake, if you have one more question.
Thank you. I will go to the Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My question is on the Healthy Food for Learning. Considering the inflation costs and food costs, is there a demand to increase this budget allowance of 650? Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the Healthy Food for Learning has consistently been $650,000 a year. And if the Member looks down a little bit, there's also the national school food program, which is in 2025-2026 was to the tune of $4.25 million. And then in 2026-2027 is $2.553 million. That is through the federal government's school food program. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. In that particular line item there, national school food program, last year was much higher than this year. What's the reason for the shortfall or the decrease in the budget line item? Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So because in the previous year, in the 2025-2026, that's two years rolled into one from the federal government so we were able to do a carryforward. And so the funding for 2026-2027 represents one year worth of funding and the previous year had two. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And my next question is the northern distance learning here budgeted at 13.73. The way I read the backup information, it sounds like the Beaufort Delta Divisional Education Council is delivering this program to those communities. What allowances are there for the Sahtu communities? Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
